The Art of The Movie Poster (1 Viewer)

[John Sparks]

The scarcity was caused by everything was to be returned, so they could be used again. One of the reasons we even have the stuff is some didn't want to return it. Some people collected it from the very beginning, like coins...they knew they would go up in value.

Yes, some people got lucky and were able to buy warehouses full of posters!

 

[Carl David]

Star Wars posters are certainly more valuable than many other titles from the same years but they are unlikely to get to the $50,000 level of something like a Son of Frankenstein mentioned in post # 57. Why ? Scarcity. Posters from the early part of the century to the 1970's were used and thrown away, and seldom saved. Hard-core collectors have to pay the big bucks when they're bidding on pre-1950's titles that probably have fewer than a dozen original copies in existence ( and most have much fewer than that! ) By the time Star Wars came out, the collector / nostalgia craze was in full swing and collectors learned what might be valuable and grabbed and held on to those materials with an eye on the future. ( I have three original Star Wars posters I obtained in 1977 that never saw the inside of a theatre frame. ) I don't think a week goes by when Heritage Auctions or Bruce Hershensen don't have Star Wars material up for auction.

Yes.

I agree completely.

Also, Star Wars posters must have been produced on a mass scale for many reasons like most major studio films in the modern era.

 

[rdimucci]

Five Reasons Why Old Movie Posters Are Better Than Current Movie Posters

1. Old Posters Are Brighter Looking – Most illustrators drawing a poster begin with a white canvas. Consequently, the parts of the poster not covered by artwork or credits are often left white, or shaded in some other light/bright color. Many modern movie posters start with a black background, so as to better highlight the photography that is used (generally consisting of actors’ faces). Even if the photos are placed against some realistic background, it more often than not is relatively dark (such as a building), or against a color wash, which is usually dark blue or gray.

2. Older Posters Are More Colorful – Illustrators are not limited to colors that appear naturally, and can use whatever colors are most striking and eye-catching for the subject at hand. For example, the color yellow often appears in posters as part of the background to the illustration. Yellow is not a color that appears naturally very often in photographs.

3. Credits Are Easier To Read On Older Posters – Because older posters often have white backgrounds, while new posters have dark backgrounds, the black-on-white older credits are much easier to read than the white-on-dark modern credits. Also, older posters use a variety of type styles and font sizes for their credits, while modern posters, by general agreement, all tend to use the same tall, skinny, unreadable font for theirs, so as to cram the contractually required credits into as small a space as possible

4. Composite Illustrations Are More Convincing Than Photo Collages – By the skillful use of color and perspective, an artist can put multiple elements of a film together in one illustration (actors, action scenes, locations) without them looking jumbled or out of place. This is much harder to accomplish with photographs, and is rarely attempted.

5. Illustrations Are More Exciting Than Photos - The artist can often take poetic license with the elements of the illustration, for example, by changing the proximity of characters in a scene, heightening the power of explosions, using size and perspective to emphasize a particular character or element of a scene, or providing a dramatic angle to action that actually wasn’t captured in that exact way by the cinematographer. Photo arrays can only work with what was actually shot or filmed.

The posters below illustrate these principles.

1970

2009

1973

 

[jbirdp]

Thanks rdimucci. The posters I uploaded are also great examples of beautiful and sometimes dramatic artwork used to sell tickets.

 

[Carl David]

Five Reasons Why Old Movie Posters Are Better Than Current Movie Posters

1. Old Posters Are Brighter Looking – Most illustrators drawing a poster begin with a white canvas. Consequently, the parts of the poster not covered by artwork or credits are often left white, or shaded in some other light/bright color. Many modern movie posters start with a black background, so as to better highlight the photography that is used (generally consisting of actors’ faces). Even if the photos are placed against some realistic background, it more often than not is relatively dark (such as a building), or against a color wash, which is usually dark blue or gray.

2. Older Posters Are More Colorful – Illustrators are not limited to colors that appear naturally, and can use whatever colors are most striking and eye-catching for the subject at hand. For example, the color yellow often appears in posters as part of the background to the illustration. Yellow is not a color that appears naturally very often in photographs.

3. Credits Are Easier To Read On Older Posters – Because older posters often have white backgrounds, while new posters have dark backgrounds, the black-on-white older credits are much easier to read than the white-on-dark modern credits. Also, older posters use a variety of type styles and font sizes for their credits, while modern posters, by general agreement, all tend to use the same tall, skinny, unreadable font for theirs, so as to cram the contractually required credits into as small a space as possible

4. Composite Illustrations Are More Convincing Than Photo Collages – By the skillful use of color and perspective, an artist can put multiple elements of a film together in one illustration (actors, action scenes, locations) without them looking jumbled or out of place. This is much harder to accomplish with photographs, and is rarely attempted.

