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jflashandclash · 5 years ago

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Tales From Mount Othrys

Ajax: Fidget Spinners VI

The Lord of the Underworld was almost exactly what Pax expected he would be: moody, dark, and evil-looking with a strong affinity for the color black. Or maybe it was the color “trapped soul.” Whatever it was, Hades liked it outlined in gold, probably to look more intimidating. He wore black robes and had a helm under one arm.

There was one major problem. He didn’t have blue fire for hair. Disney taught Pax that Hades was supposed to have blue fire hair and a great sense of humor. Disney had lied to him. This just looked like a rich, pasty white guy.

His black and gold chariot was spooky, but Pax had seen cooler ones. The one they were designing for Kronos was way better.

Axel was crazy enough to have his sword still drawn. In the presence of the Lord of the Underworld, with Hades’ squadron of geriatric dominatrixes, and some Halloween standees behind them, Pax’s brother set his jaw and kept hislips in a firm line. When asked later, Pax would say Axel didn’t shake once (and they would get a chance to be asked later; they were both surviving this, damn it.) Truth was, Pax’s presence seemed to weaken Axel’s resolve. Pax guessed it was real easy to get yourself killed when it was just you that would be doing the dying part.

Pax’s mind raced. One thing was certain: they weren’t fighting their way out of this.

Axel grunted when Pax pushed his sword hand down.

“Get out of here,” Axel hissed in Mayan.

Pax didn’t know how to explain to Axel that the invisibility spell over Pax was sparking and would attract a lot of attention if he tried to pick up Axel and flee. Pax didn’t get a chance.

Hades’ voice boomed and reverberated around the cavern more than Jack’s had. “You will not escape me this time, Perc—”

As his chariot ground to a halt, his dark eyes narrowed at Axel’s tiny form, then flicked back up to the furies. “This isn’t Percy Jackson.”

The furies had been fluttering in an intimidating circle above, like the most obnoxious of gnats. One landed beside Hades’ chariot, looking nervous. “We thought it was Luke Castellan, My Lord. Your rage and obsession over Jackson must have—”

Hades roared. He lashed out towards the Fury.

She took to the sky again, shrieking.

“Does this look like the host of Kronos?!” Hades bellowed, Pax thought, rather offensively. Axel could totally host Kronos if he wanted. “I’m not sure if I would rather strike Jackson or Castellan dead first.” His dark gaze returned back to Axel. “You’ll have to suffice.”

Pax wished the invisibility spell came with a sink-into-the-ground function. He trembled at the power radiating off this god, and knew, in that horrifying moment, that Axel was about to challenge Hades to a duel.

Pax’s mouth opened. He wasn’t sure what words would come out, but they would definitely be better than Axel’s, You wanna throw down?

“We’re lost,” Pax said.

Hades looked confused, clearly noting that Axel hadn’t opened his mouth.

Axel tensed.

No option for running now. Pax continued, feeling a few sparks above his head flutter down to singe he shoulder. He hoped that wasn’t burning holes in the invisibility spell. He might need it in a moment. “Yes, we’re lost,” Pax repeated. “We’re looking…” He grasped for anything that might baffle the Lord of the Dead. At those words, it popped into his head. “We’re looking… for Xibalba?” The comment came out a question.

Axel cleared his throat. “Yes,” he confirmed, glancing in Pax’s general direction without landing exactly on Pax. “We’re looking for Xibalba.” Robotically, Axel sheathed his sword.

Hades looked incredibly annoyed. “You are Mayan,” he said, examining Axel’s tufted ears with begrudging realization. “You’re not Greek at all.”

“Nope,” Axel confirmed. “My faith is in the Mayan gods and the Catholic Trinity.”

None of that was false. They had always practiced within the Mayan and Catholic faith. They knew Greek and Roman gods and hung out with them. Pax hardly called that faith or worship, no matter how often Morpheus liked to tease them as his little devotees when they slept-in with a rare, sweet dream. Axel scorned when anyone suggested he refer to the Titans as all powerful.

Hades pinched the ridge of his nose. “Who let you down here?”

“Um…” Axel said. He, Luke, and Jack must have slipped into the Underworld through a back entrance and didn’t know who to pin the blame on.

Pax had an immediate answer. “Charon,” he said.

“CHARON!” Hades bellowed.

Even Axel flinched as the cavern trembled with a minor earth quake. A stalactite fell and crashed into lines of the dead in the distance. They passed through, unharmed.

“First he has the audacity to ask for a pay raise, and now he’s letting heathens into my domain!” Hades yelled, “His impertinence knows no end! First his suits! And now his life coach that’s telling him how hard it is to find someone with his skill set!”

