As I posted last month about the success of motion poster installations in movie theaters, I recently came across another newly released poster that I thought deserved merit.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN returns to theaters this summer as a fresh reboot shown in 3D. Now, as you may remember from my previous blog(if you missed it, click here), the featured motion poster was for the DRIVE ANGRY movie, starring Nicholas Cage. That poster contained everything you'd expect from a high-octance action movie - explosions, fast camera angles, gunplay, gristled heros and the blond bombshells that adore them. For Conan however, it's a minimal moving shot of our anti-hero standing on what seems to be a very large pile of skulls.

I thought to myself, well, both posters work so well and yet are still so different - what common ground do they share? These posters have multiple elements working for them, but the most effective is the ability to engage and communicate to the audience. Going guns blazing will always catch attention, but the strongest asset the CONAN poster has is communication. We all are familiar with Arnold's role as the barbarian, but the eery music and apolyptic rolling clouds tells you something more. It's as if it warns us, as if its a subtle disclaimer to prepare the audience what they're in for.

No doubt, if I saw a still poster of this, I'd be intrigued with a solid "Ohhh, no wayyyy" kind of a response. However, this motion poster succeeds so much more that it figuratively tightens that screw toward my decision to purchase that ticket. What feelings do you get from watching this? Creeped out? Excited?

Two things are for sure.

A lot of heads will roll in this movie, and with this motion poster.. a lot of heads will turn.

Blogged by Nick Sears - Motion Designer - rVue