The Poster Boys

The Poster Boys are Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith, two designers who get together and discuss all things graphic design, share their influences, and explore and celebrate the titans of poster design history. Schaefer and Smith both work as poster designers in today’s film industry, working with clients including The Criterion Collection, IFCFilms, Oscilloscope, Death Waltz Recording Company, and Janus Films. Look as you listen by following theposterboys.tumblr.com.

59: 2019 In Review 12/04/2019

59: 2019 In Review For the final episode of The Poster Boys, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith round up the most notable movie posters of 2019, celebrating some of their personal favorites while reflecting on general trends in key art, festival posters, design agencies, and other aspects of the industry. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/12273986

58: Martin Scorsese 11/01/2019

58: Martin Scorsese With Martin Scorsese’s critically-acclaimed new film THE IRISHMAN hitting theaters and Netflix this month, poster designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith take a look back at the posters of Scorsese’s filmography. From his early iconic classics like MEAN STREETS and THE KING OF COMEDY to his additional DeNiro collaborations TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL, as well as his genre diversions AFTER HOURS and BRINGING OUT THE DEAD. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/11866733

57: Movie Posters of the 70’s - Part 2 09/30/2019

57: Movie Posters of the 70’s - Part 2 It’s the Movie Posters of the 70′s - PART TWO! This month on The Poster Boys podcast, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith complete their annual deep-dive into American film posters from an entire decade; this time: the 1970’s. In the second of an epic two-part special, The Poster Boys round out their list of favorite and noteworthy graphic designs from a tremendous decade of key art. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/11445308

56: Movie Posters of the 70’s - Part 1 09/06/2019

56: Movie Posters of the 70’s - Part 1 Sam & Brandon dive into American film posters from an entire decade; this time: the 1970’s. In the first of an epic two-part special, The Poster Boys look at key art contributions by legendary illustrators of the era including Milton Glaser, Richard Amsel, Ted Coconis, and Jack Davis, as well as contributions from countless other designers and illustrators who created challenging and memorable poster art in an analog era long before today’s design technologies emerged. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/11147843

55: Fischer-Nosbisch 08/02/2019

55: Fischer-Nosbisch This month on The Poster Boys podcast, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith celebrate the movie poster designs of Dorothea Fischer-Nosbisch and Fritz Fischer, partners and unsung heroes who designed stunning posters and programs for Atlas Films in 1960′s Germany alongside like Hans Hillmann, Heinz Edelmann, and other members of their award-winning design collective NOVUM which they founded. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/10748423

54: Disney Renaissance 07/02/2019

54: Disney Renaissance With Disney’s Aladdin now in theaters and their upcoming release of The Lion King arriving this summer, The Poster Boys head back to their animated origins by diving into the Disney Renaissance! From The Little Mermaid to Tarzan, Brandon and Sam look back on and discuss the process behind some of Disney’s most iconic film posters from 1989 to 1999. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/10376783

BONUS: The Flat File - PIXAR 06/28/2019

BONUS: The Flat File - PIXAR This month on The Flat File, we take a look at the official posters for the Pixar movie library, from TOY STORY to… TOY STORY 4! With Lightning McQueen, The Incredibles, Coco, Wall-E, Dory, Sully, Remy, and Nemo along the way, the Boys discuss the unique considerations that apply to creating and viewing animated film posters, and compare these designs to other trends in contemporary key art. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/10323542

53: Japanese Film Posters 05/31/2019

53: Japanese Film Posters This month on The Poster Boys, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith survey the history of Japanese Film Posters, defined by gorgeous photo-collage, dynamic uses of scale, color, and typography, and an overall unique elegance with the occasional zany flair. While not much is known (in English) about the production of these designs, their excellence is overdue for greater appreciation. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/9993299

52: Marvel Movie Poster Spectacular 04/26/2019

52: Marvel Movie Poster Spectacular As AVENGERS: ENDGAME hits theatres, The Poster Boys reflect on eleven years of theatrical posters promoting the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Highlighting the various and changing agencies that handled these enormous Hollywood campaigns, as well as the colorful alternative posters commissioned in partner with Mondo and IMAX, Brandon and Sam point out aesthetic trends, hits and misses, and attempt to shatter some of the myths about poster-making on this supersized scale. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/9537737