Although Axel probably couldn’t see Pax, the brothers knew to looks towards each other as though to exchange a glance.

“Is his skill set hard to find?” Axel asked.

“Yes!” Hades bellowed, “It’s nearly impossible to find a well-suited grim reaper.” Pax wanted to raise a hand to ask if Hades’ “well-suited” meant Charon’s outfit or skill set, but Hades cut him off. “But, you can’t let him know that. It goes straight to his head and now he thinks he’s irreplaceable. He forgets that one-in-a-billion is different than irreplaceable. How many people do you think die in a day!?”

Pax coughed into the back of his hand to keep himself from laughing. Was this guy for real? Most of his prior fear was evaporating. “Us heathens?” he reminded Hades.

“Yes, it has been an awfully long time since Charon flubbed and let savage barbarians into my domain—”

“Let’s stick with heathens,” Axel growled.

Pax had to agree. He remembered Alabaster once telling him something about how barbarian meant someone who wasn’t Hellenistic to the Greeks, but avoiding the adjective “savage,” was that too much to ask for?

“And now we have a leak in our ICEE unit. They should have caught you at the entrance,” Hades continued like Axel hadn’t spoken.

Had Pax heard that right? “ICEE? For real? As in—”

“Inhumation Correction to Exact Exequies,” Hades growled. “This is what you get when you let liberal arts majors name things. Regardless, they’re for the dead who were improperly processed after death. They’ll be able to sort a ghost and a…. are you some kind of spirit guide?”

The question didn’t sound sarcastic, just irritated. Pax’s mind raced, trying to think—

Pax decided to go with lying, a rarity with his normal half-truths. He forgot no one could see him while he shrugged. “He’s the weird one. All Mayan dead look like me.”

“Uh-hu…” a Fury somewhere above said doubtfully.

Pax stuck a tongue out at her and had the delightful realization that he could moon the Lord of the Dead right here, right now, in his own domain, and no one would know to stop him and there would assuredly be no repercussions.

That would also mean mooning the creepy dominatrixes in the sky. He decided he would pass up the opportunity to avoid that.

“We’re sorry to cause you such strife, Lord Death,” Axel said, holding up his hands in a mock-honoring gesture. “We can show ourselves out, really.”

“Likely,” Hades said. “Last time we had an ICEE mix up, there was SUCH ruckus and chaos. That einherji was terrible for our image!”

Axel frowned, his hands clenching into fists. “You know, not all misplaced souls are like that.”

“Yes, you try telling that the to Elysian Field occupants that had their houses torched and raided. All it takes is one and it devalues all the properties for miles!” Hades said.

Pax got the bad feeling that Axel was about to attack Hades regardless of their ruse. While warranted, Axel might really be a misplaced Mayan soul stuck in the Underworld’s immigration unit if he did.

Before Pax could say something to ease the mood, Hades leaned forward in his chariot. His hand curled around his black helm. His dark eyes bore down onto Axel.

Had Axel been a lesser man, he’d have probably crumbled to his knees with all that godliness trying to make him feel mortal. Pax definitely felt himself trembling. Instead, Axel stared back.

Hades pointed to Axel’s arm. “You tried to swim in the River Styx.” This time, when the Lord of the Underworld spoke, his oily voice was also filled with ice.

Axel lowered his arms completely. His burn marks had been on full display from where he’d withdrawn Luke from the dark waters and held his acidic friend.

Considering that probably wasn’t a popular tourist destination for a leisure dip, Pax could see where marks from it would be suspicious.

“Is that what your river is called?” Pax asked, trying to edge his voice with some mockery. “Our black river is the scorpion river. Dipping in it is part of our death ritual. You should check the pH balance of your scorpions. I think they’re off.” That most certainly was not part of their death ritual. Pax planned to stay as far away from the Black River as he could when we went to….

An existential panic threatened to break Pax’s concentration on the present. Would he end up in the Mayan afterlife or the Greek one? Or even the Catholic one? Others in Camp Othrys said it was based off belief, but what if you believed in all three? And what if Axel didn’t end up in the same one? Would paradise even be worth it if you couldn’t hang out with your bro?

The expression on Hades’ face brought Pax’s attention back. Those harsh lines hadn’t softened at Pax’s flubbed explanation. Hades was in the process of deciding he didn’t believe them and, probably, wondering which part of his robes he’d put the Pax brother’s souls into. Guy had some weird fetishes if he kept people’s souls in his robes and ladies with whips as his escorts. No wonder Persephone only stayed down here a few months out of the year.

They needed a distraction and they need one fast, something that would shock or offend Hades so much that he’d forget to toss them into his evil sock drawer and something that would startle Axel away from where his hand was creeping towards his sword hilt.

“Your helmet looks stupid,” Pax blurted.

