Thursday, December 24, 2015

04 Bizarre Album Covers from Cage the Elephant

On the year 2006, American rock band Cage the Elephant was originally formed in Kentucky. First album by the band named 'Cage the Elephant' was released on 2008 and achieved success. The band is famous for it's own rock-funk genre of music. All four of the albums have different approaches to music. In 2015 Cage the Elephant was nominated at Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. This December 18, band released their fourth album named Tell Me I'm Pretty. The Poster World presents to you all 04 of the album covers from the discography of Cage the Elephant.

1. Cage the Elephant (2009)
Copyright- RCA/Jive
This debut album by Cage the Elephant was named on the band's title. They chose an unusual artwork for the cover. The use of color and font is also quite atypical. Bit dark and surreal!

TPW Rating- 3.5/5   

2. Thank You, Happy Birthday (2011)
Copyright- Jive
Another unfamiliar and weird album artwork. Though it looks a childish illustration but it actually is quite interesting. Album name on the below with correction makes this cover really funny.

TPW Rating- 3.5/5

3. Melophobia (2013)
Copyright- RCA
Designed by prominent graphic illustrator R Clint Colburn, this third album cover from the band really is a change of idea from the previous albums. Colburn prepared few shapes and chose one from them. The shape was placed on a monochrome and photographed with a striped background. The facial color of the shaped figure gives us an impression of previous artworks by Cage the Elephant.   

TPW Rating- 5/5

4. Tell Me I'm Pretty (2015)  
Copyright- Easy Eye Sound
Band vocal Matt Shultz & designer Meghan Foley prepared the artwork of this newly released album. Expression of the lady on the front of the cover actually steals the show. There are presence of certain depression and unearthly look on the face. Really odd and eccentric!

TPW Rating- 5/5

Monday, December 21, 2015

04 Cool Poster Design from Sofia Coppola Films

Sofia Coppola is one of the most established female film directors of present time. She won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay for the critically acclaimed film Lost in Translation in 2013. She is daughter of master director Francis Ford Coppola. Tough she started her career as an actress but ended up as a stylist and creative film director. On 4th December, she released her latest film named on great Bill Murray, A Very Murray Christmas, exclusively on Netflix. On this occasion The Poster World brings to you 04 of the best posters from Sofia Coppola's filmography.

1. The Virgin Suicides (1999)
[Copyright- American Zoetrope, Muse Productions, Eternity Pictures]

Cover of the first film by Coppola is as stylistic as her film. Frames of different width and distance we see on the middle of the cover are actually the way Coppola visualizes films. Fonts and background colors are very well matched. Subtle and beautiful!

TPW Rating- 4/5

2. Lost in Translation (2003)
[Copyright- American Zoetrope, Tohokushinsha Films]
Our favorite Bill Murray on the poster! You can not deny the presence of Bill Murray itself a huge plus point for the design. Look at the Tokyo city behind him, look at the texture of the hotel room. A very good composition as a whole and look Murray is gazing straight to camera. Simplistic and joyful!

TPW Rating- 5/5

3. Somewhere (2010)

[Copyright- Pathe, Medusa Film, Tohokushinsha Films, American Zoetrope]
A father-daughter story told by this single poster quite easily. If you've got the synopsis of the movie you would easily communicate with it. A posh hotel along with a beautiful green garden is present on the poster. Look at the contrast of font colors with the green. Cool and calm design!

TPW Rating- 3.5/5
 
4. The Bling Ring (2013)
[Copyright- American Zoetrope, NALA Films]
Poster of this film is very teen-like, as it actually depicts the storyline of the film. Look at the dress up, the cheesy fonts and urban scenery behind. These are actually carrying the idea of a teen based movie for all. Again a stylish poster by Coppola!

TPW Rating- 3.5/5 

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

04 Great Posters from Quentin Tarantino Films

Quentin Tarantino has been one of the greatest film directors of all time. He is a master maker and an inspirational figure to this generation. He reached the peak of cinematic excellence from being a video store clerk with crazy knowledge about the history of cinema. His films like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and two volumes of Kill Bill instantly influenced the pop culture of our times. Posters of Tarantino films been a big part of that influence. Tarantino is releasing his eighth film 'The Hateful Eight' on this Christmas, which also had some very good posters. 

On the occasion of Tarantino's new release The Poster World brings to you four of the best posters from Quentin Tarantino films.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Copyright- Miramax
Pulp Fiction created a cultural phenomena at the time of it's release and still regarded as one of the pop culture icon of our times. Poster of this film been highly discussed for a last two decades. Many interpretations and explanations given. But in truth this poster is a sheer classic. It can not get better than this. This is highly inspired by Film Noir as Uma Thurman is lying in low light with a seductive femme-fatale style, her hand is on a cigarette and a gun is in front of her. Look at the poster paper, it looks damaged; fonts are pulpy and everything about the background color is bit cheap. A stylistic masterwork!

