For this brief, we have been asked to produce a move poster for a randomly given Jack Nicholson move. I have been given the film Studs Lonigan. I feel like it would be the best to research into:
- Watching the film itself
- Themes and motifs within the film
- Already exiting movie posters of the film
The first thing I did was watch the film so that I could get the necessary information from the source material itself. I took notes alongside the watching of the film so that I could remember important quotes and major events that happen.
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| Opening Titles |
The opening title sequence is black and white illustrations in a water coloured- style with the information shown in a columned layout.
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| In love with girlfriend Lucy |
To start with, Studs is at a dance with his girlfriend Lucy, who he declares he is in love with before partying with the gang. Leaves early. Visits his old teacher
"Life can be beautiful"
The gang won't start the party without him- Self assured leader of the gang
"Only the gang call me Studs and thats coz broads like you won't leave me alone. Everyone else calls me William"
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| Alienation from family |
Studs is completely alienated and feels like he doesn't belong with his family- The gang are his family
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| Spend their days drinking in bars or at the pool hall |
The gang spend their days playing pool, getting drunk and chasing girls
Lives in a world full of temptation and over-indulgence and excess
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| Gang humiliate Lady in SpeakEasy |
The gang visit a Speak Easy and find a girl passed out from the drinking. They know that she is a prostitute and mock her for her status in society.
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| Lucy breaks up with Studs |
Lucy decided to go away to college and breaks up with Studs.
Film constantly breaks off to a twirling carousel during this segment- shows how his world is changing (Studs life is spinning out of control)
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| Slapped by Father |
Family feels let down by Studs- asking for money with no job or family prospects
Handkerchief- When Studs get nervous, he fiddles with it
Studs father slaps him in a confrontation over jobs- Studs wants out of his family
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| Inspired by Movie Poster to become a Mobster |
Studs becomes inspired by a movie poster- whats to prove himself to be a man
"Maybe I'll be important someday...like a politician or something" -wants to make a better life for himself
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| Mob asks him to shoot someone and he can't |
Approaches Mobsters and asks if he can join their gang. They want him to kill someone
Studs can't bring himself to shoot someone- can't prove himself when it comes down to it.
Studs constantly runs away from his problems and won't accept any responsibilities.
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| Intends to get a job |
Studs begins to look for a job in the small ads of the local paper- Starts to learn and gives up the Saxophone
"I know I got luck. 4 aces stacked for me in the cards"- Theme of achieving the American Dream
All of the gang start looking for jobs but soon give up and go to a dancers club- they have no serious intention of growing up
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| Watches a show at a SpeakEasy while drunk |
Studs gets drunk while watching the show with the gang
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| Drunkenly attacks and then seduces Teacher |
A drunken Studs goes to his teachers house where he drunkenly hallucinates the teacher as the dancer. He attacks her then seduces her.
Start of an affair- goes to confession to repent
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| Gets a Job Opportunity as a Dentist and Lucy doesn't believe him |
Studs gets a job at a Dentist as he has 'the touch' or a natural talent - Lucy doesn't believe him- The idea of Studs actually wanting to go and get a job and get some responsibility is incomprehensible.
Lucy leaves town- Studs wants for life are so close but yet so far
The new job makes him get sober from his alcohol dependancy
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| Studs and Teacher end their affair |
Lucy is rumoured to be back in town and Studs tries to ignore his feelings for her- The teach breaks off their affair as he s only interested in her when he is drunk
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| Nightclub Business Proposition |
The gang have a business proposition for a nightclub for Studs funded by some money Pauly has come into- they want him to get alcohol from his fathers business
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| Death and Wake of Pauly |
Pauly dies suspiciously the next day. Stud's talks to Lucy at the wake but Paul's wife warns her away from him and anyone else in the gang.
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| Studs gets a job with his dad but Lucy leaves town without telling Studs |
Studs starts working with his father in the painting and DIY business
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| Meets Katherine |
Without Lucy, Studs visits his teacher again and there he meets her niece, Katherine
Presents Katherine with a ring- Studs was going to marry Lucy (Wants taken away from him again)
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| Rape of young girl and jailing of gang member |
Ends up at a political speech party rally with the gang and turns into an over-excessive party
A girl is raped by one of the gang at the party while they are drunk- they are sent to jail
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| Starts dating Katherine |
Katherine declares her love for Studs but he doesn't return the favour
"I would get a street car every morning to school, it wasn't so fast so that i'd didn't see it at the bottom of the street but it wasn't so slow that I could catch it. Everything feels like that"
Studs starts to feel the pressure of needing to take on some responsibility and under the pressure of his family and society decided to start dating Katherine.