That… that was not what they needed. But, Pax would make it work.

Before Hades eyes could bulge out of his head, his “WHAT” could shake apart the Underworld, or Axel could choke on his laughter, Pax continued, “I’m looking out for your best interests. It looks like your helm would look stupid on, and I wouldn’t want you looking stupid to other invisible spirits like myself. You see, us invisibles look visible to other invisibles. Haven’t you noticed that when you have your helm on?”

It was a huge gamble. Alabaster would have been able to tell Pax if that was stupid or not, according to mythology. At the moment, all Pax could remember was that it was a helm of invisibility. He couldn’t remember what other figures possessed this power.

Hades’ brow had furrowed in rage, his mouth agape like a rabid animal. In the briefest moment, Pax saw a glimmer of insecurity in those pits of eternal pain that Hades had for eyes.

Either Pax had already sentenced him and his brother to death or Hades needed the tiniest bit more coaxing before he cracked.

“I mean, I’m a Mayan. I’ll talk to you straight. How many Greeks would dare give you an honest opinion on this?” Pax said, so fast that he hoped others could keep the syllables separated. “Try asking one of your humble servants.”

The ghoul army behind him shuffled in nervous motion. The Furies seemed to fly higher.

“I trust my servants to be honest with me,” Hades snarled. He scowled up towards the Fury that had spotted their party; she hadn’t flown up fast enough. “Alekto.”

She seemed alarmed. “Yes, Master?” she said uncertainly.

“Does my helm look stupid when I’m wearing it?” Hades asked.

Her wing flapping grew so tentative, Pax thought that she might lose altitude. “Um…. Master, I cannot see it on you when you wear it. You’re invisible.”

Hades nostrils flared. “Of course you can’t,” he said, his voice bitter with suspicion.

Pax shrugged in a, what are you going to do?, gesture. Remembering that Hades couldn’t see him, he shoved Axel and hoped his older brother got the message.

“Underlings, am I right?” Axel asked. The words sounded unnatural from him. On the laundry list of things that made Axel passionately angry, the misuse of underpaid workers was one of them.

That didn’t matter to Hades. He examined his helmet so thoroughly, he probably hadn’t even heard Axel. Pax had cracked Hades’ confident demeanor with the tiniest hint of insecurity. Alekto’s hesitation was all Pax needed to convince the Lord of the Dead that there was a problem.

“Charon did give the design to the Elder Cyclopes during the First Titan War. It has always been a little too tight.” Hades lifted his helm and stared into the dark eye sockets. Pax was a little disappointed that the helmet didn’t turn Hades’ arm invisible when he stuck his hand inside to lift it up. Hades snorted. “Of course I would be the only god that needed measurements for my great weapon. Zeus and Poseidon get a bolt and a trident. Doesn’t matter if their henchmen are unreliable. You’d think with all those tailored suits, that Charon could take a proper measurement—”

Pax wanted to point out that Hades should be able to just change the size of his head. He was a GOD. That was the opposite of what Pax wanted Hades to think. Pax feigned a gasp, kicking his brother’s boot.

Instead of sharing Pax’s gasp, as he had hoped, Axel glared at him. His message was clear: get on with what you’re doing before you get us killed.

“Oh, you’ve never SEEN your helmet on yourself?” Pax said, sounding as aghast and offended as he could manage. “I mean, if you’re comfortable with not knowing whether or not you look like an idiot—”

Hades made a threatening growl.

Pax knew he couldn’t back down. “—and maybe telling Persephone that her husband lost his fashion sense after the SS uniform went out of style—”

“Those uniforms influenced dark fashion for years,” Hades said with pride.

“All villains admire that look. Clearly you know what you’re doing,” Pax agreed. “Maybe we just need someone to model your helmet for you, that way you can make adjustments to fit what you think is best, not Charon’s sloppy notes.”

“It would be nice to fix the sizing. And I could add some more skulls to it, if I were to have it fixed,” Hades mumbled, tilting the helm on its side.

“You’ll need someone who—I mean, no one could do your grand, imperial stance justice, but someone who would come close. You need a chiseled, manly-jawed model. Someone with an authoritarian stance...” Pax hummed like he was thinking. “Oh, the Furies won’t do. They’re ladies. And you don’t want someone who’s decomposed. They won’t be able to tell you if it would be comfortable with adjustments. What’s your head circumference?”

“37 in this form; 25 when I look more like the lesser race,” Hades said absently. He gestured towards Axel and Pax, clearly meaning, when I look mortal.

“Twenty-five!” Pax cried. He shoved Axel’s shoulder, so Axel stumbled a step forward. “A chiseled-jaw, authoritarian stance and a 25 inch head circumference—”

“No—” Axel hissed at Pax, but Pax knew it was already too late for him to properly protest.

