a poster for a film about an album about a stunt
i first came across Aim For The Roses during pre-production for DOXA in early February, while rolling through various possibilities for festival art. the stills were amazing: a defiant, hairy-chested man in a tight, yellow jump suit; smartly dressed musicians with choreographed back-up singers/dancers on a racetrack; and a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental with wings, ready for take-off. what’s all this about? no idea. but it looked AWESOME.
almost two months later, director John Bolton got in touch about designing a poster for all that awesomeness. i watched a cut of the film: a smart, multi-layered mash-up about the creation of the “utterly amazing and completely fucking ridiculous” 2010 avant-garde double bass concept album by Mark Haney — which, of all things, was inspired by the feats and follies of 1970s-era daredevil stuntman Ken Carter. on one level, AFTR draws parallels between the dogged, seemingly disparate, pursuits of a couple of heroes/hosers (and i use the latter term in the most endearing, respectful way), but at its core, the film is about the importance of making leaps of faith and “aiming” for greatness, despite the high probability of crashes and calamity. and it’s fully completely Canadian.
of the design: i rarely employ collage as an option for film posters, instead “aiming” (hey, i know, but it works!) for a single, strong visual. and yet, my take on AFTR is quite packed. does it really need seven characters from the film (an early composition also had Evel Knievel on a motorcycle), plus a double bass, an acoustic guitar, a ramp, a rocket car, and an explosion of roses? well, yes. of course it does. as John told me a few times, when it comes to Aim for the Roses, “more is more.”
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Aim for the Roses gets its World Premiere at HotDocs in Toronto on May 1, followed by its Vancouver Premiere as the Opening Night Film for DOXA on May 5. check out the teaser trailer by Sophy Romvari on Indiewire:
‘Aim For The Roses’: John Bolton’s Daredevil Documentary Has Epic Teaser and Poster
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plus: IMDb on the Scene has a short interview with John and Mark about how Ken Carter inspired both the music and the documentary.
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