22 Film Posters introduction History

Learning Objectives:

• You will look at the impact of film posters through history. 
• To complete an exercise on film poster history
• Create a mood board of fonts that are typical of the genre of your poster subject

Movie posters are the bait that lures you into the theater. 

Motion pictures began more than 100 years ago. Today it is a multi-billion dollar industry. 

Movies and movie posters go hand in hand in helping the public identify their favorite films and stars.

1896 marks the first time a poster would be made for a specific movie, and not just a movie company. 

The short film L’Arrouseur Arrose (The waterer watered), is generally considered to be the first fiction movie ever made.

The poster for L'Arroseur arrosé has the distinction of being the first poster ever designed to promote an individual film.

"L'Arroseur Arrose"

One of the first blockbuster films, created with modern storytelling techniques was made in 1903  “The great train robbery”. 

Its success sparked the beginning of ‘nickelodeons‘– the earliest forms of theaters, noted for their accessibility to the wide audiences and cheap prices.

The Great Train Robbery

The poster primarily depicts a scene of the film, superimposed by its eye-catching title and a short description/review on the bottom. As usual with posters of early films which didn't depend on the notoriety of its actors or directors, it doesn't feature any of the artists’ names.

The earliest forms of advertising for movies included hand painted crates and sandwich boards. 

The turn of the 20th Century saw a world with a very high illiteracy rate. 

Posters or advertising for any entertainment needed to have vibrant colors and pictures and a limited amount of words, so that the advertising could be appreciated by a large number of people.

The posters of the 1920’s were specifically designed with portraits of the stars, the movie title, and the star’s name. There was an occasional slogan or two, but most of the emphasis was centered on the movie stars.

In the early days of film, there were no movie stars on movie posters because most actors in film chose to be anonymous. These were legitimate stage actors who felt embarrassed to be participating in the new medium of film. 

The producers were glad, they believed they could control the industry as long as there were no stars.

By 1910, the studios began to receive mail addressed to these nameless actors. Fearing escalating costs, the producers continued to resist letting the public know who the actors were. This was a lost cause. The public demanded to know the names of the actors and actresses.

The 1920’s were considered the golden age of the silent movie. Beautiful movie palaces replaced the movie theater. The posters of old were replaced by artistically aesthetic movie posters. Well-known artists were commissioned to design movie poster portraits of leading stars. 

Producers soon realized that they could make much more money by acknowledging the stars that would bring the people into the theater, and so posters changed. 

Posters at this point reflected the status of the leading lady and leading man. The public would soon recognize the star status simply by looking at the movie poster. The size and placement of the print told the public just how “big” a particular star was. 

Actors and actresses took heed of this and started to become more powerful in demanding their due.

The trend of ignoring the recognizability and fame of actors in films ensued until the 1920s, when movie studios realized that movie stars were as much an attraction for the movie-goers as the movie itself. 

This lead to the birth of the ‘Star System‘ in film, with portraits and names of stars in sizes proportional to their fame. 

With the advent of radio in 1926, the public demanded that movies be heard as well as seen. 
Although some movies from the late 1890’s used some sound in their films, it was very difficult to adjust the sound to the action of the film. 
The jazz singer in 1927 had a few songs sung by Al Jolson, but in one scene Jolson actually spoke a few lines. There is an old expression “how can you keep them down on the farm after they’ve tasted Paree”. Thus, once the public heard sound, they demanded this new medium called “talkies”. 
With the talkies, movie attendance skyrocketed. This meant more movies, more advertising dollars and more movie posters.

What is known as Art Deco was very popular at this time. This colorful type of art is popular for using geometrical designs and very bold colors. Movie producers decided that their posters should also have this Art Deco look. There was more creativity going on at this point in movie poster history. The posters varied in sizes, and they experimented with different styles of letters. 

With the 1930’s came the Great Depression. Many feared that movies would suffer during this time because people would not want to spend their money to go to the movies. The exact opposite happened. The Depression made people want to escape reality, and movies became even more popular. One of the biggest stars of that decade was Shirley Temple, who lit up the screen and made people want to “look for the good ship lollipop”. The musicals of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and others were also an extremely popular form of entertainment. (We’re In the Money).

1930s hit “Gone with the wind“, a classic right out of the Golden Age of movies, exploits an illustrated depiction of the main characters – Rhett Butler and Scarlet O’Hara in a passionate kiss, remarkably, on a same scale as the names of the actors portraying them – classic celebrities Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh.

As movies became more popular, the movie studios made even more money and the stars benefited greatly. There were other businesses like theaters, film exhibitors, and movie poster companies that all flourished at that time.

With the 1940’s came WWII. Many of the stars during that time like James Stewart and Clark Gable served in WWII. Many of the actresses of that day like Hedy Lamar, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and others would perform, and dance with service men at the Hollywood Canteen. The actors who were not fighting in the war, made war movies that stirred up patriotism.

During the 1940’s, war movies dominated the screen. After the war was over, there was the “reflection” and “aftermath” of the war and how it affected people. We saw this with movies like The Best Years of our Lives.

Then, in the late 1940’s, we entered a new arena: the age of television. 
By this time, TV had attracted a large number of movie goers, so the studios responded by reducing the number of films made. Many of the great directors and stars of that time found themselves out of contracts with the studios. This was a devastating blow to many actors.

With the coming of the 1950’s, and to fight the popularity of television, movie studios created more fantasy films. The studios that once produced the war movies were now making science fiction, comedy and grade “B” drive-in movies. Although the drive-in had been around since 1933, it reached its peak during the 1950’s with over 4,000 screens in the United States alone.

Since then, the awareness of the artistic and collectors’ value of movie posters, as well as their commercial and promotional value has risen to the point of constituting an supporting industry of its own, on an equal importance as the film production one. The process of creating the film poster begins far before the production of the film itself, with ‘teaser posters’ creating a buzz and anticipation for upcoming films – to official cinematic posters, spreading the awareness of the film and attracting the highest number of visitors in a short timespan – to VHS and DVD covers, extending the lifespan of a film (and its poster for the collecting audience) far beyond its original potential.

Task 1: Complete the Cloze test on early posters.

Task 2: Create a mood board of fonts that are typical of the genre of your poster subject