29: Dot Graphics & Janus Films

This month, designers Brandon Schaefer and Sam Smith look at the iconic and unsung film posters created for Janus Films in the 70’s by Dot Graphics, the award-winning Denver-based design team of Lee Reedy and Robert Clayton. Across over two-dozen posters, Dot Graphics created bold and powerful key art for masterpieces of foreign cinema, showcasing their skill in typography, illustration, and art direction, old-school and computer-free. Years before the launch of the Criterion Collection, Reedy and Clayton foreshadowed a new graphic approach to film advertising in the arthouse industry. PLUS: a look in the Flat File at Dot’s one-sheet for KING KONG and the many other posters for the 1933 classic.

SHOW NOTES & LINKS

Connecting the Dots: Dot Graphics and Janus Fims Lee Reedy Agatha Christie illustrations by Tom Adams

Music selections: “Bass on Titles” opening theme, “The Magic Yard” from the VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS original soundtrack by Lubos Fiser; KING KONG original soundtrack by Max Steiner.

Follow Brandon Schaefer at @seekandspeak, and Sam Smith at @samsmyth.

Special thanks to producer Adrian Cobb.