“—that just so happens to fit my brother! What luck!” Pax had no idea if that would fit his brother’s head. He didn’t know many people who knew their own head circumference, let alone the head circumference of a relative. After they lived through this, he’d have to ask it of Axel. Then he could make him a, I Went to Hades and Only Got This Defective Helm of Darkness cap.

Hades’ eyes narrowed. They slid past the helm to the two of them. Pax had managed to usher them closer to Hades’ chariot. “Are you suggesting I put my most prized weapon atop your brother’s head?”

“I mean, if you have someone else to model it for you quickly, we don’t need to bother you.” Axel shot Pax a look.

Pax nodded sagely. “I’m sure you have lots of dashing heroes that aren’t decomposed and gross or incorporeal to help. I mean. We’re just right here. Passing through. And I happen to be someone who can see invisible things. I guess we could call up Hecate—augh. I forgot she betrayed you for the Titans.” Pax snapped his fingers like he was disappointed. “And Queen Persephone might not mind too much if you get some zombie brain junk on those beautiful, raven locks.”

Hades eyes widened enough that Pax thought the King of the Underworld might shoot lasers at him. Maybe Pax was pushing the line a bit too much.

“How would a Mayan know about Hecate and her betrayal?” Hades demanded.

“The Lords of the Dead gossip a lot,” Axel blurted. “You know how Lord Hun-Came gets when he’s been drinking and playing ball with Lord Vucub-Came.”

“This is why you only have one Lord of the Dead. Bureaucracy just means red tape and more time for courtly banter.[1] You can run a government so much easier when you’re a tyrant,” Hades said and sighed, like he’d been petitioned many times for a democratic underworld.

Axel rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, “Apparently, only when you have competent henchmen.”

Pax pinched his brother’s arm. They were close; he could feel it, especially since he almost felt bad for Hades. If Hades really thought it was easier to rule down here by himself, Pax wondered how lonely this guy got.

Pax wasn’t here to check on the underworld’s mental health though. “Why not surround us with a circle of guards. It’s not like we’re trained acrobats that can jump over people’s heads.” Axel snorted. Pax pinched his shoulder again. “And, we might as well help you. It’s the least we can do before you escort us to your ICEE unit.”

Hades considered this for a moment. His entourage shuffled in discomfort. The Furies might hit a stalactite if they flew any higher to avoid his wraith.

“Very well,” he said. “Guards!”

The shuffling grew louder as the warriors made a loose circle around him and his brother. Some of the spear tips got a little too close for comfort. They’d have to be careful avoiding those while escaping.

Hades motioned Axel forward.

The taller boy clenched his jaw. Pax was pretty sure the tension therein could shatter an entire frozen lake. While this was the perfect opportunity for Axel to get the sword equivalent of a sucker punch on Hades, Pax wanted to remind Axel that they probably couldn’t stab the Lord of the Dead, bid a “good day” to his army, and skip out of here down a black brick road. Pax swallowed, reminding himself that sucker punches were things that he did. His brother had some weird concept about something called honor? Pax normally ignored Axel when he talked about it.

Here came the hard part: getting Axel to kneel to accept the helm.

Axel leveled with Hades’ black chariot. Pax could feel the overwhelming power radiating off it and its master. Authority bled off this guy like creepiness from a spider, and Hades wanted Axel to bend to his will without having to be asked.

Axel, an idiot who bowed to no man nor god, cleared his throat. “Lord Hades, I believe you won’t be able to reach me from your chariot if I kneel.”

The comment was presumptuous and Pax thought Axel had blown all their improvisation quicker than a Star Trek Vulcan would ruin the atmosphere of the Renaissance festival. He waited for Hades’ fist to turn into a cartoon hammer and smash Axel into the black sand.

Instead, Hades growled, “Mayans are the first people to even think about that. Would my soldiers have said anything? No. They would have forced me to reach further down to get them.” Especially with how tall the god was, an extra four feet would be a lot to stoop.

The Lord of the Underworld lifted his hideous black helm above Axel’s tufted ears.

As the helm came down, it compressed Axel’s long, twisted hair. Or, Pax thought it did. When it made contact, the helm melted Axel.

Within a microsecond, the essence that was Axel had liquefied into shadow and flooded into the sands. There wasn’t even an indent where he’d been standing.

There was one major flaw in Pax’s plan. He actually couldn’t see his brother. And, in that moment, with Axel-fertilizer in the underworld’s black sand, Pax realized Axel and Pax might have been the ones who were just tricked.

***

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! :D Stay tuned next week to see what—well…. you can’t really see what Pax and Axel are doing. >>’‘

Anyway, stay safe and indoors!

