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Joe Blevins 
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Downtown 
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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 Posted - 04/14/2007 : 17:15:53
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Big, chunky, STENCILED red letters, as if the movie poster was already made and someone came along and spray painted the red letters on it.
Right? 
Edit: Well, I guess I should have checked the links first.  Anyway, your observation is quite correct, and reminds me of my brother's observation that one-word titled comedies are often lousy, especially when it's the name of the main character. |
Edited by - Downtown on 04/14/2007 17:54:22 |
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 04/14/2007 : 18:22:22
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EM probably will have a better-grounding for a design answer to this, but RED is the colour that attracts attention. And RED against white makes the RED ever REDDER .
Film posters, btw, are not the same for the same film around the world. That's a crap sentence, but I mean the poster design, even whether it's portrait or landscape changes to fit the marketing traditions of each country.
One more factor which may be interesting: the P&A budget can be up to 25% of the production budget. If a studio has committed to a film they think will take lotsa dosh on its opening w/e -- say a turkey like Norbit -- because they know Murphy has enough fans to sustain a first-run push, they'll go all out on spreading the word. And if RED helps with the spread, they greenlight RED.
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benj clews 
"...."
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Posted - 04/14/2007 : 19:20:06
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quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
EM probably will have a better-grounding for a design answer to this, but RED is the colour that attracts attention. And RED against white makes the RED ever REDDER .
Yup- red is supposed to be the most alerting colour to all animals. In nature lots of bad things have a habit of being red (not to mention blood- generally not a good sign when you see it) or feature distinctive red markings- it's like it's the universal inbuilt colour for danger or warning (rather appropriately in the case of Eddie Murphy vehicles). Advertising makes use of red a lot- just think of how many crappy tittle-tattle magazines feature red on white or white on red logos, plus the UK's top selling newspaper.
On a side note, in it's first few DOS-based incarnations years and years ago, when Windows used to crash, it would come up with a red error screen. In a lot of cases, the crash wasn't all that bad- the system could be rebooted and it'd be fine, but users found it so shocking (presumably especially so with the much-feared "Beep of Terror") that Microsoft from that point on opted to use the now famous "Blue Screen of Death" instead. Because of this, over a few generations of computer users far from the natural dangers associated with the colour red and overexposure due to tittle-tattle magazines, mankind will most likely adapt to naturally fearing the colour blue more than red 
Unless, of course, Eddie Murphy keeps making these crap films. |
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Whippersnapper. 
"A fourword thinking guy."
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Posted - 04/15/2007 : 00:39:25
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quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
EM probably will have a better-grounding for a design answer to this, but RED is the colour that attracts attention. And RED against white makes the RED ever REDDER .
Yup- red is supposed to be the most alerting colour to all animals. In nature lots of bad things have a habit of being red (not to mention blood- generally not a good sign when you see it) or feature distinctive red markings- it's like it's the universal inbuilt colour for danger or warning.
That must be why people run when they see strawberries and tomatoes.
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 04/15/2007 : 00:47:03
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quote:
Originally posted by Whippersnapper
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
EM probably will have a better-grounding for a design answer to this, but RED is the colour that attracts attention. And RED against white makes the RED ever REDDER .
Yup- red is supposed to be the most alerting colour to all animals. In nature lots of bad things have a habit of being red (not to mention blood- generally not a good sign when you see it) or feature distinctive red markings- it's like it's the universal inbuilt colour for danger or warning.
That must be why people run when they see strawberries and tomatoes.
Haven't you ever heard of this? 
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Whippersnapper.
"A fourword thinking guy."
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Posted - 04/15/2007 : 01:29:03
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quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
Haven't you ever heard of this?
Now that you mention it I do remember something like this... |
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lemmycaution
"Long mired in film"
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ChocolateLady 
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 04/15/2007 : 05:45:00
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It is Marketing Strategy 101 - get their attention, and nothing gets your attention faster than red on white.
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Mr Savoir Faire
"^ Click my name. "
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Posted - 04/15/2007 : 05:52:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Hello, all.
I've noticed a strange trend in movie marketing lately: the overuse of big, chunky red letters against a white backdrop, specifically in posters and trailers for atrocious movie comedies. I can cite numerous recent examples: Epic Movie, Norbit, Are We Done Yet?, and the trailer for the yet-to-be-released but unappetizing Kickin' it Old Skool. It's getting to be if a movie's ad campaign features big red letters against a white backdrop, I instinctively know to stay far away. Here are some examples:
http://tinyurl.com/yv48w8
http://tinyurl.com/2437dn
http://tinyurl.com/ynntsc
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/arewedoneyet/
http://blogs.indiewire.com/reverseshot/archives/little_man.jpg
What is going on here? What is it about big red letters on white background? And why is it synonymous with hacky, unfunny, gimmicky comedies?
