ALIEN Polish poster - Style A ALIENS Polish poster ALIENS Polish poster - Style B

These are three of the original Polish posters for ALIEN and ALIENS. I believe all three were designed by legendary Polish poster designer Witold Dybowski.

If this is your introduction to the amazing world of Polish film posters, you are in for a world of delight. The Polish film industry has a history of utilizing creative artistic posters long after most of the world moved to photographs of movie stars. But even if you’re already familiar with the wonders of Polish film posters, I hope I’ve uncovered some hidden gems in this post that can further your appreciation of the subject.

I’m not an expert on the subject, so I don’t want to fill your head with misinformation or my own amateur interpretation, but here is my basic understanding of how Polish film posters became so awesome. In essence, there was a single film distribution entity in Poland from the mid 1940s until 1990. Film Polski was the state run film monopoly, and all non-Polish films were released through this entity. The lack of competition and unorthodox approach to commercialism certainly provided an environment where poster artists were able to flourish, but I like to think the high quality of Polish advertising was mostly driven by people and a culture that wanted to embrace great art. The focus was on making stunning images that could stand on their own, not just a sales tool to promote the stars of a film. You can see incredible artistry in Polish design across almost all forms of print advertising including opera, theater, film, concerts, and even normal product billboards.

The Kemistry Gallery in London will be having an exhibit entitled “Mr T: The Posters of Jerzy Treutler” from February 2nd to March 17th. Jerzy Treutler designed Polish film posters through a big part of the 20th century, and has this to say about his work on Polish film posters:

The Polish School of Posters can be best described as being bold and colourful with painterly orientation and one I embraced as a graphic artist with all my heart, it was an exciting and creative time for me.

Some of my favorite Polish film posters…

AIRPLANE polish film poster

AIRPLANE (1984) designed by Witold Dybowski

BACK TO THE FUTURE Polish Film Poster

BACK TO THE FUTURE (1986) designed by Mieczyslaw Wasilewski 

DANTON Polish Film Poster

DANTON (1993) by designed by Wieslaw Walkuski 

JAWS Polish Film Poster

JAWS (1977) designed by Andrzej Dudzinski 

JAWS 2 Polish Film Poster

JAWS 2 (1980) designed by Edward Lutczyn 

ROCKY Polish Film Poster

ROCKY (1978) designed by Edward Lutczyn

ROSEMARY'S BABY Polish Film Poster

ROSEMARY’S BABY (1984) designed by Wieslaw Walkuski 

STORMING MONDAY Polish Film Poster

STORMING MONDAY (1988) designed by Wieslaw Walkuski

THE GRADUATE Polish Film Poster

THE GRADUATE (1973) designed by Maciej Zbikowski 

THE OMEN Polish Film Poster

THE OMEN (1977) designed by Andrzej Klimowski

UN CHIEN ANDALOU Polish Film Poster

UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1996) designed by Wieslaw Walkuski 

To explore more of the world of Polish film posters, I suggest the following links:

The New French Hacker-Artist Underground

UX’s most sensational caper (to be revealed so far, at least) was completed in 2006. A cadre spent months infiltrating the Pantheon, the grand structure in Paris that houses the remains of France’s most cherished citizens. Eight restorers built their own secret workshop in a storeroom, which they wired for electricity and Internet access and outfitted with armchairs, tools, a fridge, and a hot plate. During the course of a year, they painstakingly restored the Pantheon’s 19th- century clock, which had not chimed since the 1960s. Those in the neighborhood must have been shocked to hear the clock sound for the first time in decades: the hour, the half hour, the quarter hour.

UX (“Urban eXperiment”) is an artist collective that have been surreptitiously infiltrating, restoring, and maintaining abandoned cultural works in Paris for decades. I highly recommend reading this Wired article about UX.

There are five stages in the life of an actor: Who’s Mary Astor? Get me Mary Astor. Get me a Mary Astor type. Get me a young Mary Astor. Who’s Mary Astor? - Mary Astor Mary Astor’s statement on the life and career of an actor undoubtably still holds true today. Sadly the most obvious evidence is that I’m sure most people currently working in the film industry have no clue who Mary Astor was.

There are five stages in the life of an actor:

  1. Who’s Mary Astor?
  2. Get me Mary Astor.
  3. Get me a Mary Astor type.
  4. Get me a young Mary Astor.
  5. Who’s Mary Astor?

- Mary Astor

Mary Astor’s statement on the life and career of an actor undoubtably still holds true today. Sadly the most obvious evidence is that I’m sure most people currently working in the film industry have no clue who Mary Astor was.

2012 Movie #24 - Haywire (2011) Things that I liked about HAYWIRE. Bill Paxton. The deer smashing through the rear view window during a car chase. That one pretty exterior establishing shot of Bill Paxton’s character’s house. What I’ll take away: I need to remember to cast Bill Paxton in something, he makes sure every moment he’s on screen is interesting. High-res

2012 Movie #24 - Haywire (2011)

Things that I liked about HAYWIRE.

  1. Bill Paxton.
  2. The deer smashing through the rear view window during a car chase.
  3. That one pretty exterior establishing shot of Bill Paxton’s character’s house.

What I’ll take away: I need to remember to cast Bill Paxton in something, he makes sure every moment he’s on screen is interesting.

