Wed, May 21, 2008
Little to the left… chin down—4:09 PM
Judd Apatow will be receiving the Visionary Award at this year's Key Art Awards, which award movie marketing (trailers, posters, etc.). From PosterWire's writeup on the nominations:
(The main Apatow inspiration seems to be the recent trend of the “Sears Portrait Studio” look in comedy film posters.)
The examples cited include The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and this summer's Step Brothers. These posters are great, and work well with the movies they promote. They also undeniably reference each other – almost to the point of a brand identity.
I realized today, while watching another fantastic episode of Showtime's This American Life, where the genesis of this idea must have come from: the opening credits of Apatow's mercilessly canceled Freaks and Geeks. Remember? Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" played over a smash-cut series of yearbook photo sessions. He's been mining the same dorky, identity-flattening freeze frame for its comic potential ever since.
