classic film posters and how have posters developed over time?

A movie can evoke feelings of joy, sadness or love and this can be rekindled with the help of a film poster. Ironically in the early days of film making, actors were not usually depicted on the film posters. The title of the film and the producer and directors names were usually the attraction until Hollywood realised that it was the actors who brought in the viewers. It was at that time that the stars of movies were then plastered on each poster giving life to a new era in the film industry. Movie posters created before the eighties were mainly returned to the studios or poster sources and destroyed when the archives became full or the film's run had ended. Unfortunately many early film posters made for hit movies such as Casablanca, King Kong, Frankenstein and The Wizard of Oz were destroyed as a result of natural disasters that occurred during World War II. As people became more aware of their value theatre owners began to ignore return policies and those film posters that were spared are widely sought today by collectors and dealers.

As times have gone on film posters have become more and more interesting to see. In contemporary times we are now visualising more and more intellectual film posters which makes it more intriguing for a viewer to understand. Another increasing factor for film posters is that actors have now become more and more famous and this has resulted into their names becoming a brand, so that if they see an actor they like they will watch the film. These are two examples of modern day film posters.

Often hailed as the greatest film of all time, this classic has only grown better with age. The foreboding atmosphere and uneasy tensions reach their

peaks in all the right places, and the film’s poster is not to be sniffed at either. The imposing figure of Don Vito Corleone emerges from the darkness, the sinister glare of his shadowed eyes leaving no doubt in the viewers’ mind as to who he is; the Godfather. Beneath him lie the immortal lines of dialogue that cement his place in film history as the ultimate puppeteer of crime, corruption and deceit.

What’s notable about this Art Deco eat-your-heart-out poster is that it looks more expensive than the film it’s selling! Martin Scorsese’s low budget gangster drama embraced its handheld origins to full effect, the end result being a coarse but absorbing piece of cinema full of character. The clean-cut design of the poster is therefore apparently at odds with the film’s style, but in actual fact its deceptively detailed imagery is more than appropriate for a film which cleverly sculpted its own unique identity hot off the heels of the momentous crime picture The Godfather.