51: Q&A with Sam and Brandon 03/29/2019

51: Q&A with Sam and Brandon Q&A time!! For the first episode after 50, The Poster Boys answer questions about posters, process, design, clients, movies, life, and everything in between. A special to thanks to the listeners who reached out and helped make this episode possible! /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/9186416

50: The 50 Greatest Movie Posters Ever! 02/28/2019

50: The 50 Greatest Movie Posters Ever! If you could preserve only fifty movie posters, what would they be? For their 50th episode, The Poster Boys try to answer that question for themselves by traveling back through the last 100+ years of key art from around the globe to select fifty of their favorites. From 1920’s Sweden to the US in the present day, Brandon and Sam discuss what they’d save and why they’d leave certain posters behind. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/8816000

49: John Alvin 01/31/2019

49: John Alvin Kicking off the start of a new year, The Poster Boys dive into the work of the legendary poster art of John Alvin, who found notoriety as an artist at Intralink Film and Graphic Design before establishing Alvin & Associates with his wife Andrea in the early 1990s. From Blade Runner to Beauty and the Beast, Brandon and Sam look back on and discuss the process behind some of the most iconic film posters ever created between the mid-1970s all the way through the early 2000s. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/8465279

48: 2018 In Review 12/28/2018

48: 2018 In Review Designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith round up the most notable movie posters of 2018, celebrating some of their personal favorites while reflecting on general trends in key art, festival posters, design agencies, and other aspects of the industry. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/8063567

47: Philip Gips 11/27/2018

47: Philip Gips This month, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith do a little detective work uncovering the key art designed by Philip Gips, a business partner of acclaimed advertising director Stephen Frankfurt, including iconic and famous poster designs for ROSEMARY’S BABY, DOWNHILL RACER, and ALIEN among others previously attributed to Frankfurt. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/7697549

46: Italian Horror 10/29/2018

46: Italian Horror After opening the Flat File on Dario Argento’s SUSPIRIA for their Patreon supporters last month, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith survey the macabre visions of Italian Horror film posters. These wild and weird designs, much like Argento, Bava, Martino, and Fulci’s films themselves, tap into the highest and lowest measures of aesthetics, from the sleaziest to the sublime. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/7350137

45: Akiko Stehrenberger 10/01/2018

45: Akiko Stehrenberger The Poster Boys interview one of the most accomplished and multitalented movie poster artists working today: Akiko Stehrenberger. Jumping between styles from the photorealistic, to the playful, to deceptively simple photographic solutions, Akiko works independently with filmmakers and clients as well as with shops and agencies to produce truly stunning and unique key art with a human touch and a visionary, often times surreal, aesthetic voice. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/7110166

44: Seven Samurai 09/11/2018

44: Seven Samurai This month designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith are changing it up! Hitting the drawing board to unveil original posters designs for SEVEN SAMURAI, as chosen by listeners, the boys discuss their design process, celebrating the unique, different approaches designers can take to honor Akira Kurosawa’s classic film in the form of a fresh and iconic poster. They also open the Flat File to look at the other SEVEN SAMURAI posters from around the world. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/7024717

43: Movie Posters of the 80’s - Part 2 07/30/2018

43: Movie Posters of the 80’s - Part 2 In Part II of The Poster Boys’ 80’s movie poster spectacular, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith hand-select and discuss their favorite Movie Posters of the 1980’s, from the remarkable illustrated work of John Alvin and Robert Tanenbaum to the iconic and enduring power of designs for 80’s classics like GHOSTBUSTERS and E.T., not to mention the decade’s most uncanny horror film posters, from FRIDAY THE 13TH to THE VISITOR, finding new appreciation for a transitional period in poster design. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/6868077

42: Movie Posters of the 80’s - Part 1 07/02/2018

42: Movie Posters of the 80’s - Part 1 This summer, The Poster Boys take an extended trip back to the movie theatre lightboxes and video stores of their childhoods, and survey the Movie Posters of the 80’s in a two-part spectacular. In Part I, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith comment on trends in 80’s poster design, titles, typography, and branding, holding both photo-based designs and richly illustrated painted works on the same playing field as pieces of key art worthy of both nostalgic remembrance and fresh objectivity. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/6767677

41: Bill Gold Advertising 05/31/2018

41: Bill Gold Advertising With the recent passing of Bill Gold, The Poster Boys look back on the design studio headed by one of the biggest names in film advertising for over 40 years. From Casablanca to Mystic River, Brandon and Sam touch on Gold’s early days as an in-house designer at Warner Bros. before diving into the numerous film poster campaigns he and his collaborators created for some of cinema’s most enduring works. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/6654522