***

Footnote:

[1] Ha ha. Courtly. Like a ball court…. I’ll show myself out.

#Tales from Mount Othrys #TFMO #PJO #HOO #fanfiction #Fidget Spinners #I injured my back in three different places this week. Further proof that staying in can be as dangerous as going out #And further proof that my body refuses to stay with its age group #People did always call me mature.....#anyway--stay safe guys

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recentanimenews · 3 years ago

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Tokyo Skytree Reveals Its JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Décor and Menu

In just a couple of days, Tokyo Skytree will be getting the full JoJo's Bizarre Adventure treatment. The collaboration was announced early last month as part of a citywide celebration in honor of the anime's 10th anniversary. Just before opening day, they've revealed a look at what visitors can expect to see, buy, and eat when the Joestar line conquers the world's tallest tower.

Mock-ups show a fully JoJo'd out interior from entrance to exit, including photo spots and galleries all throughout the tower:

RELATED: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Announces 10th Anniversary Anime Project

Snap a selfie with some of these amazing decorations, or purchase a photo package to get a pic alongside your favorite character. Alternately, you can put it on a Tokyo Skytree postcard featuring the event's key art.

While you're there, you can snack on JoJo-themed treats — including "Ora Ora" omurice and an ice cream cake with Jolyne Cujoh's distinctive hairstyle:

There's also a selection of drinks inspired by the cast, as well as a Dio Brando latte. Order one up and receive a random coaster as a bonus:

Naturally, there will be plenty of limited-edition goods to buy — including clear files, printed cookies, acrylic standees, several types of keyrings, and a shopping bag to put it all in:

RELATED: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Creator Hirohiko Araki Teaches You to Enjoy Art

Finally, a look at Tokyo Skytree's unique illumination patterns for the event — inspired by the six JoJos seen in the anime series so far:

JOJO TREE -JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in Tokyo Skytree- runs May 10 to August 9, 2022.

Source: Anime! Anime!

Watch JoJo's Bizarre Adventure on Crunchyroll!

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Kara Dennison is the book reviewer for Sci-Fi Magazine and a regular features writer for Otaku USA Magazine. Follow her on Twitter @RubyCosmos, and read more at KaraDennison.com.

By: Kara Dennison

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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ilxsindia · 3 years ago

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A perfect look of product makes you standout among your competitors. Design is part of brand, product, brochure, #mock-up, even smallest element like visitingCard and ID card. We at #ILXS offer ultimate design solutions for your target Audiences

#graphicdesign #design #art #illustration #graphicdesigner #branding #graphic #designer #digitalart #illustrator #photoshop #artwork #creative #artist #typography #logodesigner #photography #marketing #drawing #logodesign #dise #designinspiration #webdesign #adobe #brand #vector #love #bhfyp

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jobsforfans · 6 years ago

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Graphic Design, Creative & Asset Intern, MPG - Summer 2019

Culver City, CA

The Sony Pictures Entertainment Internship program offers a unique opportunity to work alongside the teams that come together to create movies, TV shows, and other great experiences. These seasonal paid assignments provide meaningful and productive work that allow you to build your resume, experience and develop your skills further. You will be provided with challenging tasks, real-world experience, valuable networking opportunities, and many educational and social opportunities while on the lot. This Summer internship is from May/June through mid-August. All candidates must be able to work between 40 hours a week.

Graphic Design, Creative & Asset Intern, MPG - Summer 2019

The Worldwide Marketing Partnerships group works with brands and retailers to execute Global promotional campaigns across all Columbia films, covering all categories ex, Automotive, Beverage, Packaged Goods, QSR, Electronics, Mobile etc and across all platforms (TV, Packaging, In-store, Digital).

Some recent examples of our campaigns include Ghostbusters/ Papa John’s, Spider-Man Home-Coming/ Audi, Jumanji/Dave&Busters, Peter Rabbit/ Save The Food, Hotel Transylvania 3/McDs. The gorup works 18 months to 2 years out from movie release (beginning from pre-script green-light stage)

In addition to our branded partners and their advertising agencies, we cultivate strong relationships with stakeholders whom we work with on a daily basis such as filmmakers, property owners and partner studios like Sony Animation, Rovio, Marvel/Disney etc.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Create Marketing Timeline of key campaign beats for each property using information from Marketing Google Cal

Create template background for property pitch decks

Assist Creative Consultant in creating mock-ups and thought starters for partner pitches

Assist in creating booth graphics for trade-show needs (Licensing Show, BLE, Roadshows, Toy Fair)

Create and watermark PDFs of reference assets from production to share with partners

Source stills from photography, route to legal, retouch per legal, and upload to MediaBox

Help gather and upload International title treatments, create logo files as vector, up res layered files, convert color as needed

Tweak style guide assets and manipulate files for specific partner needs

Increase file sizes/ create high res assets eg backgrounds for partners

Make revisions to one sheet (blur buildings, brands, remove billing block)

Create different sized and proportioned layouts of art for partner specific needs

Create standee files with dye lines

Create media promotions template

QUALIFICATIONS:

Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite

Proficient in Keynote and PowerPoint

Self-starter and finisher requiring minimal supervision

Attention to detail is key!

