Introducing moviepostercollectors.com

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Many of us are veteran movie poster collectors but to a newbie it's all rather overwhelming.  Learnaboutmovieposters.com is good but clearly dated - looks like the Internet in 2000 - and geared to promote dealers.

So I built a basic website for Joe Blow Newbie collector: www.moviepostercollectors.com

I think a newbie wants to know:

(1) How do I distinguish fakes?
(2) What are some cool movie posters?
(3) Where can I see other collectors' sites?

Check it out and let me know what you think and what should be added/improved.  (The showcase collections need a lot of work - that's the next step.)

[CJ138]

Wow...Well done Mel. Really good buddy!

[CJ138]

FYI the link to Holiday's website appears to be down...

[50s]

Good on you Mel. Looks like a welcoming attractive site for the beginner.

Learnaboutmovieposters.com could be a brilliant site, if it was designed more attractively and information was easy to find. When I go to the home page, it just freaks me out and I leave.

[CSM]

Certainly a good start Mel.  And I definitely think your heart/mind is in the right place with this...

Would like to see it grow!

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Certainly a good start Mel.  And I definitely think your heart/mind is in the right place with this...

Would like to see it grow!

Yep, lots of plans to expand - lots more international stuff, lot more series collections, etc.  Just a matter of time....

P.S. Of course, I'll happily accept a "100 best daybills" collection from someone. Need decent pics - with title & year as file name - at least 700 pixels vertical.

[CSM]

Yep, lots of plans to expand - lots more international stuff, lot more series collections, etc.  Just a matter of time....

P.S. Of course, I'll happily accept a "100 best daybills" collection from someone. Need decent pics - with title & year as file name - at least 700 pixels vertical.

I'll see what I can do.  Unfortunately, the pics will definitely not be eMovie or Heritage level quality as I do not have the right set up...

[Zorba]

Sweeeeeet!!!

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

I'll see what I can do.  Unfortunately, the pics will definitely not be eMovie or Heritage level quality as I do not have the right set up...

That's why I focus on US stuff so much b/c Heritage has a great library of unwatermarked pics but mostly US.


My ginormous website logo:

[CineMasterpieces]

very cool!

if you'd like to use any of the authentications from my site, please feel free, The more people who see them the better.

[agentprovocateur]

Mel, great site, can see it growing into a quality reference tool.

On the concept/unreleased side of things does anyone else remember these two poster images on the official Matrix site back in the day? Pretty sure none were ever printed... sorry if this is old news.

unreleased_fetus_pod.jpg


unreleased_waterfall.jpg


* the files names are the original ones from when I grabbed them from the site

[Harry Caul]

I like the pod poster... By the way, don't you have 3 original concept pieces from this film already?  You have to learn to share buddy 

[agentprovocateur]

You have mail sir...

This is the year to get the two small ones framed.

ps did either of the two Matrix posters (above) get into anyone's hands!? Would love to see a photo if they did.

[Neo]

Awesome website, Mel.  Definitely the best authentication/information site I've seen.  Good job. 


It would have been cool if those Matrix concept images (?) had been used for the release of the film as teasers/advances/international, in addition to the standard one sheet image.

[holiday]

Really nice, Mel.  I see a kindred spirit in you, as you move along in collecting and find out where it takes you.

If you're setting out to create something that's more objective, you'll probably want to include a link to MPF where you list the forums.  As dead as it is these days, it's still been around for awhile and to not list it might ding the credibility of your site a bit.

It's a great effort, Mel, and I agree, there's room for your site right alongside LAMP, especially from an accessibility standpoint.

[Harry Caul]

If you're setting out to create something that's more objective, you'll probably want to include a link to MPF where you list the forums.  As dead as it is these days, it's still been around for awhile and to not list it might ding the credibility of your site a bit.

When perusing the site I also noted it's absence... that is very big of you to offer that up Holiday! 

Great work Mel.  How can we contribute?  Can we offer authentications? 

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

When perusing the site I also noted it's absence... that is very big of you to offer that up Holiday!  

Great work Mel.  How can we contribute?  Can we offer authentications?  

Absolutely - please do.  Looking for anything and everything:

- Other excellent collections on the Internet that I've missed (I'll be adding more soon)

- Other good reference sites, blogs, etc.

- Showcase collections e.g. the best Japanese B1s, the best Dirty Harry posters, whatever your interest is.  However, I can't accept second rate or small photos or files that are poorly organized.  Each image must have a clean appearance, have an informative title (ex. "Star Wars (1977 US OS Style C)" and must be at least 700 pixels vertical but no more than 1200 vertical. The best source for free photos is Heritage, followed by impawards and movieposterdb (nominal charge for downloading).

