Evolution of film posters...

1920’sFilm posters have been in production since the years of 1920. The two posters you can see and hand made as there were no technologies available at this time. Posters in the 1920’s usually depicted scenes from the film and were hand drawn to show a very traditional poster.

1930’sIn the 1930’s posters were still hand drawn but now they focused more on the faces of the characters rather than clips from the film. To make the posters more interesting bolder typography also came into use with more eye catching colours.

1940’sIn the 1940’s character illustrations became a very common theme on posters, again with much experimentation of fonts and layouts. Scene depictions were not very often used any more as setting, colours and character became more attractive to the audiences.

1950’sIn 1950’s posters began to use different conceptual ideas, such as the ‘Love in the afternoon’ poster which includes no characters, just different colours and fonts which are partnered with subtle clues as to what the film may be about. This could be the basis of the evolution for the now known teaser poster. Other posters were still being hand drawn as in singing in the rain.

1960’sIn the 1960’s, posters started focusing on the typography on the poster rather than the images. Images were still illustrated and included, but the style of fonts and their layout on the page become a much more prominent feature than the image.

1970’sIn the 1970’s, because of the fast movement in the design industry, photographs made their first appearance on some film posters. They began to take up the majority of the poster and the text began to play a less dominant role on the page.

1980’sIn the 1980’s posters began to look a lot like we see them today, with a good balance of picture and writing, a large photographic background, a common colour scheme, and iconic imagery of fonts used on the page. Photographs had now become very popular on posters but illustrations were still used.

1990’sThe 1990’s were a time where posters become quite structured. They had simple or photographic background, with slogans and/or actors names at the top of the page or above the title of the film. Now photographs in posters were pretty much always used and there was a big experimentation of iconic fonts. Writing began to suit the page much more by experimenting with styles, layouts and sizes.

2000’s• The 2000’s was a

time when image manipulation came into play, with programs such as Photoshop evolving, so did movie posters. Although images and fonts progressed a lot, the layouts often remained the same as in the 80’s and 90’s. Designers now know what works and don’t work on movie posters and therefore the progression has not been so much in layout but more so in evolution of fonts and technology.

What I learnt...

Seeing the progression of these posters have made me realise that the image itself is going to be the most effective piece on my page. Therefore I will have to have an iconic picture with correct/effective cinematography use. The text will also be very important; seeing the previous posters I like it when there is just one or two fonts used and they are placed in a position that does not take the shine away from the image but contributes to an effective layout.