The History of the Movie Poster

12 Minute Read 

“The art of the film poster is to reduce to a single image what the director has achieved in 350,000.” Stanley Kubrick 

Movie posters have been used since the advent of public exhibitions of film; the earliest forms were simple hand-painted crates and sandwich boards. As the 20th century saw a world with a very low literacy rate, posters or advertising needed to feature bright colours and pictures with minimal wording so they could be appreciated by the largest number of people. Posters would often feature illustrations of a film scene or an array of overlaid images from several scenes. of artistic styles. In the early days of movie posters, they would rarely feature any of the actors who instead chose to be anonymous; some even felt embarrassed to be part of this new medium.      

Early film posters adopted the same various paper sizes as fairs and circuses; however, with the growing popularity of film, there was a need for a standard default size. Thomas Edison set that default size at 27” x 41”, which was to be used in glass display cases both inside and outside the Picture House.  

The first public screening of a narrative movie took place at the Grand Café, Paris, in 1895, featuring the Lumière brothers' comedy short L'Arroseur Arrosé (The Waterer Watered). The event was promoted by a large poster that depicted an enthusiastic audience enjoying this new kind of entertainment.

Prolific ad artist Marcellin Auzolle created the poster; in fact, there were two posters designed for the Lumière event. The other design, by Henri Brispot, features a crowd of people waiting to enter the screening.  

As we entered the 1910s, producers realised that they could generate even more profit if they acknowledged those previously ‘embarrassed’ stars; this would entice the public into the cinema. Posters would now reflect the status of the leading lady and leading man. The public would soon recognise 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.  

With the rise of cars and public transport, many companies now began to use billboards to promote their films, attracting an even wider audience.    

The 1920s saw a rise in the popularity of silent films, which in turn led to old-style posters being replaced by artistically aesthetic ones, with well-known artists being commissioned to design portraits of the stars of the day. The stars' portraits, film titles and occasionally slogans became the standard of the day.  

With Art Deco now in full swing, the 1930s saw the introduction of much bolder colours and the use of geometrical designs; typography also became much more vibrant. The 1930s also brought to America the Great Depression, but bizarrely, this created a boom in the popularity of cinemas with people wanting to escape from reality for an hour or two.  

The 1940s were obviously dominated by war movies – character illustrations were more prominent, while typography became more subdued. Cinemas also started to return posters in an effort to save paper. Throughout the war years, the number of films produced was significantly reduced, obviously resulting in fewer posters. 

Then, as the war years subsided, we saw the infancy of television emerge as the latest threat to the film industry. To counter this, film studios that had once produced war movies were now moving into producing science-fiction and comedies.  

With the new age of television now in full flow, the 1950s saw people being able to stay at home to watch films and television shows. To counter this, film studios began to make 3-D films, which came with special 3-D glasses. We also now saw conceptual ideas with some posters that did not include any characters.   

The 1960s saw many children from the post-war baby boom now in their teenage years, and consequently, ‘teen’ oriented movie posters featured heavily throughout the decade. Teen idols such as The Beatles, Elvis Presley, from the world of Rock ‘n’ Roll, crossed over into film stardom. A much wider range of methods was used in poster design, such as photos and illustrations, with layouts becoming much more considered.  

Throughout the 1970s, the use of photography continued to grow in popularity, with the design consisting simply of a photo with the typography added below. Backgrounds were generally solid block colours, with text limited to the title, names of the stars and perhaps a tagline. Alongside the use of photography, we saw the continued rise of professional artists, graphic designers and illustrators.  

As we enter the 1980s, we find large photographic backgrounds are more common than ever, but we now find typography, fonts and imagery are more balanced than what we’ve seen in previous decades, which had favoured one over the other. Special effects also began to make an appearance, which was key to the success of the blockbusters of the day.  

Posters of the 1990s and beyond usually included the photographic backgrounds, pithy slogans and the names of headline actors. Posters could also consist of an icon or simple design rather than a photograph, making the film recognisable to the audience.   

As the modern costs of printing rise, many studios are choosing to promote their films online and through television.  Additionally, many theatres are transitioning to digital and replacing traditional backlit poster frames with video screens that can display film posters with minimal effort. Whether this means that studios will stop spending money on that uniquely created, iconic film poster, in favour of less expensive alternatives, is yet to be seen. Artistic creativity in promotional materials, whatever the medium, will continue to be an important aspect of those films that strive for originality and artistic quality.