- New or improved authentications with LARGE HIGH QUALITY pictures - SHOW DON'T TELL is my mantra.

Poor organization, outdated design, and small photos plague most movie poster websites.  I'm aiming to change that.

Please email with any ideas, etc. to alphamel1968"at"gmail.com or post them here.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Improved links section - added MPF, Expresso, more poster collections, blogs, other poster reference sites, etc.

[quadbod]

... in the interests of accuracy, in the links to other forums, it's NSFGE - that's NOT SUITABLE FOR GENERAL EXHIBITION (not PUBLIC as stated).

[Ari]

or better yet, NOT SUITABLE FOR ANYTHING 

[oldposterho]

Holy smokes, that's fantastic, Mel - and thanks for linking to my website! 

One favor though, could you link to the new URL of "http://petersmovieposters.com/", I'm trying to steer folks away from my earthlink site but am leaving it up until the search engines finally find the new one, which they seem to be taking their sweet time about...

Oh, you could also make your logo bigger, it's not quite filling my screen when I first pop in. 

--Peter

[Harry Caul]

Hi Mel-
I've been looking over the site some more and I think it is shaping up to be a reference site for collectors!  I've done a fair bit of web design (in the old days so unfortunately I'm not familiar with modern development tools or HTML5) so I'm happy to offer some constructive criticism if it would help.  Please don't take my suggestions the wrong way:

• When I went to bookmark the page, the title bar only says "HOME"... it should read "Movie Poster Collectors: The one stop shop for.... blah, blah, blah" or whatever. 
• The logo needs to be MUCH smaller... even on my 27" high res monitor it took up half the screen.  When I loaded it on my laptop I could *only* see the logo.  I would pick a shorter font and do what ever you can to make it half the current height at a minimum, 1/3 would be better.  The best option might be to fit it all on one line instead of splitting it across two.
• I think you need some navigation links across the top of the home page (same as what you have on the sub-pages)
• The "OUTSTANDING MOVIE POSTERS" link on the home page links back to the home page (circular loop), not the correct "Outstanding..." page.
• On the sub-pages you might want to make the title of the page (e.g. "Authentications") stand out more.  In the example below, again because the title logo is so massive, you barely notice what page you are on.  First off, I would utilize your full header area -- as is there is too much wasted space.  To do this you can stretch out both the nav bar (and use a slightly larger font for the links) and the logo (again, maybe 1/3 existing height with full name on one line).  The make the "Authentications" text large and in a different color than the main text.  You could use this same layout for all the sub-pages and even the home page.  Consistency is important when dealing with common elements like logos, navigations and footers.
• Speaking of footers, I would keep your navigation links on the top and bottom the same... there is no reason for these to be different.  I personally like the style you used at the top.

I realize these are nit-picky changes so feel free to ignore them if don't agree.  I mainly think that you should try to conserve you vertical space as much as possible and full utilize your horizontal space.  Modern wide-screen monitors are a terrible way to browse the web.  Most websites have acres of unused space on the sides (which is necessary for backwards compatibility with 4:3 monitors)... don't cripple it further by making your logo so tall.  Even on your sub-pages where you reduced the logo size, it is still huge.  The below screen shot was taken on my brand new high res laptop screen... you can barely see any content. 

Anyway, sorry to ramble.  The fact that my recommendations are nit-picky should be a good thing as it means you already have a really solid site.  Keep up the great work!

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Thanks for all the helpful comments, HC.  I'll try to adopt most or all of them.

Unfortunately, I built the site in iWeb, which is relatively primitive BUT well-suited for visual presentations.  I used to be very savvy with Dreamweaver, which has many advantages for a large site but I no longer have the program and can't spend 30 hours relearning it.

My goal is to create a basic site for a newbie who knows next-to-nothing about movie posters.  It's really a site you can say "hey, check out moviepostercollectors.com if you're thinking about getting into the hobby." 

[Zorba]

My goal is to create a basic site for a newbie who knows next-to-nothing about movie posters. 

I think you have already done that sir. I have already used it and sent the link to a fellow newb.

[Harry Caul]

Glad to help... you are doing great work.

By the way, I just found this link: http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/

Go there and enter your URL.  Look at where your "HOME" text shows up and then follow that to the left to see which percentage it lines up for the overlay.  What that means is that only about 30-40% of visitors will be able to see that home text *without* first having to scroll down. 

If you want to give users something to look at besides a black background (not the central grey part), you could try to do something like: http://aintageek.com/  The background image centers itself and you see more or less of it depending on how wide your screen is.  You could try something like this for MPC but make sure you use a very small image otherwise it will be a pain to load every time.  Just an option... I have no idea how to code it.