TPW Rating- 5/5

2. Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Copyright- Miramax
This is a simple cover compared to Pulp Fiction. Background covered by deep yellow, obviously similar to the costume Thurman is wearing. A samurai sword covering almost half of the poster and it tells where this all is going. Fonts of the poster are also cool.

TPW Rating- 4.5/5
  
3. Death Proof (2007)
Copyright- Dimension Films
Through his filmography Tarantino has always given some kind of homage to particular film or film genres. Death Proof was a homage to the 70s' films on car chasing and exploitation. It released with another film, directed by Robert Rodriguez, named Planet Terror. But this poster came out solo. Poster's color has a 60s' or 70s' look. Fonts and figures also have same characteristics.Classic example of a classic film poster!

TPW Rating- 5/5 
  
4. Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Copyright- The Weinstein Company and Universal Picture
Nazi killing basterds are back! First of all this is not the main poster of the film. This poster only depict Brad Pitt standing on the dead bodies of multiple Nazi soldiers. The idea seems brutal but this is what Tarantino is all about. He is the guy who can make violence aesthetically awesome. Fonts are also quite cool.

TPW Rating- 4.5/5

Sunday, December 6, 2015

07 Surreal Album Covers from Coldplay

Top British rock band Coldplay was formed in 1996 with it's lead vocalist Chris Martin and guitarist Jonny Buckland. Through the University years, both of them been busy organizing the band. Name of the band changed twice. At the very beginning the band's name was Pectoralz. Later it became Starfish and finally named as Coldplay.   

Coldplay is a commercially and critically successful band. They have topped charts from their launching album. The band achieved many music awards including Brit Awards and MTV Video Music Awards. They are also engaged in many social organizations like Oxfam and Amnesty.    

1. Parachutes (2000)
Copyright- Parlophone
This commercially successful debut album by Coldplay had a photograph of globe as cover. Globe that was bought from retailer shop WHSmith. The picture was taken on a disposable Kodak camera. With a dark background this lighting globe looks weirdly beautiful.

TPW Rating- 4/5

2. A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
Copyright- Parlophone
If you haven't seen it before you should know that this cover art got a cult fame. The whole idea was arranged by Sølve Sundsbø, a Norwegian photographer. Vocal Chris Martin saw a photograph by Sundsbø on a music based magazine named Dazed & Confused at first. Then Martin wanted the permission of Sundsbø to use the photograph for using it as cover of this album. Sundsbø gave the permission and had a rework with the cover as all band members' head were scanned. The cover was chosen by Royal Mail for postage stamp, for set of the 'Classic Album Cover'.   

TPW Rating- 5/5
     
3. X&Y (2005)
Copyright- Capitol, Parlophone
Mark Tappin and Simon Gofton, the celebrated graphic designers done the artwork for X&Y. The image we see as cover of the album is nothing but a graphical interpretation of Baudot Code, which is a form of telegraphic communication using 1 and 0. Cool colors were used on fonts and image.

TPW Rating- 4/5  


4. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)
Copyright- Capitol, Parlophone
Again a surprising artwork by Coldplay. This piece of cover was designed by one of the ex-collaborators, Tappin Gofton and Coldplay. It took a long time to finish the cover as it was developed from different sketches and paintings. The title itself looks like part of the painting and really creates a rebellious scenario.

TPW Rating- 4.5/5

5. Mylo Xyloto (2011)
Copyright- Capitol, Parlophone
Another exotic design from Coldplay! The cover was highly inspired by graffiti works. The bad had an extensive research and homework on graffiti design, and they even were in search for a graffiti teacher who could teach them about this specific art medium. There is a sharp contrast in color between this cover and the previous one of Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. This cover uses more of a raw and exciting colors. Fonts are great too!

TPW Rating- 4.5/5   

6. Ghost Stories (2014)
Copyright- Atlantic, Parlophone
This cover by Coldplay is bit simplistic than the previous ones. Subject of the cover is extraordinary! A pair of wings (of angel's most probably) were used in front of the widespread sea and sky full of stars. Artwork was well executed by Czeck artist Mila Furstova. This album is full of arts and sketches by this great artist.

TPW Rating- 5/5 

7. A Head Full of Dreams (2015)
Copyright- Atlantic, Parlophone
The marketing for this album was really creative as the central geometric pattern of the cover (named as Flower of life) was all where on the London Underground. It had a tiny note- December 4. You get it right. It's the release date of the album. Cover has a surreal feel and used rich colors.

TPW Rating- 4.5/5