Here is why this poster worked for me: it actually got me to look the film up. And it did this through two things. First, the color scheme and drawing style caught my eye and made me pay attention. Then the simple BELIEVE, together with the url (willhenrybeleive.com), intrigued me. The sentiment is strong, believe, and it’s expressed clearly and boldly. And it’s also cryptic. Believe in what exactly? Why do we want him to believe?
And so I spent some time learning more about the film. Pretty decent outcome for a teaser poster.
Of course, it doesn’t really work as a final poster. It’s just not the kind of thing that will be convincing to people standing around in the theater lobby trying to decide what to see. But even in that sense, it still seems better than the first poster.
*Update*
As a couple of readers already pointed out (thanks Jeenyus and Nagle), I obviously missed that this poster is a riff on some by now very familiar Obama posters designed by Shepard Fairey. Not sure how that slipped my mind. In fact I imagine the resemblance is part of why the poster caught my attention in the first place.
Obviously, this makes the poster a tad bit less original. And I tend too feel a bit squeamish about political images being appropriated by marketing departments, especially when it happens so close to the actual facts.
But it is a bold move in some ways. And if anything probably makes the poster more memorable.
[...] Original post from Movie Poster Addict » // share this These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
I saw the film at a screening, and you’re right – the tone/content of this one really has nothing to do with the movie. The first one kind of did (I hadn’t seen it until now), but was ugly and boring.
I too think this is at least somewhat effective – the movie probably doesn’t have a broad appeal to begin with, so intrigue is much better than disinterest.
It has nothing to do with the movie because its a total absurd rip-off of the whole Obama Obey Giant poster ( http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2008/01/obama-1.jpg ) phenomenon. It’s a terrible rip off at that. They are ripping off something that just came out, which makes me feel like it’s a comedy movie, which it might be… I haven’t looked into what the movie is about.
Big fan of the site, but I think you’re missing some context on this poster.
It is a clear riff on a pair of Barack Obama campaign posters entitled “Progress” and “Hope.” They were designed by OBEY’s Shepard Fairey.
You can check out the original at the link below:
http://thegiant.org/wiki/index.php/Obama_Progress
Keep up the good work!
Really looking forward to checking out Mark Pellington’s latest film Henry Poole Is Here starring Luke Wilson. It’s about a guy who abandons his fiancée and family business to spend what he believes are his remaining days alone. The discovery of a “miracle” by a nosy neighbor ruptures his solitude and restores his faith in life. It hits theaters on August 15th, and looks like it should be a pretty interesting dramedy.
myspace.com/henrypooleishere
Wow, comment #5′s author work for the studio or what? Way to sell it guy.
I’ve said that least 2498859 times. The problem this like that is they are just too compilcated for the average bird, if you know what I mean
Have you ever thought about creating an ebook or guest authoring on other blogs? I have a blog based on the same information you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my visitors would enjoy your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an email.