Back To The Future: The Art of the Poster

Back To The Future: The Art of the Poster

There's probably only a handful of movies I can say that have a really close personal connection to me, these are the ones that reside in that warm fuzzy, cosy place in the depths of your heart, and generally ones you revisit from time to time for that dopamine feel good fix. For me, one of those films is Back to Future, the story, the humor, the sci-fi escapism,  not to mention the brilliant onscreen chemistry between Marty and the Doc played so well by Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd.

Back to the Future is a movie that enjoys what I call a 'protected status', its universally loved by everyone, I don't think I've ever met anyone in my life you doesn't love the movie, which is a rare thing, especially these days. People, including myself love this wholesome movie so much they will protect it, not just as a great movie but for how it makes them feel and the sentiment they feel from watching it. These are the people that won't have a bad word said against it, it shall remain untarnished forever and it will keep people smiling and laughing long after I'm dead. I might be sounding a tad deep and reflective here, but Back to the Future is as pure as anything I could describe or compare it against.

With all that being said below are some great examples of the love people have for this movie with Art of the Poster. 

The original poster illustrated by Drew Struzan shows Marty stepping out of the DeLorean stunned by the date and time as his looks at his watch, its an iconic design and even without the movies title on it I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who couldn't recognize both the character and the movie.

A great version here by Amanda Jordan,Marty pretends to be a Space Alien "Darth Vader" using the anti radiation suit and music through his walkman to convince George about the upcoming dance, having previously scared the Peabody family when he crashed into  their barn, emerging from the Delorean in the same suit. The costumes of the film were designed by Deborah Lynn Scott who also worked on Transformers and Avatar.

A subtle approach to this design, kind of understated with some nice emphasis on the DeLorean, Marty touching the hood of the car connects him to the journey its taken him on. Designed by James Flames.

There's a great sense of heroic realism with this poster by John Cordero, it conveys the main characters in key moments of the film and has a gritty rawness to the way its produced, it has a Drew Struzan feel in some way but all the elements work beautifully to tell a story.

One of the best moments in the film is when Marty plays Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode on the electric guitar. Michael was taught how to play the actual song by Paul Hanson, the famed Hollywood music coach but didn't actually play the song in the movie, Marty's singing voice was that of Mark Campbell band member of Jack Mack and the Heart Attack. Design by Luke Martin.

This design by Mainger Germain has a very cool 80's vibe to it blended with a 50's rock and roll font, I guess to emphasize this is one of the 80's best movies but to hint at the back in time element of the music and era too. This concept adds some great mystery on the time machine itself, the DeLorean.

When the DeLorean was first introduced it really did have the wow factor in the movie, its reveal was superbly done to create some great impact, not to mention that line from Marty "You built a time machine out of a DeLorean?" which has an air of disbelief tinged with some disappointment too, all to hilarious effect. Love the choice of font for this by Nicolas Alejandro Barbera.

An action packed design by Oliver Rankin as the DeLorean is chased by the Libyan's across the shopping mall parking lot in their VW camper van trying to fire an RPG at it. I love the number plate in the foreground and the light coming from the wheels as the car is on the verge of going back in time.

Profanity in the movie is extremely light, I guess its also one of the qualities that make this such a universally accepted and loved film, which makes Docs comment that "some serious shit" will occur once the DeLorean hits that magic 88 miles per hour. A great design to focus on one of the funnier lines from the film that hints at the time travel aspect. Bold font with a neon glow really punches the eyes. Design by Tom Ryan.