Who are These Peöple?

Since the mid-eighties, a subculture uniting art and music has been quietly brewing throughout North America. With the advent of the internet, this subculture of gig posters has spilled over into the mainstream, having become much more accessible to the general public. This increased interest is reflected in Eileen Yaghoobian’s observational documentary Died Young Stayed Pretty. The film premiered in Edinburgh through an ECA-based design agency 'These Peöple'. The collective is formed of graphics students spanning all years of the course, with creative director positions held by three fourth year students.

These Peöple share a common interest and passion for screen-printing due to both its rough aesthetic and the raw act of creating each poster individually, as opposed to the mass-produced, generic and highly-finished graphics of mainstream advertisement. Died Young Stayed Pretty made its Scottish debut in ECA’s Sculpture Court, with both the style and the subject of the film being very much fitting with These Peöple’s ethos as a design agency. Their pink logo could be spotted all over Edinburgh as they subtly raised their profile. However, they’ve recently encountered their nemesis: the city council have said that they must remove every poster, sticker and stencil from Edinburgh’s streets.

Such troubles are ones that the subjects of Died Young Stayed Pretty are familiar with and ones that are addressed within the film. Died Young Stayed Pretty gives voice to the geeky sidekick of punk, with the artists featured possessing an encyclopaedic knowledge of both the underground poster scene and alternative music. Similarly to the punk scene which inspired it, the poster scene is decidedly counter-cultural. By operating under the mainstream radar, the artists within the movement get away with expressing views that could be considered slanderous, appropriating iconic images for their own use.

It is clear whilst viewing the film that there is a strong sense of community within the artists, with many ‘in-jokes’ played upon in the posters that only their cult following would pick up on. There is a clear emphasis on the importance of the artists’ creative vision over advertisement and profit, with some artists continuing to design posters for gigs that are already sold out. Throwing herself into the lifestyle and culture of the underground poster scene for the past three years, Yaghoobian travelled through 23 different states on an almost non-existent budget, relying on the kindness and generosity of artists involved. The friendships that naturally build during such times are evident within the film; the dialogue appears natural rather than forced, despite occasional awkward scenes where the characters appear somewhat unprepared for an encounter with a camera.

This natural, free-flowing narrative from the characters resulted in Yaghoobian having 250 hours of film footage to edit which she has broken down and reworked into what becomes a fragmented and erratic narrative. This style appears to mimic the DIY punk scene from which the poster culture originally stemmed. She uses humour to break up what could become a monotonous, repetitive discourse, using novelty sound effects and audio narrative juxtaposed with out-of-context video footage.

By including footage of off-topic and often controversial discussions she prevents the film from becoming too narrow and inaccessible. After Died Young Stayed Pretty, one is left with a sense of amiable familiarity with the underground poster community, rather than an education in screen-printing. Despite cropping the footage down dramatically, Yaghoobian has nonetheless selected footage that is often repetitive; nonetheless, this allows the personality of the artists to shine through. The film may seem somewhat over-long, but it really achieves success as a film about people who like design, for people who like design.

www.thesepeople.co.uk