I just noticed this today. I was browsing for something else, stumbled upon this image of an ESB poster, and thought "Gee, what a jaw droop to the left... that's not right." Then when I examined the highlights, I found that the paint scheme was reversed.

If anyone has a clearer and larger scan of this, please by all means share.

So I flipped this, and this is what you get:



How do we know this is how it's supposed to appear? Well, there is asymmetry in the screen used prop, when you study screen captures, and if you mirror flip them, then it's obvious. Anyways, I find this to be a very nice presentation of Vader in terms of proportions and would love to see a clearer picture!

Here you go

Well spotted.

Seems to be this one they used. From the ESB Poster picture series, using a complete ANH outfit.



Sorry if this is OT, but is this following picture from the same photoshoot?:

If so... it gives renewed thought to the wide neck / thin neck discussions.

No, not from the same photoshoot. It's possible it's the same helmet.

The one you posted with the skinny neck, the wonky sides, and the wonky dome... I'm not sure why that looks that way. Perspective distortion would explain its look for the facemask alone, but not the dome. With P.D. the dome would appear smaller, but it appears larger here. Perhaps this was a bad FG pull or something. But interestingly there is right neck flare and a right jaw droop similar to the Don Post Deluxe casting. One could photograph the DP DLX closer and make the neck flare seem to recede.

So what's this neck width issue you were talking about?

But, yes, once again, they used an ANH style helmet for an ESB poster.
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All of the above pictures, were from the same photo shoot, the neck issue comes from the trick of light. This slim neck vader, is also belived to be the source of the DJ helmet.

Well, here are some screenshots that show Vader's neck seemed to flare wide. You also see shadow on the sides of the neck, so that would contribute to a slimming effect. We only see the flare of the neck that is not bathed in shadow, so we should be careful in saying the entire neck was as thick and wide as the flare.



In the above shot, the neck seems to overlap the leather collar of the cape, so be careful not to misinterpret the sheen of the collar as being part of the mask's neck.



Now this shot you don't see that flare, but it's a publicity shot if I'm not mistaken.



In fact, this neck reminds me a little of the 20th C.

Here is the poster shot....



They have also flopped the shots of Vader in all three OT films and on alot of publicity stuff from that poster through stuff they have out today.

ANH
-fight with Obi Wan during line "you should not have come back"

ESB
-star destroyer at end of film before the falcon goes into hyperspace during line "good, prepare the boarding party....and set your weapons for stun"

ROTJ
-opening sequence during line "that is correct commander, and he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress"

I'm confident that the DJ helmet is from an ILM mold taken off the screen used ANH as DJ says, not the ESB movie poster helmet. DJ and I agree about that and it does have the neck pulled in on the right side a bit in the rear but that's probably just how it came out of the mold. The ESB movie poster helmet is "over-painted" and doesn't have anywhere near the detail of the DJ. Although it almost seems like the ESB movie poster helmet was repainted, so it's hard to say. It's quite possible even that they came from the same mold. Yes it's strange they reversed the image from that shoot...mistake or intentional? The neck of the ESB movie poster helmet is indeed narrower than it should be. You can try to duplicate the angle/perspective of that faceplate using the TM ESB and I'll bet you cannot.

Good points, SL.

There are some features that are not obvious at certain angles, and then there are features that at certain camera angles emerge and then you go, "What the--? I didn't see that there a moment ago!" And that's what you deal with when dealing with an organic shape of three dimensions.

The right neck flare, the right jaw droop and the left skull buldge. As much as people have blasted the Don Post Deluxe for having these features, they *DID* appear on the screen-used helmet in the Tantive IV scene of Ep. IV, if you look carefully enough. You see the neck flare when Vader comes on board the Rebel Blockade Runner, and then looks down at the corpses -- looking from one side to the other. As he tilts his head downwards, the right neck corner is quite visible.

Anyways, when Vader has been used in promo shots, if they reverse it, notice that they omit the breathing box, because a flipped breathing box is a dead giveaway. This may not always be true with the movie, but there are certain shots in ESB when Vader is fighting Luke at Bespin where Vader is flipped.

I don't remember if this one was flipped or not, but if it is... then I probably flipped it.

Well spotted Mac!

I'm really showing my age here but I went to the premiere of ESB in London (with HRH Princess Margaret - although I was not with her so to speak) and the programe has that image on the front of it.

Daft its been in front of me for so long and yet I never noticed before

Cheers

jez

ya that scene was reversed in the movie...nice screen cap...for fun, here's one that I took from the Vader Ref DVD...shameless plug ...

Yes but they only reversed in the special edition (with Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor) If memory serves.

Also there are alot of other scenes with other characters that have been flopped. I'm sure they did it to match the shot or to keep the actor on a certain side of the shot....

I have always wondered why they did it with that poster, perhaps keeping the light going a certain way in relation the the print was a factor...you know, looking at it as a whole work.