Rebel without a cause and 1950s research

Original 1955 Poster for the film Rebel  Without  A Cause

Final Poster based on 1950's Rebel Without A Cause

Initial sketchpad idea to get ideas for layout and colours

Rebel without a Cause and 1950's research 

 The 1950's had seen the end of World War 2 and the Cold war was still ongoing between the USA and the Soviet Union Communism vs capitalism. The Korean War had taken place between 1950 -1953.

Hans Otto Wendt Typography

The  1959 -up until 1975. The Cuban revolution 1953 -59 and Civil rights movements 1955 -1968 was going on.

This was also the decade where middle class teenagers started to rebel in  particular in the USA. Rock n roll The music of the youth which was a reaction against their parents.

The Likes of Elvis Presley Gene Vincent Chuck Berry and a whole host of other  artists were prominent.

The Golden era of 3- D Cinnematography happened during the the 50's and Pop Art began to come to the fore later made popular in the 1960's by Andy Warhol.

 Sputnik 1 the first Satellite to orbit the earth was launched by  Russia.Things were beginning to change quite rapidly and this set the tone for future.

The Film rebel without a cause a film encapsulating  teenage rebellion and violence emerged on the big screen the lead role being starred James Dean who played the teenage rebel Jim Stark. The Film was released just prior to his premature death  on September 30th 1955 in a car crash  aged just 24. This film capture  the classic anti establishment and in particular with middle classes rebelling a as more money became prominent after the war years.The Rebel without a cause set the tone for generations to come in respect of  teenage rebellion and influencing future films and dramas based around that very theme.The film was released by warner Brothers on October 27th  1955 less than one month after James Dean Had passed away.

The original film poster for rebel without a cause Typography was designed by Germany's Hans Otto Wendt[1911-1979] He desigmned many posters for Hollywood and 20th Century Fox including Casablanca.He designed  Unique Typography for each individual title of  a film.

Poster Research

I researched websites on 1950's Film Posters for  my design, and had previously seen the film on a couple of occasions . I looked through some books inluding my own Encyclopeadia of the 20th Century, as well as some  old design books  and read up on colours and typography used  in the 1950's film Posters.They seemed to use  only a couple of very bright Colours in the poster designs ie Yellows Reds, Blues and the neutrals Black & White.Large stand out text for the headling title and of the main Star in of the films in general.. I have included some 1950 film poster original designs below for reference. My original design is above the page with the original Rebel Without A Cause film poster is included just to reference research.I have  also included the basic  sketchpad idea Poster  i put together initially, just to get  a general layout and colour concept for my final Poster.