Here’s something different. There’s a flickr pool out there called The End, which collects all the end title screens from about 500 different films. Many of these are by necessity classic ones, since most modern films don’t often feature such a firm close–it went out of style, likely seen as a formal holdover from literature, from a time when films still weren’t accepted as a valid art form unto themselves.

Some filmmakers still use the device, of course, but it’s largely ironic. Last year’s great Ratatouille, for example, used it, but it was the famous French ‘fin’, which suited the movie perfectly, while standing out more as a nod to Paris and the idea of french-ness than any kind of homage to a filmmaking tradition.

There’s something about seeing all these titles in one place–it’s like repeating a favourite word over and over again until it loses its original meaning, and then suddenly ‘The End’ seems an entirely strange thing to say at the end of a film, too unnatural, overly obvious–a world of typographic artifacts we didn’t know existed until the strange ways of the internet brought them to us.

The end screen of The Man With the Golden Arm, done by Saul Bass, is a true classic (although it does make me think of Anatomy of a Murder, also done by him), and anyone interested in one of the most unique and talented film titlers and illustrators of the 20th century would do well to find some of his work. For anyone interested in typography, he was simply the best title designer around, and could do wondrous things with minimalistic animation and good type: just look at these examples plus some classic title videos below.

For some strange reason I’m really feeling the alternative-universe design stuff recently, and designers are happy to fufill my every need. Check these out: Antrepo Design gives us some more alternative movie posters, except these ones are ultra-modern, based solely in typography, and list all the brand placement inside some big name films.

There’s nothing wrong with brand placement anyway–a film is a film, and I don’t take these posters as criticism; they’re just a creative way to express a statistic. The fact that a few of the films with the longest list of brand placements are actually quite good (Iron Man, The Bourne Ultimatium), should dispel whatever argument might be brewing in your head at the moment.

I don’t care if people are hopping in nice shiny cars–if you’re going to play a rich character and Lamborghini wants to sponsor you, that’s great–it’s the kind of car I’d expect your character to be driving anyway. No problem! Phones and computers and other things are obvious too: we use these things, so why not movie characters? They just happen to use nicer, cooler versions of them, which work as advertising.

Where brand placement does go crazy, though, is when it temporarily hijacks the film and makes it feel like a commercial. I’m talking about when the actual dialogue of the film suddenly runs off the rails for a second, and characters start talking about the brands themselves. I can think of only one giant example off the top of my head, and it’s from 2006’s Casino Royale. Check out the last 15 seconds of this clip:

“Rolex?” she says.
“Omega,” he replies.
“Beautiful.”

Aye. Subtle. Although I guess one notable film from my childhood was actually far worse, with the entire film being a gigantic advertisement for Nintendo. This scene is pretty cringe-worthy these days, especially considering what a terrible product the Power Glove actually was. I suppose “I love the Power Glove” is a bit more direct than Eva Green’s “beautiful” line.

What a commercial, though: I saw The Wizard twice, putting my anticipation for Super Mario Bros. 3 absolutely through the roof afterwards, and it didn’t abate until I had it in my hands.

Wear it With Pride has just opened up a new exhibit that I swear is custom-made for me. Showing earlier this year in London and just opened in Barcelona, Now Showing displays the work of several designers comissioned to create new posters for old films. The tagline for the show is “Exploring the ‘Lost Art’ of the Film Poster.” While I don’t think the film poster as ‘art’ was never really lost in the first place (commercially there’s been a decline, but there were plenty of bad film posters way back when, too), the title is really a play on words, as though these new works are somehow lost posters only just rediscovered.

It turns out having fun with the previously known images that surround old films really inspired these designers, as some of the work is really damn good–either paying homage to various design periods in time, or using completely contemporary methods to re-present the film in an entirely new mode. These aren’t your traditional film posters, full of little credits, following a reasonably consistent set of guidelines set-up to market a film. This is work done by contemporary artists who know their films–a company like Criterion couldn’t go wrong in licensing some of this stuff if they’re releasing any of the featured films in the future.

Check out this Five Easy Pieces poster as an example. The title of the film is a reference to Jack Nicholson’s unchosen career as a pianist, and his giving up of an upper crust, artistic direction in life in exchange for a conscious embrace of the working class American world of menial jobs, cheap diners and bowling alleys. The brilliant thing is that the poster evokes the very records Nicholson’s character would have been listening to as a child, back when he prepared his “five easy pieces” for a (unseen in the film) recital. Take a look at the recently released and quite excellent Classique for an idea of a few quality classical music LP covers, and then look at the poster again. It’s clearly done by someone who knows and loves the film enough to put that level of work into it.

My other favourite is this poster of Fellini’s 8 1/2. Not only is it one of the best films ever made, but the Italian film posters of the 1950s and 60s are some of the best examples of the form, anywhere. Redoing any of them is a tall order, and artist Fons Schiedon does a killer job here. Conceptually smart and beautiful to look at, it’s one of the best on display.

Metropolis, Rear Window, The Birds, and Planet of the Apes also get amazing treatments. Prints are for sale here, and the show is playing at Vallery, in Barcelona, through November 1.