40: Czechoslovak Film Posters 04/30/2018

40: Czechoslovak Film Posters This month, The Poster Boys take a second trip back to eastern Europe after the second world war to look at the history behind the rise and decline of the Czechoslovak film poster. Brandon and Sam weave in and out through the late 1940s down through the early 1990s to shed some light on the the world the artists of post-war Czechoslovakia inhabited and the designs they created for some of cinema’s most treasured films. A special thanks to Jozef of www.jozefquare.com for his help in researching this episod /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/6535357

39: Ingmar Bergman 03/30/2018

39: Ingmar Bergman In honor of Janus Films’ centennial retrospective of Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, the Poster Boys survey the film posters of the influential and iconic Swedish auteur. From arthouse classics like THE SEVENTH SEAL and CRIES AND WHISPERS to overseas sensati /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/6419979

38: Barbara Kruger 02/27/2018

38: Barbara Kruger After a small break due to technical difficulties, The Poster Boys are back! This month, Brandon and Sam dive into the work of renowned artist Barbara Kruger, looking back to the beginning of her career as a designer to see how she used her training as an art director at Condé Nast to bridge the gap between fine art and graphic design. From posters to billboards to editorial art, the boys discuss some of their favorite pieces, and examine how form and content can be used as a force for good. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/6308399

37: Best of 2017 12/21/2017

37: Best of 2017 The Poster Boys discuss the 2017 Year in Movie Posters. Designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith select the theatrical posters, teasers, and campaigns that caught their eye this year, discussing design trends, film branding, the importance of context when comparing agency work to freelance work, and reflecting on their own personal experiences as poster designers in 2017. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/6077184

36: Holiday Gift Guide 11/24/2017

36: Holiday Gift Guide It’s an extra special light episode centered almost entirely around dead trees! This month, Brandon and Sam try something a little different in time for the holidays: they look at some of their favorite art and design related books published (or found) /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/5976563

35: Stephen King 10/24/2017

35: Stephen King Find a flashlight and a blanket to hide under, because The Poster Boys are taking a Halloween themed trip down memory lane with the work of Stephen King. This month, Brandon and Sam discuss their favorite book covers and film posters from (and based on) the bestselling author’s more chilling tales, diving into the differences between marketing a story for print and film while reminiscing about how inescapable King’s presence was when they were growing up. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/5870505

34: The Process - Part 1 09/28/2017

34: The Process - Part 1 This month, Brandon and Sam journey back into their own lives to discuss how they first got involved in design, and the ways in which their process has changed over time. From school flyers to fake toy packaging, the boys share stories from their childhood and discuss how they both went from designing film posters for fun to making it into a career. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/5784347

33: Back to School 08/31/2017

33: Back to School Grab your lunch, pack your books and get ready for the first day of class! This month on the show, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith head back to the halls of academia, diving into some of the most notable posters for films centered in or around the school. From Pretty in Pink to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the boys look back at their favorites while trying to piece together the process behind some of the genre’s most iconic pieces of key art. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/5694067

32: Planet of the Apes 07/31/2017

32: Planet of the Apes With War For the Planet of the Apes now in theaters, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith look back at the film poster history of the long running franchise. Starting from the original 1968 classic and moving through the subsequent sequels, remakes, and reboots, the boys discuss how deeper approaches to creating poster art can play second fiddle to more commercial directives when promoting a blockbuster, and the ways in which the marketing for a series can change (or stay the same) over time. /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/5592481

31: David Lynch 06/30/2017

31: David Lynch With the return of Twin Peaks after 26 years, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith look back at the posters that have accompanied the many films of David Lynch in their first director-themed episode. From Eraserhead to Inland Empire, the boys discuss how Lynch’s unique cinematic vision has been marketed both in the US and abroad since 1977 while looking at the role a one-sheet plays in honoring a filmmaker’s work. Plus: listener feedback and a few words on the state of the superhero movie poster in 2017. SHOW NOTES & LINKS Music selections: “Bass on Titles” opening theme, “In Heaven” from the ERASERHEAD original motion picture soundtrack, Twin Peaks theme by Angelo Badalamenti, “Shadow” by Chromatics. Follow Brandon Schaefer at , and Sam Smith at . Special thanks to producer . /episode/index/show/theposterboys/id/5494889

The Poster Boys

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