2012 Movie #23 - Margin Call (2011) I continue my trend of always liking Stanley Tucci. The costume designer (Caroline Duncan) did a great job of having all the characters in suits, yet still figuring out ways to differentiate their looks and to get across their relative success and position within the company. What I’ll take away: You can get a lot of mileage out of good actors and compelling current subject matter. High-res

2012 Movie #23 - Margin Call (2011)

I continue my trend of always liking Stanley Tucci. The costume designer (Caroline Duncan) did a great job of having all the characters in suits, yet still figuring out ways to differentiate their looks and to get across their relative success and position within the company.

What I’ll take away: You can get a lot of mileage out of good actors and compelling current subject matter.

2012 Movie #22 - Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) For my first viewing of the film in over 12 years, I was lucky enough to watch it in 35mm at the BFI in London. On second viewing, I’m less enamored with the Elliot (Michael Caine) and Lee (Barbara Hershey) storyline, but hugely charmed by the journeys of Hannah (Mia Farrow), Holly (Dianne Wiest), and Mickey (Woody Allen). The film features some of Woody’s best work as a dramatist, with impeccable scene and sequence construction. This is exemplified by the restaurant scene with the three sisters. The construction of this scene is simply incredible, with the dialog showing both clarity and subtlety, an unfortunately rare combination. Each sister has something they want to get out of the scene, and despite all of them having the best intentions towards each other, their goals are at odds. We see this in what the sisters are saying, and in what they are obviously struggling not to say. The scene serves to propel the narrative, give insight into character, shift the character arcs, and still remains highly compelling and entertaining. And it’s just three sisters talking at a table. Too many writers don’t understand the narrative point of a scene. Characters interact with each other to advance their personal goals, and we see a scene because the outcome of that interaction advances the narrative. If you don’t have a sense of character goals and you don’t have an interaction and you don’t have a resulting narrative drive… then it’s not a scene! Cut it from your script or figure out a way to turn it into a real scene. It’s astonishing how many films have scenes that serve no narrative or character purpose. This can be fine if the artistic point of the scene is to undermine traditional narrative expectations, or the filmmaker is seeking an alternative impact, but the problem is that you see it all the time in films that are ostensibly traditional narratives. If you don’t have a proper scene, it just becomes “stuff happening” which is the path to audience disinterest. What I’ll take away: Woody Allen sure knows how to write. High-res

2012 Movie #22 - Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

For my first viewing of the film in over 12 years, I was lucky enough to watch it in 35mm at the BFI in London. On second viewing, I’m less enamored with the Elliot (Michael Caine) and Lee (Barbara Hershey) storyline, but hugely charmed by the journeys of Hannah (Mia Farrow), Holly (Dianne Wiest), and Mickey (Woody Allen).

The film features some of Woody’s best work as a dramatist, with impeccable scene and sequence construction. This is exemplified by the restaurant scene with the three sisters. The construction of this scene is simply incredible, with the dialog showing both clarity and subtlety, an unfortunately rare combination. Each sister has something they want to get out of the scene, and despite all of them having the best intentions towards each other, their goals are at odds. We see this in what the sisters are saying, and in what they are obviously struggling not to say. The scene serves to propel the narrative, give insight into character, shift the character arcs, and still remains highly compelling and entertaining. And it’s just three sisters talking at a table.

Too many writers don’t understand the narrative point of a scene. Characters interact with each other to advance their personal goals, and we see a scene because the outcome of that interaction advances the narrative. If you don’t have a sense of character goals and you don’t have an interaction and you don’t have a resulting narrative drive… then it’s not a scene! Cut it from your script or figure out a way to turn it into a real scene.

It’s astonishing how many films have scenes that serve no narrative or character purpose. This can be fine if the artistic point of the scene is to undermine traditional narrative expectations, or the filmmaker is seeking an alternative impact, but the problem is that you see it all the time in films that are ostensibly traditional narratives. If you don’t have a proper scene, it just becomes “stuff happening” which is the path to audience disinterest.

What I’ll take away: Woody Allen sure knows how to write.

In 2010 two friends of mine, Casey Pugh and Jamie Wilkinson, won a Primetime Emmy. They were the first totally independent web-only production to win a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media - Fiction.

They had created Star Wars Uncut.

Star Wars Uncut is a distributed collaborative project. The original Star Wars film was cut into 15 second clips, and those 15 second clips were then re-imagined by assorted creative people on the internet. The results are fascinating, and definitely worth checking out.

And now you can watch the full Director’s Cut of Star Wars Uncut.

[Edit: I have embedded the Vimeo video above, but you can also watch Star Wars Uncut on YouTube.]

The Bigger Picture: What happens when we find The Line as viewers?

One of my favorite online film writers is Drew McWeeny, and this recent post gives a good case for why you should follow him. He gives a persuasive argument as to why filmmakers should treat the subject of rape more responsibly in their films, and I wholeheartedly agree.

Part of the job of the filmmaker is to use the content of our films to control and shape the visceral reaction of the audience, and there is a temptation to use high-impact situations to get these reactions. The problem is that once you go into high-impact situations you are playing with the deepest fears (or even worse, the horrible personal memories) of your audience. That has to be done with complete responsibility.

Think of it this way… If your film is released to the public, the odds are good that someone who was raped will eventually watch your film. You are creating story material out of what is almost certainly the most devastating and damaging moment of their lives. You are probably making them relive or at least remember this moment to some degree while they’re sitting in your audience. Now I’m not saying that this means you can’t address rape in your films, but you better have a damn good reason for doing it.