Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground

Bought as Christmas gift - looks good. Quick delivery.

Product received promptly and as described.

As usual I received this book for free in exchange for a review. This time it was from NetGalley. Despite that kindness I give my scrupulously candid thoughts below. In general I'm not a fan of coffee-table books because I hate nothing more than dusting coffee-table books. This one caught my eye, however, because it has a delightful artistic feel to it and I was, for the most part, not disappointed. This book contains about 200 "alternative" movie posters from classic movies ranging from Pee Wee's Big Adventure to Hitchcock classics. On the positive side, the art is wonderfully varied and in most cases I wanted to see some of these movies based solely on the poster they inspired. These designs are clever, artful, well-executed and encapsulate the themes of their topic movies wonderfully. They've also included a good blend of genres in the movies represented from outright horror to comedy. The only negative I would point out is that there is some amount of repetition. Several movies had 2-3 posters included so this pads the numbers a bit. In summary, a wonderful and handsome coffee-table volume for the movie buff. Many of these I'd have a hard time resisting the temptation to cut them out and frame them to hang on the wall. I'd proudly display it on my coffee table despite the sad truth that I would have to dust it once in a while.

Movie posters nowadays seems to be all about realism, photography and special effects. A book like Alternative Movie Posters is a breath of fresh air with the art and graphic design inspired posters. The posters featured are not official, hence the book title. They are created for film fests, theatres, art galleries, periodicals and even specifically for this book. More than 100 poster designers featured, and each has around 1 to 2 pieces of artworks featured. Most are drawn and there's an amazing variety of illustrative art and style. Quality of art is top notch. The selection is also very well done with a nice mixture of cult movies and hollywood blockbusters. The highlight of the book is the concept that goes behind the creation of these posters. Some are straightforward, but there are also many that are visually smart and will make you do a double-take. It's really quite fascinating to see all the artists and with their alternative designs. Additionally, there are also commentary from the artists on their designs, influence, favourite films, preferred medium and other info. The book's a 208-page hardcover. Paper is thick and low gloss. The artworks are wonderfully reproduced. (There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

Es un gran compendio de posters alternativos, lo único malo es que te quedas con ganas de más libros similares. Algo que me gustó bastante son las reseñas de los ilustradores y su formación.

So many of the posters and ad campaigns for modern film are boring and uninspired, designed by committee and lacking any heart, soul or art. But there is a fascinating response to this bland design in film art, and in his new book Matthew Chojnacki explores this phenomena. Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground dives into the limited run screen prints, glycees and digital prints created for revival and festival screenings of movies that have been cropping up over the last decade. There’s been a movement to bring the intimacy and limited edition of band gig posters to the film world where thousands of artists celebrate screenings with interesting conceptual designs. For those of us that don’t want to do battle with the shopping cart at Mondo (trying to land a copy of their popular, insanely fast selling screen prints), or who can’t afford to keep up with all of the amazing artwork with these alternative posters, Chojnacki’s book is a great archive highlighting the work of over a hundred different artists from all over the world. Much like he did with his previous book, Put the Needle on the Record, he really does an amazing job curating this collection of independent artwork. Whether it’s double page spreads highlighting a specific artist or using these opposing pages to compare and contrast between artists, focusing on a particular style, medium, or similar concepts, there was a lot of care put in the arrangement of the designs. There are over 200 posters spanning the gamut of the past 80 years of film, from stark expressionistic takes on M through to unbelievably creative spatial collages for The Dark Knight Rises. For lovers of film and design Chojnacki’s Alternative Movie Posters is a welcome raft in the sea of uninspired corporate design. Not every piece of artwork in the book will win you over, but all of them go a long way to recapturing a time when studios actually seemed to care about producing and commissioning true works of film inspired art. Each work is accompanied by artist commentary including poster specific inspiration, the art, films and other artists that influence their work, as well as what they use to create and their thoughts on film. The book also annotates each piece with biographical info and how to contact the artists to find further work or commission some of your own. Though the book doesn’t focus on any specific genre or era of film, for children of the 80s there is a lot of work focusing on the films we grew up loving. Tron, Robocop, The Dark Crystal, Gremlins, Goonies, Labyrinth, The Burbs, The Lost Boys, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Big and a ton more… I also love that Chojnacki didn’t limit himself to work being released in America, the roster of artists is truly international and an interesting mix of well known and up and coming designers. I was just as excited to spot artwork from folks I recognize like Joe Simko, Tim Doyle and Jason Edmiston, as I was to be introduced to folks like Gary Pullin (contributing outstanding Teen Wolf and Street Trash posters), Laurie Shipley (with a great Revenge of the Cheerleaders piece), Rocco Malatesta (with a great eye for minimalism and spacial conceptualization in his Raging Bull piece) , and Ryan Luckoo (who did a phenomenal job with the Dark Knight Rises.) If you have a film buff, artist, or designer on your Christmas list this year, do yourself a favor and pick up Matthew Chojnacki’s Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art From the Underground (and while you’re at it, pick up a copy of Put the Needle on the Record too.) You won’t be sorry you did!

Great book already picked up two posters listed in it

Cool coffee table book for any movie poster enthusiast. Great source of inspiration for graphic designers and illustrators.

Awesome illustrations.