Ability to multi task and handle varied requests on multiple properties quickly and efficiently

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Undergraduate student studying in relevant field

*Sony Pictures Entertainment is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other protected characteristics.

#film #Sony Pictures #internship #graphic design

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mexcine2 · 7 years ago

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One-Way Ticket to Hell: Teen-Age Madness!

Although this series of essays concentrates on the analysis of print materials, we’ve bent the rules slightly this time to present a two-fer: a one-sheet poster and a theatre marquee display for One-Way Ticket to Hell (1955).

One-Way Ticket to Hell (better-known today as Teenage Devil Dolls, the video release title) was originally titled One Way Ticket. The film was produced, directed, and written by Bamlett “Bam” Lawrence Price Jr. (who also plays the main villain), a film student at UCLA (and married to actress Anne Francis from 1952-55). Picked up for theatrical release by Eden Distributing, it was sold as an exploitation film, although it is actually rather serious in tone. Like some other notorious future “cult classics” (such as The Creeping Terror), One-Way Ticket to Hell features no “name” actors and has no sync dialogue.

An extensive collection of One-Way Ticket to Hell “paper” can be found here, including a one-sheet (27x41 inches) poster, a 40x60 poster, a lobby card set and a still set. We’ll examine the one-sheet poster, as well as the marquee display for the film’s December 1955 exhibition at the Globe Theatre in New York City.

The one-sheet poster is colourful, lurid and well-crafted. The overall “look”--including the printing--seems a bit old-fashioned for 1955. Posters for mainstream releases in this era tended to be much brighter, even for movies in the exploitation/crime genre.

The text elements--the tagline and two text boxes--are common to both the one-sheet and the 40x60, although the larger poster reduces the number of separate images from 5 to 2. The “reclining woman in green” art appears in the same, lower position in both posters, but the upper sections are very different.

The 40x60 has a single key illustration of a man injecting a woman with drugs as another woman looks on, while the one-sheet gives us 4 different images from the film, as well as two newspaper headline mock-ups. This makes the one-sheet a little “busier” that the 40x60, but it also provides the potential ticket-buyer additional information about the film’s contents.

Interestingly enough, while both posters depict a woman getting a drug injection from a man, the images are different, featuring the same, presumably evil, man but a different woman. This “key art” ties directly to the film’s tagline: “One Touch of the Needle--A Lifetime of Torture!”

[As an aside, the lobby cards may have been produced for a different release, since they carry the “Bamlet L. Price Jr. presents” credit (the posters have no company name). The lobbies do feature a line-drawing version of the “reclining woman” art and the secondary tag-line “The Story of Teen-Age Madness,” however, both of which link them to the poster versions.]

Thanks to the aforementioned website containing the lobby card set and still set for One-Way Ticket to Hell, the photographic “inspiration” for the individual images on the one-sheet poster can be identified. Woman getting injection? Yes. Man picking up unconscious woman? Yes. Woman tries to prevent a sinister-looking guy from choking another woman? Yes. People on motorcycles? Well, this image isn’t on the extant lobbies or stills, but it’s in the movie so the poster artist probably got a photo for reference. In fact, there’s a chance that a fair amount of the artwork was pasted-up from the photographs themselves and then retouched and colourised. No shame in that.

These additional images, as noted above, provide the potential audience member with a broader idea of the film they’re about to see. Yes, it’s about youthful (female) drug users, but you’ll also see…motorcycles! The Wild One was a popular movie released in 1953, and gave motorcycles a sort of counter-culture image (prior to that time, pop culture motorcyclists were often cops, couriers, or speed demon daredevils). There’s also violence! Unconscious women! Languid women! And if you couldn’t figure out from the “One Touch of the Needle” tagline or the artwork of a woman being injected, the newspaper headlines make it clear: One-Way Ticket to Hell is about “Girls Drugged” and “Teen-Agers Held” in “Narcotic Raid.”

