I am a big film fanatic. I could watch movies all day. But to me, the film as an entire creative package is almost more interesting. The title sequences, movie posters, movie websites, trailers, etc. All these supplemental aspects are extremely vital in such a visual medium.

But the nature of the industry causes many of these to be executed far from the hands of the creators of the actual film. No, this is not always a bad thing. Letting someone do what they do best is a good idea. In fact there is a huge cottage industry built around film. Look at Big Spaceship and Prologue Films. Sometimes their work is the best part the package. Hell, I watched Dawn of the Dead just for the opening title sequence.

But sometimes this disconnect between the different arms of the creative process produces iffy results. Take for example The Last Kiss. This new film, written by Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby), has a pretty slick looking movie poster. Refreshing typography, very clean, nice colors. I definitely get a certain feeling about the movie from the design.

Now watch the trailer. Not too bad for the first half. Patented Paul Haggis melodrama. Zack Braff apparently wanted to star in Garden State 2. Now wait for the first text card.... BAM. How is that for ugly. It looks like a commercial for baby diapers. And it only gets worse. What the hell happened?

The poster was so fresh. The website isn't that bad either. It even has the necessary indie soundtrack for hipster cred on the MySpace. But man, that trailer. That is quite the disconnect. The typography couldn't be much worse. The gradient, the drop shadow. Just horrible. What could have been a nice package is ruined. I'm sure its possible, and probably likely, that the trailer was cut first, but the fact that the studio still released it, and its sub par visuals, along side the nice tight poster campaign, is painful.

Can you tell this bugs me? It just shows a lack of attention to detail. They were so close. And that's the most irritating thing. They dressed up their movie in a new suit and tie, gave him a nice haircut, the keys to the Mercedes, but then put him in some really ugly shoes. Anyway, I'll get over it.