5. Illustrations Are More Exciting Than Photos - The artist can often take poetic license with the elements of the illustration, for example, by changing the proximity of characters in a scene, heightening the power of explosions, using size and perspective to emphasize a particular character or element of a scene, or providing a dramatic angle to action that actually wasn’t captured in that exact way by the cinematographer. Photo arrays can only work with what was actually shot or filmed.

The posters below illustrate these principles.

1970
View attachment 173049
2009
View attachment 173050
1973
View attachment 173055

Brilliant description rdimucci.

I have actually noticed yellow and red is used often in 1970s movie posters and it looks pleasing to the eye as a colour coordination. A combination not ignored by Mcdonald's.​

I actually have a poster in my collection that meets your descriptions succinctly.

White Line Fever.

I actually have not seen Dillinger but it's on my to watch-list. The poster design is interesting.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Five Reasons Why Old Movie Posters Are Better Than Current Movie Posters

1. Old Posters Are Brighter Looking – Most illustrators drawing a poster begin with a white canvas. Consequently, the parts of the poster not covered by artwork or credits are often left white, or shaded in some other light/bright color. Many modern movie posters start with a black background, so as to better highlight the photography that is used (generally consisting of actors’ faces). Even if the photos are placed against some realistic background, it more often than not is relatively dark (such as a building), or against a color wash, which is usually dark blue or gray.

2. Older Posters Are More Colorful – Illustrators are not limited to colors that appear naturally, and can use whatever colors are most striking and eye-catching for the subject at hand. For example, the color yellow often appears in posters as part of the background to the illustration. Yellow is not a color that appears naturally very often in photographs.

3. Credits Are Easier To Read On Older Posters – Because older posters often have white backgrounds, while new posters have dark backgrounds, the black-on-white older credits are much easier to read than the white-on-dark modern credits. Also, older posters use a variety of type styles and font sizes for their credits, while modern posters, by general agreement, all tend to use the same tall, skinny, unreadable font for theirs, so as to cram the contractually required credits into as small a space as possible

4. Composite Illustrations Are More Convincing Than Photo Collages – By the skillful use of color and perspective, an artist can put multiple elements of a film together in one illustration (actors, action scenes, locations) without them looking jumbled or out of place. This is much harder to accomplish with photographs, and is rarely attempted.

5. Illustrations Are More Exciting Than Photos - The artist can often take poetic license with the elements of the illustration, for example, by changing the proximity of characters in a scene, heightening the power of explosions, using size and perspective to emphasize a particular character or element of a scene, or providing a dramatic angle to action that actually wasn’t captured in that exact way by the cinematographer. Photo arrays can only work with what was actually shot or filmed.

The posters below illustrate these principles.

1970
View attachment 173049
2009
View attachment 173050
1973
View attachment 173055

One other thing I've noticed about posters from the 70s is when they use photos, they tend to have added contrast [likely part of the screen-printing process at the time], making them look "gritty" or "grimy". A few examples:

I have two framed posters in my office. One is a reporduction of the one-sheet for Army of Darkness; the other is a limited edition foil print from the theatrical release of Alien: The Director's Cut. I also have several others [like Alien] that I acquired from my time working at a movie theatre while going to law school. They are unframes, and some hang in the stairway going down to my basement where my primary home theatre setup is.

 

[Carl David]

One other thing I've noticed about posters from the 70s is when they use photos, they tend to have added contrast [likely part of the screen-printing process at the time], making them look "gritty" or "grimy". A few examples: View attachment 176404 View attachment 176405 View attachment 176406
I have two framed posters in my office. One is a reporduction of the one-sheet for Army of Darkness; the other is a limited edition foil print from the theatrical release of Alien: The Director's Cut. I also have several others [like Alien] that I acquired from my time working at a movie theatre while going to law school. They are unframes, and some hang in the stairway going down to my basement where my primary home theatre setup is.

Nothing wrong with unframed posters.

Saves money and will make it easier to sell too.

 

[Frankie_A]

If you are looking for inexpensive poster frames with a plastic "window" to protect the poster as well as backing board and hook hardware, the cheapest I have found was at Michaels.com -- their 27inX40in 1sheet frame is about $20 and is the cheapest I've seen so far. Be careful tho, because before the 90s, the standard size for 1sheets was 27inX41in. If you have original theatrical posters earlier before they made that change, the height will be 1 inch taller than that frame. If you are collecting posters for yourself and not for an investment, then almost always there is a border of at least 1 inch around the poster image that you can trim so the 27x41 poster will fit in the 27x40 frame. If you are collecting as an investment, then of course you certainly don't want to trim anything, especially if you've paid the sums they are asking these days for 1sheets.

