Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Smith Street DVD Shop to Sell Reimagined Movie Posters

By Nikhita Venugopal | February 5, 2015 2:56pm
 The Smith Street DVD rental shop picks alternaitve movie posters to showcase in its store window.
Video Free Brooklyn's Alternative Movie Posters
View Full Caption

CARROLL GARDENS — Jeremy Ford watched the movie “Her” soon after it was released in late 2013 and as he put it, “something just kind of came over me.”

Even though it was a late-night showing, Ford went home and started sketching what turned out to be his alternative version of the movie poster.

“The official poster for the movie… it was OK,” said Ford, 29, a Cobble Hill resident. “It didn’t really convey a lot about the film.”

“Her” is a sci-fi romance that tells the story of Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix, a letter writer who falls in love with his artificially intelligent operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

For his poster, Ford took the symbol for the operating system and transformed it into a heart in three steps.

More than a year later, that poster now hangs in the storefront of Video Free Brooklyn, a DVD rental shop at 244 Smith St., after Ford approached shop owner Aaron Hillis in January.

Hillis, who took over the store in 2012, has been putting alternative movie posters in the shop window ever since, usually picking ones that are eye-catching but have a minimalist aesthetic.

The shop also typically displays movie posters based on the season. “Gremlins” and “Die Hard” go up at Christmastime, while horror movies get the spotlight in October, Hillis said. Ford’s “Her” poster was installed on Feb. 1 and will remain there all month for Valentine’s Day.

Hillis usually buys his posters online after extensive research, but this is the first time a designer has approached him, he said.   

And for the first time, Video Free Brooklyn will sell 10 small screen prints of the poster for $25 each — something the shop might continue if sales goes well.

“I have a feeling those 10 are going to go pretty quick,” Hillis added. 

The full storefront was also adorned with other elements from the movie, like a laptop with a screen covered in hearts, pastel-colored love notes and a ukulele similar to the one Phoenix’s character played in the film.

“It’s pretty awesome to see my work up like that,” said Ford, a web and communications designer.

While Ford’s poster was a success, and even got featured on the official “Her” website last year, he’s not necessarily planning to stop there.

“If another movie comes along and it happens, then sure,” he said. “When I get really inspired by something, the best work comes out.”