Posters remain important for film despite digitalization
Published: Thursday, May 16th 2024, 15:10
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Film posters are often overlooked - and not just for Swiss films. They take a back seat to the trailer, but remain important for the film despite digitalization. And sometimes several versions are needed to do justice to multilingual Switzerland.
Remembering films, sometimes even for years, is easy: there are iconic scenes, great dialog. But who can remember what the poster for "Ein Schweizer namens Nötzli", "Achtung, fertig, Charlie" or "Die Herbstzeitlosen" looked like? Yet these three works are among the top ten most successful films made in Switzerland.
Misha Zhivov from the distributor Frenetic was convinced in an interview with the news agency Keystone-SDA: "The artwork is important for the identification of a film. If it's done well, it makes a lasting impression on potential viewers." Posters and trailers are "the harbingers of a film". It is important to arouse curiosity and the desire to watch the film. Urs Frey from the Zurich-Berne production company Contrast Film agreed with him: "The poster is still an important promotional component." However, he immediately added: "The trailer is even more important."
In contrast to Germany and other countries, in Switzerland it is the producer's responsibility to have the posters produced, said Frey. As a rule, various drafts are made and the decision is then made together with the distributor. The director is rarely involved.
Ten ideas, one poster
The graphic designers come into play with the designs. Jens Müller from Zurich is one of them. He starts by watching the film, which is often still a rough version. "After an initial meeting with those involved, I usually create ten poster subjects that are as different as possible," said Müller. Ideally, one or two are then selected for further elaboration He is generally able to draw on the full range of possibilities in the first draft phase. "After the first presentation, I then try to take every customer request into account," said Müller.
A solution is not always found. "There are a few cases where there were several posters in the end," recalled Zhivov. One example is "La vanité" by Lionel Baier. There was a poster commissioned by the distributor that was used in German-speaking Switzerland and a poster developed by the production together with the French distributor that was used in French-speaking Switzerland. Zhivov's explanation: "The cultural codes are different." Or, as Frey put it: "What works in Zurich doesn't necessarily work in Geneva."
Posters should be eye-catchers
For graphic designer Nadine Geissbühler, two questions are central to the design: How do you translate the story into an image? What does the movie want? There are also pitfalls: "People often tend to want to tell the whole movie on a poster. Which I think is a shame and doesn't work with a poster." For Müller, the interplay of image and text and the conciseness of the realization are paramount. In short: "The poster should be an eye-catcher."
Which posters are successful? Zhivov calls the poster for "Ruäch" "one of the most impressive posters for a Swiss film in 2023". For Frey, the poster for "Landesverräter" is particularly successful. The film will be released in Swiss cinemas on October 24. "The poster takes up the theme of the film in a very unconventional and provocative way," he explains.
Frey criticizes the fact that there are agencies in other countries that specialize in film promotion. "That's not the case in Switzerland. As a result, many film posters are unfortunately not particularly original."
Former supreme discipline
In the past, movie posters or posters in general were the supreme discipline of a designer, said Nadine Geissbühler. "They were real works of art that still adorn many walls today. Today, posters want to appeal to a wide audience, which automatically loses its signal effect. The poster itself is no longer so important today because advertising plays on other stages."
Nevertheless, Geissbühler is convinced: "Print has generally lost weight. But that doesn't change the importance of the visual idea. Today, digital channels make it all the more important to have a central visual idea that works in all media. "*.
*This article by Raphael Amstutz, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
©Keystone/SDA
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