New Django Unchained Poster is Decent

It's always interesting to see how movies created by real film buffs like Tarantino frequently have really great posters. That doesn't always apply, considering that Martin Scorsese is a massive film fan and most of his movie posters suck. The Last Temptation of Christ was interesting, and was, noticeably, very similar to this poster.

All of these posters harken back to the groundbreaking work of Saul Bass and the amazing movie posters of the late 50's and 1960's. And Saul Bass, I think, owes his aesthetic to the avant garde work of the Russian Constructivists.

I think that Paul Rand holds the distinction, as though he needed to be more distinct, of being the first person to apply those principles to a movie poster with his 1950 treatment for the movie No Way Out.

But that's neither here nor there. Movie posters are something that have lost much of their importance. Designers, real designers, rarely make them anymore. Directors and producers rarely have anything to do with their production. Increasingly, posters are simply an image that says "THIS MOVIE EXISTS." Tarantino has a history of great movie posters, and while I would say that this teaser is the least of them, he undoubtedly has a real killer in the offing for the official poster.

All of this just further confirms what Grindhouse laid out: Tarantino doesn't just like movies, he likes everything about movies. He likes the trailers, the posters, the ads, the credits, the sound. I'm amazed that he hasn't sold pieces of gum from the floors of old Brooklyn theaters.

We need more people like that. Not necessarily total auteurs, like Tarantino, but people involved in every aspect that love that aspect. I want poster people who love movie posters for the sake of movie posters. Trailers for the sake of trailers. Credits for the sake of credits. It's not like Tarantino has a higher midi-chlorian count than anyone else or something!

It doesn't take a special sauce. All it takes is love and dedication.