Movie Posters: The Good, The Bad and The Awful

So far I've only talked about nice colour schemes, so this time I'd like to talk about bad colour schemes! More specifically, really bad movie posters. Because they're funny in a trainwreck sort of way.

First, let's start with The Good.

Good promotional material can make all the difference.

These are nice movie posters. They're interesting, clever and give a general idea of what the movie is about. Their colour schemes are beautiful and give an impression of the movie's atmosphere. In this case, the Drive movie poster feels like a night-time drive, clearly at high speeds. The 127 Hours one is shaped like an hourglass, using the colours of the horizon to reinforce that idea. Finally, the Star Wars poster gives a solitary feel, the boy has the same colour as the desert, he seems to disappear in its washed out blandness. But that shadow is stark and looming over him.

Next, the bad!

I think Terminal Velocity is about a man whose rocket-powered head takes off into space.

While not absolutely horrid, they're boring and generic and don't tell us anything about what to expect apart from Some Kind of Romance, Vikings doing Viking Things and Generic Comedy from left to right respectively. The colour schemes are generic and boring and don't add anything to what we're already seeing. Also, in the first poster that guy's head looks like it's rocket powered and about to make its way to Mars. Just sayin'.

Finally, the awful.

Come on X-Men you're not even trying.

Yeah. These posters look like they were cobbled together by the producer's nephew with his pirated copy of Photoshop 2.0. They usually lack any kind of art direction, style or original idea. They're the real stinkers.

Christ.