Film by Design

To date, the movie poster has been a curiously understudied topic within cinema and media studies scholarship. With contributors examining movie posters from the USA, Cuba, India, Senegal and more, this much-needed collection from Gary D. Rhodes and Robert Singer offers a range of useful scholarly theories and frameworks with which to study these neglected paratexts. This book should hopefully inspire a new wave of scholarship that finally gives the movie poster the sustained academic attention that it deserves.--Iain Robert Smith, senior lecturer in film studies at King's College London and author of The Hollywood Meme: Transnational Adaptations in World Cinema In 1970, a double-bill poster for the Hammer horror movies Scars of Dracula and Horror of Frankenstein changed my life. It was my first awareness of the 'movie poster, ' and I saw a path that demanded I follow. Indeed, among my first significant commissions were the UK campaign posters for The Evil Dead and A Nightmare on Elm Street. I had realized my ambition within fifteen years! In each instance, my inspiration was found in earlier forms. The Evil Dead was an homage to horror movie posters from the 1930s through 1950s. A Nightmare on Elm Street was inspired by the theatre posters of Jules Ch�ret. Understanding the lineage is essential. All poster artists take inspiration from what has gone before. But there is so much more to explore. Film by Design: The Art of the Movie Poster provides a map that navigates the territory with unexpected surprises!--Graham Humphreys, illustrator