The textual elements in the bottom half of the poster don’t provide any additional information--they’re not specific to the film itself, serving chiefly as exploitation ballyhoo. The first text box reads “It’s New! It’s Powerful! It Pulls No Punches!” which is fine, even though the printing doesn’t quite fill the available white space, which looks awkward. These phrases are just empty comments about the recency and alleged visceral impact of the film: “Shocking!” “The Untold Truth About Dope!” and so on would have been better. “The story of TEEN-AGE MADNESS!” is slightly more relevant, exploitative and lurid, and was used on the lobby cards as well. The banner across the bottom of the poster vouches for the verisimilitude of the exposé: “See It On The Screen As It Actually Happens in Real Life!” Not exactly clear what “IT” refers to, but generally satisfactory. Exploitation-film promotion often laid a thin veneer of “informing the public” to “expose this evil” and “prevent it from happening to YOU” (or in YOUR town or to YOUR kids). “It’s TRUE!” (by which I mean, fictional).

The other image included here represents the initial engagement of One-Way Ticket to Hell at the Globe Theatre in New York City in December 1955 (read the review in The New York Times). The Globe was located at Times Square and Broadway in New York City: it opened in 1910 as a “legit” theatre (for stage plays), then converted to a cinema in the 1930s, reverting to its live-show origins in 1958 as the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (which still exists).

Motion pictures in the pre-Internet days were advertised in various ways: in newspaper & magazine ads, on radio (and later, television), via billboards and window cards (which were displayed in shop windows, often in exchange for free tickets), using “heralds” (small paper documents--showing the title, some art, perhaps a brief synopsis, with the local cinema’s name often over-printed---liberally distributed throughout a particular geographical area), and through various publicity gimmicks (dress up someone like a gorilla, send him out on the street wearing a sign-board reading “Follow me to the Rialto Theatre to see KING KONG”).

Much of the “paper” discussed in my essays--one-sheet posters, lobby cards--was primarily displayed on the premises of the actual theatre, to attract passersby and to alert audiences to movies to be shown in the near future. Thus, these methods are somewhat less useful in selling tickets to the masses, since you had to be in relatively close proximity to the building to see them (there might have been some walk-in traffic, though).

This caveat also applies to the special exterior displays that some cinemas erected for certain “special” films. In addition to the actual marquee (listing the current bill), theatre managers used “standees,” banners, giant-size posters, and other ostentatious and elaborate decorations that drew attention. The Globe Theatre gave One-Way Ticket to Hell the star treatment, with a giant (text-only, too bad) display over the marquee itself, a piece of art (the “injection” scene used on the 40x60 poster) and tag-lines on the marquee, and an inverted-U shaped display under the marquee featuring a flipped version of the “injection” image, a humungous syringe, and lots of text. [It’s possible that the top part of this is a banner, and the two “legs” are separate sign-boards.]

You’d have to be standing across the street (where the photographer who took this photo obviously was) to get the full effect of the giant sign, but it’s pretty impressive seen from this perspective. Again, this is largely “localised” advertising, intended to provoke spur-of-the-moment ticket purchasing by people who see it: such a display probably wouldn’t convince anyone in New Jersey to cross the river and pay to watch One-Way Ticket to Hell, since they’d likely not even see it. Consequently, such displays weren’t used for every film, and would rarely if ever appear in venues where there wasn’t a substantial amount of traffic passing by the cinema every day.

Still, it’s amazing to see this display and realise it was advertising essentially an amateur/student film made for about $14,000. One-Way Ticket to Hell was the only feature film ever directed by “Bam” Price, but it made quite a splash and--more than 50 years later--can still be seen online and on DVD. I’m sure there are numerous “mainstream Hollywood” films released in 1955 about which this cannot be said. Hopefully Mr. Price (who passed away in 1996) lived long enough to appreciate the longevity of his magnum opus (well, his only opus, but regardless...).

#Teenage Devil Dolls #One-Way Ticket to Hell #exploitation movie poster #exploitation movie #Globe Theatre

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doxampage · 7 years ago

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Large Format Printing: Creating “One-Off” Standees

My fiancee and I assembled a huge standee this week for the new Murder on the Orient Express movie. Essentially, it’s an exposed view of the interior of a passenger train car containing numerous movie characters. While we were engaged in the six-hour installation, a moviegoer came up to ask about this standee in particular and standees in general. She had an ice cream parlor, and she needed one copy of a standee for her shop.

Background Information

To provide a bit of background information, standees are the cardboard flat cards or the large and dramatic full environments in movie theaters that promote upcoming films. They are usually composed of printed litho paper laminated to corrugated board. Their manufacturers use everything from offset custom printing to flexography to decorate the boards, which are then die cut into appropriate shapes and packed in cartons for USPS delivery to a huge number of theaters. Installers then come out to the theaters to assemble the standees using complex sets of instructions (much like an IKEA project but made of printed paper rather than wood).

