The Many Faces of Ocean’s Eleven
When the painfully crowded heist flick Ocean's Eleven opened last December, I had little to no interest in it. The thought of watching Clooney, Pitt, Damon, and (God help me) Julia Roberts butting heads and competing for screen time was simply too nauseating to handle. But then I saw the movie's promotional poster, and my curiosity immediately piqued.
How in the world did director Stephen Soderbergh persuade Warner Brothers to allow such a wonderfully illustrative, Saul Bass style of promotional poster, with all the aforementioned actors' heads cut off?
The design was, in my mind, a stroke of reverse psychological genius. By removing the actors' faces, the color, tone, and mood of the movie was emphasized, while directing the eye downward to the actors' names set in a bold, condensed sans serif at the bottom. It was as if the star power was simply so huge, so vast, so overpowering, that to promote the movie as a credible story required a visual defusing of facial star power.
The design worked for me. But the poster didn't last.
Wander into any video store, and check out the revised cover. Ah yes, back in the safe space of cramming a bunch of faces together and lining them up in an "active" perspective without alluding to anything else, including character.
Interestingly, Ocean's Eleven used two other posters as well. This alternate red poster is similar to the original one with spot colors and block style illustrations of the cast, but still not as powerful (or memorable). And then there's this total conceptual misfire - a sepia-tone version with bleak, urban, corroded industrial typography; a world away from the stylish, retro vibe they were originally going for.
Perhaps the movie underperformed at the box office, and the studio decided a major image change was in order to boost revenue. Whatever the reason, it truly is a shame the original was lost.
Different movie, but same topic, is the promotional poster for Gosford Park, Robert Altman's so-called murder mystery, which in my mind was more of a character drama. Regardless, wander into any Blockbuster and just try to keep your eyes off the DVD.
Bursting with highly saturated red, a bold shock of black down the center, and a punch of white in the middle, the DVD leaps off the shelf. The competition, all vying for your attention, are nothing but a sea of famous faces, predictable typography, and little to no reference to the story.
Gosford Park's design is lyrical, mysterious and modest. Perhaps in the case of this movie, a more "arty" poster suits the target demographic more so than Ocean's Eleven, and the studio felt comfortable with the concept. Whatever the reason, in the time between a film's theatrical and DVD release, there's plenty of time for a redesign. Some survive, retaining their original vision, and others change - usually for the worse.
Comments
The original promo poster was also a ripo--err, an homage to the cover of The Smithereens' 11.
Posted by: kirkaracha at June 30, 2002 5:32 PM
I thought I was the only one who noticed the changes with the posters. I, too, found the first attempt a better designed piece that reflected the actual movie. I also enjoyed the movie, but when I went to buy the DVD, I was deeply disappointed with the cover and the rest of the DVD's screen designs. The original poster designs had a more angular and linear feel to it -- the DVD had multi-colored dots! What the hell? Going from a strong 50s feel to a disco-esque 70s era? Gross.
Posted by: Lea at June 30, 2002 8:09 PM
RE: kirkaracha
Well isn’t that interesting...
Posted by: Todd at June 30, 2002 8:10 PM
I remember seeing the comparison to the Smithereens' cover back when it first appeared (in Entertainment Weekly, I think). Wasn't the original poster pulled because of 9-11?
Posted by: Mark Simonson at June 30, 2002 11:51 PM
I agree, absolutely the best movie poster I ever saw. It's refreshing to see someone else recognize the visual beauty of it when it came out.
I'm proud to say I bought the poster off eBay not to long after the movie was released. I've got in my home office wall nicely framed on a wall all by itself. It's the kind of artwork that requires nothing else be around it.
Though I am a wee bit peaved by what Kirkaracha pointed out. Funny thing is, I was more struck by its similarity to Reservoir Dogs poster: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/38/013_MR746.jpg
It also goes to what you pointed out about a heavily star-studded cast being almost impossible to design a poster for, as demonstrated by this other Reservoir Dogs poster: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/22/21_RESDOGQ.JPG
Posted by: France at July 1, 2002 1:26 AM
Here's an ever-growing archive of video/DVD art travesties.
Posted by: josh at July 1, 2002 10:31 AM
One of my all-time favorite posters was the poster for (another Soderbergh flick) "Out Of Sight". The poster was great, the ensuing DVD cover was awful. I think "Fight Club" did well with the transition, perhaps the movie had already cemented itself in cult status.
Posted by: Mo at July 1, 2002 3:50 PM
