Hollywood Loves GIFS But Doesn’t Understand Them

There is a way to make motion posters into a huge Hollywood marketing tool.

1. “Conan The Barbarian” was one of the first attempts at a motion poster. It…could have been better.

Pros:
- Flying birds in the background.
- Pioneer attempt opening the door for other studios to try too!

Cons:
- Mostly just a big poster you move around with your mouse.
- Auto-play sound. (NO!)
- Not a GIF but a “sharable” link. There isn’t even an embed feature so click thru to see it in motion.
- No ability to save to desktop for sharing later.

2. “The Hunger Games” realized their target demographic loves social media, home of the GIF, and marketed accordingly.

Pros:
- FIRE!
- Lots of motion.
- Embeddable.

Cons:
- Still not a GIF, making it slightly more difficult to share.
- No ability to “Save As”.
- Auto-play sound (NO!)

Via: collider.com

3. Intrepid fans managed to turn the motion poster into an easily shared GIF.

Pros:
- GIF!
- No sound.

Cons:
- Low quality.
- Shorter snippet.

Source: thecitycircle.tumblr.com

4. “The Wolverine” is by far the best motion poster to date.

Pros:
- Gorgeous art.
- Original (not a remake of a poster)
- Subtle motion and hints as to the movie plot.

Cons:
- Still not a GIF.
- NOT SHAREABLE! (whyyyyyyy?)
- No embed, no “share on social media”, definitely no “Save As” option.
- Click thru to Entertainment Weekly to see it in motion

5. Fans did what they could but a lot of quality was lost in the conversion.

Tumblr’s GIF size limitations were no help but that’s another post entirely.

Source: 

6. “Stark Trek Into Darkness” fell into the same trap of the GIF that is not a GIF.

Via: cinemablend.com

7. And was also pulled from the fire by fans dedicated to sharing their excitement.

Source: cumberbabe83.tumblr.com

8. But there is hope! “Looper” hit all the right notes.

Pros:
- GIF!
- Easily shared and/or saved.
- No sound. (YES!)
- Cinemagraph quality subtly.

Source: flavorwire.com

9. With a little luck, the future of movie posters, even in theater lobbies, looks like this.

After all, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Source: images2.wikia.nocookie.net