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| Studs can't handle a settled lifestyle and longs for the good times |
During the relationship with Katherine, Studs feels alone because he wants Lucy.
Studs can't handle the prospect of having an adult life with responsibility and longs for the days when he was at the Pool Hall with the gang
"when everything was better"
Studs starts drinking again and argues with Katherine
Kenny gets a job and sends a postcard from the job- Studs looks back on how nothing has ever worked out for him
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| Pregnancy of Katherine |
Katherine reveals she is pregnant and Studs tries to find any means of getting rid of the baby
Doctor puts into perspective all of the responsibilities in a man's life which Studs is shying away from- the marriage of Katherine and the baby
"How old are you now?" "27" "Isn't that a little old to still be living at home"
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| Looses his job |
The banks fail and Stud's father has to fire him from his job
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| Studs turns to his religion and Priest for advice |
Studs turns to his religion and seeks advice in how to deal with it
The pastor tells him how it is him and the alcohol which has caused these problems in his life. The pastor states that Studs is his own worst enemy and hold himself back from furthering his life.
"The difference between you and Pauly is that you know something is wrong but you are afraid to take the next step"
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| Studs declares his love for Katherine |
Studs runs off to find Katherine and get her back after talking to the pastor and realising that he loves her.
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| Own notes from film |
After watching the film, I felt it would be important to get more information on the era of the story and the themes and motif in the film. This way, I would be able to understand the background of the story and why certain aspects of the film are significant.
Main themes of the story:
- Lack of Morals and Decency- The gang go around the town disrespecting their families, roles in society and other people.
- Excess and Self Indulgence- The roaring 1920's saw a increase in the way that people indulged themselves due to the enforcement of the Prohibition
- Over-inflation of ego- Studs sees himself as of high stature and importance. As somebody who has a strong identity in his world when in fact he. ultimately, amounts to nothing. This over-inflation of his ego ends up becoming his worst feature as he begins to self-destruct.
- Alcoholism- Studs and his friends go out drinking all the time, however, it is through the use of this alcohol that is the trigger for all of the bad things that happen to them.
With these themes in mind, I want to try and portray them within my poster design so that it is much more relevant to the film itself. To get some inspiration, I wanted to see what the current film poster was.
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"Studs Lonigan Film Poster"
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The film poster shows Studs in the middle with some film stills of his affair and the attack on the young girl at the party. It is quite brash and disjointed with the colouring used for effect so as to draw the eye straight to it.
What strikes me about the film poster is that it focuses on the aspects of the film which would be considered shocking at the time, which I think was used to try and pull the film goers into watching it. The trouble with this is that it takes away from the actual film itself and the story so it could be seen as misleading because these aspects only make up a small amount of the actual film running time. I will keep this in mind when thinking about my own poster response.
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"Studs Lonigan Illustrated Poster"
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This is an illustrated version of the original film poster, using a montage of the films moments surrounding Studs Lonigan. I prefer this style of movie poster than the top one because it has much more character and depth even though it has the same problem with its focus on the most outrageous. This style of movie poster is understated yet gives much more back to the audience.
Finally, I wanted to look at more contemporary film poster styles, particularly those which are illustrated.
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| "The Man With The Golden Arm" |
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| "Vertigo" |
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| "The Shining" |
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| "Anatomy of a Murder" |
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"Love in the Afternoon" by Saul Bass
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Saul Bass has a very distinctive visual identity where he uses disjointed imagery and mis matched hand-written typography to produce a visual identity that has stood the test of time, though his bold colour choices and impactful imagery that tells the story of the film.
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| "Star Wars Trilogy" |
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| "Dirty Harry" |
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| "The Evil Dead" |
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| "My Neighbour Totoro" |
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"An American Werewolf in London" by Olly Moss
Moss, O. [Internet] Available from http://ollymoss.com (Accessed 9th April 2014) |
Olly Moss uses integrated imagery within his contemporary posters so that two images intermingle so that the audience gets an extra layer of depth as to the contents of the film itself. He normally works on a limited colour scheme working with tonal values so as to provide definition to the image.
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| "Creature from the Black Lagoon" |
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| "This Island Earth" |
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| "Tarantula" |
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| "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" |
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| "King Kong Escapes" |
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| "Revenge of the Creature" |
"The Incredible Shrinking Man" by Reynold Brown
The illustrations by Reynold Brown are incredibly detailed and border on photo-realism, with emphasis put on the most controversial or high impact parts of the film so as to create a striking poster which would get audiences into cinemas.
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