Speaking as a commercial printing broker, I personally think you can learn a lot about custom printing and finishing just by paying close attention as you assemble standees. You can even learn about scoring and folding, as well as hot-melt gluing.

In spite of my personal focus on movie theater standees, there are other standees as well, many of which appear in retail stores such as drug stores and grocery stores. A “point of purchase” display really is no different from a movie standee, which in some ways really is just an incredibly ornate box. After all, you fold the flaps and corrugated walls together to turn a flat piece of cardboard (with an attached, printed graphic) into a three-dimensional promotional product.

Back to the Potential Client

So this particular moviegoer wanted a standee for her ice cream parlor. Being a commercial printing broker as well as a standee installer, I walked her through the theater lobby and explained the various kinds of standees and their relative costs.

I noted that a “flat card” was essentially a big poster on an easel backing. At approximately 6-feet by 9-feet (with an approximately 2” depth for the flat card itself), this product could capture the viewer’s complete field of vision when he or she is in close proximity to it. I told the moviegoer that a flat card is the cheapest kind of standee to purchase but that it provides a lot of bang for the buck, given its large size.

I went on to say that such a standee would be cheaper than the others in part because the structural design was generic. Even though the graphic front of every flat card is different, most physical constructions are exactly the same (or one of a few variants). The bottom line was that my potential client could let someone else pay for the metal dies used to cut the tabs and flaps and other intricacies of such a promotional standee. This would lower the overall price (much as printing a generic pocket folder saves you money).

I then walked my potential client further down the movie lobby hallway and showed her two more standees. I showed her a larger flat card that had “lugs” attached to the front of the flat graphic. Lugs are any die cut attachments that give a sense of depth to the overall image. (The first option, the flat card, was entirely flat, other than the folded easel back.)

I told my potential client that a custom die could be made to extend an image off the rectangular frame of either the smaller or larger flat card, that this would be more interesting and involving for the viewer because the three dimensional images would appear to extend off the flat picture plane and be “real.” But I noted that this came at a price. Custom dies would need to be made, and this would drive up the overall cost. It would no longer be a generic large format print product.

Finally, I walked my potential client back to the original standee my fiancee and I were installing, and I showed her the intricacy of the simulated rail car. I showed her how all of the figures had been die cut and assembled. The physicality of half a railway car made for an immersive experience for passersby, but it cost lots of money to print, die cut, and box up. Even the installation (our fee) was expensive.

Back to the Sales Pitch

When we were finished with our walk through the standees (much like a used car salesman’s walk with a customer through a car lot), I asked her how many standees she would need. She said one, just for her ice cream parlor.

So I noted that offset custom printing would be out of the question (exorbitant for one copy) but that digital printing would be an option. Nevertheless, I did tell her that one copy of any promotional design would be rather pricey.

My fiancee, who is an artist and art therapist, reminded me that even a single digitally produced standee would be astronomically expensive. She asked why I hadn’t suggested that my client have a graphic artist mock-up one copy—kind of like a single paper sculpture.

Actually I had been thinking along the same lines, I said. I had envisioned my supplier (a standee designer and printer all the way across the United States) just using an already produced backing (cardboard flat card) and one of the already-produced, generic, folded backing easels and just digitally printing the 6-foot by 9-foot graphic front panel image and gluing it to the board, and then breaking it down, creating assembly instructions, and cartoning and shipping the product.

I thought further and realized this was exactly the nature of a “one-off” prototype, the very stage that each standee probably went through before a marketing director gave the go-ahead to print, score, die cut, hot-melt glue, and box up for delivery the thousands of copies destined for movie theaters across the country.

So we’ll see what happens with my prospective client.

What You Can Learn from This Case Study

Here are some thoughts:

Movie standees, point of purchase displays, and even folding cartons are physical, three-dimensional products. They exist in space, and this quality can make them much more powerful sales tools than flat promotional booklets or even posters.

If you’re designing one of these, keep in mind that the more ornate and original your design, the more the job will cost to die cut. Sometimes a flat card will do just fine.

Failing that, if you want more punch, add dimensionality to a flat card with “lugs.” The base structure will be generic (and therefore cheaper to produce), but the flat-panel graphic will be original and powerful, and the die cut lugs will add further depth to the design.

Consider how many you will need. Then determine whether you will need a digital product (a large format inkjet image printed and laminated to corrugated board) or an offset lithographic product (for long runs).

Don’t forget the cost of packing the component pieces (cartoning) and the cost of shipping, plus the cost for installation.

Remember that advertising is an investment, not an expense. If your design and production values capture your audience and make them convert (i.e., spend money on your product or service), then your promotional cost will have been money well spent.

Large Format Printing: Creating “One-Off” Standees published first on http://ift.tt/2vVn0YZ

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