JKR

Prometheus is released this week, the ‘not quite a prequel’ shares some design DNA with Alien. While the original film’s poster was a charismatic and very memorable image, I passed one today for Prometheus featuring the standard (and very dull) lineup of the cast’s portraits. I guess a few decade’s research proves such an approach sells more tickets, but a resonant and powerful image it does not make. However, there are plenty of other posters for the new film that reference the original’s style and lead with the ‘Giger-esque’ big heads from the trailers.

H. R. Giger produced many insane looking production designs for the original film. I don’t think he has had much to do with this one, although his dabs are all over it. The whole plot revolves around his ‘space jockey’ design, which was an intriguing piece of background detail in Alien…

It’s nice to see the style back and it made me wonder: has any film production design ever been more visually influential? It’s a look that spawned a thousand imitations, a million tattoos and a whole lot of cyber goths. Probably because it was the eccentric creation of one particular vision. Giger simply has a unique style and once seen, it’s hard to forget.

Final note. The new film has been trailed online with a massive array of extra ‘stuff’. Spoof Ted Talks and brochures for the new line of David androids. Again I am sure a media buying strategist can explain why all this design is the future with some spreadsheets, much as they might make a case for a film poster presenting the cast. But to my mind none of it (and it’s a lot) adds up to the powerful economy of the original’s teaser, ‘In space no one can hear you scream’. 2012 looked pretty futuristic from the perspective of the early 80s. But in some ways we seem less, not more, sophisticated…