Throughout time film posters have been a big market for collecting film posters. However they were never intended or created to be sold to the public. Film posters were meant to be promoted and entice the public to come to the local theatres that were screening the films.
Film posters created before the eighties were mostly returned to the studios and were destroyed when the archives became full or the film’s run had ended. Many film posters such as Casablanca, King Kong, and Frankenstein were destroyed as a result of natural disasters that occurred during world war two. As people became more aware of the posters values, theatre owners began to ignore return policies and those film posters that were spared are widely bought today by collectors and dealers.
Many original film posters are valued in the hundreds of thousands sold privately or through auction houses. Collecting film posters can be an incredible investment as their value can increase in price in a short period of time.
Use of posters goes back to the earliest public exhibitions of film, where they began as outside placards listing programmes of short films to be shown inside a hall or movie theatre. During the early 1990s film posters began to use illustrations of certain scenes which may be seen within the film or an array of edited overlaid images from several scenes. Movie posters over time have also developed in a variety of sizes. Film posters can now be produced in different sizes to meet advertising needs.
Examples of Classic Film Posters can be:
These are examples of classic film posters that were originally designed. As we can see in these classic examples of film posters we can see some use of basic photography as seen in the “Casablanca” film poster. We can see the symbolic codes being used such as the use of the colour red highlighted across half the poster and also chosen as the titles font colour. This connotation suggests to the audience themes of romance, blood or danger. This display of colour in the poster the type of film is as we can recognise it by the symbolic codes. “The Great Escape” as seen in the poster has been illustrated as a hand drawing. It has been created using the most suitable and attractive images from the film.
However, as time progressed we see more use of photographic editing in posters making posters clearer and easier to make before the release of a film the posters would be distributed from the exchanges to different cities all over the country.
In contrast to more contemporary film posters we can see the increase of photography and editing used within the film poster. In more modern film posters we can see more use of symbolic codes and increase of connotations in posters such as combined images, colours and a variety of font styles used. Most contemporary film posters also have written codes used within them. This may include a “Tagline”. This may be defined as a catchy, enticing short phrase used to advertise and sell a movie, also reinforcing what a film may be about. The viewer can also recognise the semiotics within classic and contemporary film posters allowing them to read the messages the poster is displaying and the different symbols used in them. More contemporary film posters will also feature the “Billing Block” which is normally located near the bottom of the film poster informing the viewer of production team and who is also starring in the film.
More modern/contemporary film posters may include:
Teaser posters are now being used in today’s cinema. A teaser poster is an early promotional film poster which can contain basic images or design of the film without revealing too much information leaving the viewer questioning the film poster. The purpose of a teaser poster is to increase awareness and generate more promotion for the film being released in near future. Taglines may also be used to attract the viewers attention and give a basic idea on the the plot of the film may be about.
Examples of Teaser Posters
This is another example of a Teaser poster used to increase awareness of a new upcoming film known as "Sherlock Holmes. As we can see the symbolic codes can be recognised by the use of tagline. "Nothing escapes him". This may suggest the character being displayed in the image adds a superhero theme to the poster adding more interest and excitement to the viewer.
The "Transformers" teaser poster is used to increase awareness of a new sci fi thriller movie. As we can see in the Teaser poster dark colors are used to hide the image pushed in the back of the poster. The tagline used, "Their war. Our World", suggests the plot of the film and the what the theme is based around. Dark colours are used to to make the film less revealing to the audience creating a mystery to the poster.
Teaser posters are a great way of letting the public know the release of a near future film which may influence certain audiences to go and view the film that is being displayed within the teaser poster. Teaser posters also tend to use iconic images that are part of the film and are easily recognisable when watched within the film.
Overall film posters have developed hugely over time. From an artist’s illustration of a film, to a more photographic approach with a combination of images and use of editing, film posters are able to grab more people’s attention and attract more audiences.
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