Interesting observation! I am a little angry that Kickin it Old Skool is lumped in there (Ebert is speaking very positively about this film and in real life Jamie Kennedy is a nice guy). Anyway, here's what I could find: Jaws, One Million Years BC, Casablanca, Scary Movie 4, Monster in law, scarface, magnum force, breakfast at Tiffany's, Date movie, Dirty Harry,
http://www.crankycritic.com/archive/posters/jaws.jpg
http://www.bigbaby.com/dickmac/AliveBlog/RaquelWelch.jpg
http://www.cinematical.com/media/2006/12/casablanca.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/horror/1/0/0/O/scary_movie_four_ver2.jpg
http://ramchandra.me.uk/blog/archives/images/may05/monsterinlaw.jpg
http://www.ewebjunk.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/scarface.jpg
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8017/magnumforcefj7.jpg
http://www.ghost-stories.net/images/audrey-hepburn-sexy-movie-pictures.jpg
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MMPO/50513~Date-Movie-Posters.jpg
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TitanPa
"Here four more"
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Posted - 04/15/2007 : 06:10:07
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| I thought that '28 Days Later' started this trend. the sequel '28 Weeks Later' has the same style. |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 04/15/2007 : 06:39:12
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Hello, again.
Yeah, I realize red is the most eye-catching color. That's obviously nothing new. But what I'm really noticing is the sudden recent increase of big fat red letters -- always in a blocky, sans serif font -- in ad campaigns for movie comedies in the last few years. It's rapidly become a cliche in posters, TV spots, and trailers. And the movies being advertised are always -- always -- high-concept, gimmicky movies. It's like some advertising exec out there is saying, "Okay, we've got to advertise this movie with Jimmy Fallon as a wisecracking CGI talking poodle who learns martial arts from Jackie Chan and then they win a rap battle against Ben Stiller. Break out the standard-issue big fat red letters and get that one House of Pain song for the TV commercial."
I fully realize that red lettering has been used in movie posters before, often for good quality movies. But what I'm referring to is a super-specific trend for a certain type of recent movie comedy.
As for Kickin' It Old Skool, I cannot comment on the quality of the movie. But I sat through the trailer TWICE on Friday, and I stand by my claim that it is unappetizing. I will admit getting a few chuckles from Jamie Kennedy's Comedy Central special. |
Edited by - Joe Blevins on 04/15/2007 06:49:56 |
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benj clews
"...."
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Posted - 04/15/2007 : 13:27:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
I fully realize that red lettering has been used in movie posters before, often for good quality movies. But what I'm referring to is a super-specific trend for a certain type of recent movie comedy.
I guess the association is most commonly with these kinds of films simply because big, bold red lettering best fits comedies of the 'wacky' variety. I'm sure they'd probably do the same thing for the latest David Lynch epic, but it wouldn't really fit with the rest of the advertising campaign.
As you rightly point out, it's now a cliche, but this is an advantage in the advertisers' eyes- it's a no-brainer and they're basically saying "Remember that last film you saw with big, bold red lettering that you liked so much? Well, this is just like that, so you're going to like this too". What this basically means is that as long as the average oik continues paying to see Norbit, Epic Movie, et al... advertisers are going to keep flogging more films the same way.
Apologies if I'm just stating the obvious here...  |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 04/16/2007 : 01:00:23
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Perhaps there is a new entry for the "movie cliche glossary" here.
red-letter movie (n.) Any high-concept, lowbrow, "wacky" movie comedy with a gimmicky premise, aggressively and pervasively marketed with inescapable TV spots, posters, bus ads, billboards, and trailers featuring blocky, bright red letters against a white backdrop. Frequently starring "zany" TV comedians doing funny voices and wearing wigs and/or fat suits. Red-letter movies often include one or more of the following: bumbling dads, wisecracking children, anthropomorphic animals, foolish Caucasians clumsily appropriating hip-hop slang, etc. Examples: Epic Movie, Norbit, Little Man, Are We Done Yet, many others. "Do you want to see Gangsta Grandma 2 with Rob Schneider?" "No, that's just a red-letter movie. They'll run it on Comedy Central a thousand times."
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redPen
"Because I said so!"
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Posted - 04/17/2007 : 07:15:29
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| Don't forget Nutty Professors I and II, and Daddy Day Care, too! Eddie M. sure does rely on this brand of marketing! |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 04/18/2007 : 03:23:37
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quote:
Originally posted by redPen
Don't forget Nutty Professors I and II, and Daddy Day Care, too! Eddie M. sure does rely on this brand of marketing!
Yeah. Sadly, Murphy has become the king of red-letter movies. Even though the ad campaigns don't always feature *actual* red letters, they're very much red-letter movies in spirit. It's really a style of obnoxious, shrill marketing for gimmicky, dumb comedies. Norbit may have been the film which made me take notice of this trend. Sadly, Steve Martin seems to be following in Murphy's footsteps, as are Ice Cube, Eugene Levy, Robin Williams, and Martin Lawrence. Rob Schneider's always been a red-letter guy, and David Spade seems destined for a career of red-letter movies. |
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Red letters + white background = Bad comedy?