For my own and my family's edification, there are posters I like and want to display but certainly am not in a position to pay what they are asking -- for example, the 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY Star Child/The Ultimate Trip poster is going for $9000 (I kid you not). But I so want to have that poster. There is an easy solution -- get the best resolution image off the internet, copy it and if you like enhance it in PhotoShop, then using the "tiling" feature found on almost all color printer printing software, tile it out to a 3x9 page tiled printout. Carefully past them together. The pagers are printed out with score lines that allow your to line each page up to its surrounding mates. I have done a number of these -- put them in those poster frames and I promise, anyone standing even a foot away or more with swear it the real thing. A little effort and you've saved yourself $9000. You want to have a printer that has large capacity ink because this does eat up ink. And you also want to have a decent printer so that you don't get weird anomalies like lines or streaks or color shift. I use an Epson large tank printer, the kind that have ink tanks that you fill rather than cartridges. Or you can get place like Kinkos that have a large format printer to print out the image to your 1sheet size. Last time I check before I tried doing it myself, it cost about $15 for a 1sheet size print.

 

[Carl David]

If you are looking for inexpensive poster frames with a plastic "window" to protect the poster as well as backing board and hook hardware, the cheapest I have found was at Michaels.com -- their 27inX40in 1sheet frame is about $20 and is the cheapest I've seen so far. Be careful tho, because before the 90s, the standard size for 1sheets was 27inX41in. If you have original theatrical posters earlier before they made that change, the height will be 1 inch taller than that frame. If you are collecting posters for yourself and not for an investment, then almost always there is a border of at least 1 inch around the poster image that you can trim so the 27x41 poster will fit in the 27x40 frame. If you are collecting as an investment, then of course you certainly don't want to trim anything, especially if you've paid the sums they are asking these days for 1sheets.

For my own and my family's edification, there are posters I like and want to display but certainly am not in a position to pay what they are asking -- for example, the 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY Star Child/The Ultimate Trip poster is going for $9000 (I kid you not). But I so want to have that poster. There is an easy solution -- get the best resolution image off the internet, copy it and if you like enhance it in PhotoShop, then using the "tiling" feature found on almost all color printer printing software, tile it out to a 3x9 page tiled printout. Carefully past them together. The pagers are printed out with score lines that allow your to line each page up to its surrounding mates. I have done a number of these -- put them in those poster frames and I promise, anyone standing even a foot away or more with swear it the real thing. A little effort and you've saved yourself $9000. You want to have a printer that has large capacity ink because this does eat up ink. And you also want to have a decent printer so that you don't get weird anomalies like lines or streaks or color shift. I use an Epson large tank printer, the kind that have ink tanks that you fill rather than cartridges. Or you can get place like Kinkos that have a large format printer to print out the image to your 1sheet size. Last time I check before I tried doing it myself, it cost about $15 for a 1sheet size print.

You will probably be able to get a replica of that 2001 poster on Ebay.

Many replicas of movie posters on the site for less than $20 in most cases including limited edition and special commissioned artists of famous movies too.

 

[Carl David]

If you are looking for inexpensive poster frames with a plastic "window" to protect the poster as well as backing board and hook hardware, the cheapest I have found was at Michaels.com -- their 27inX40in 1sheet frame is about $20 and is the cheapest I've seen so far. Be careful tho, because before the 90s, the standard size for 1sheets was 27inX41in. If you have original theatrical posters earlier before they made that change, the height will be 1 inch taller than that frame. If you are collecting posters for yourself and not for an investment, then almost always there is a border of at least 1 inch around the poster image that you can trim so the 27x41 poster will fit in the 27x40 frame. If you are collecting as an investment, then of course you certainly don't want to trim anything, especially if you've paid the sums they are asking these days for 1sheets.

For my own and my family's edification, there are posters I like and want to display but certainly am not in a position to pay what they are asking -- for example, the 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY Star Child/The Ultimate Trip poster is going for $9000 (I kid you not). But I so want to have that poster. There is an easy solution -- get the best resolution image off the internet, copy it and if you like enhance it in PhotoShop, then using the "tiling" feature found on almost all color printer printing software, tile it out to a 3x9 page tiled printout. Carefully past them together. The pagers are printed out with score lines that allow your to line each page up to its surrounding mates. I have done a number of these -- put them in those poster frames and I promise, anyone standing even a foot away or more with swear it the real thing. A little effort and you've saved yourself $9000. You want to have a printer that has large capacity ink because this does eat up ink. And you also want to have a decent printer so that you don't get weird anomalies like lines or streaks or color shift. I use an Epson large tank printer, the kind that have ink tanks that you fill rather than cartridges. Or you can get place like Kinkos that have a large format printer to print out the image to your 1sheet size. Last time I check before I tried doing it myself, it cost about $15 for a 1sheet size print.

Is this the one you mean??

2001 A Space Odyssey Movie Poster Satin High Quality Archival Stunning A1 A2 A3 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2001 A Space Odyssey Movie Poster Satin High Quality Archival Stunning A1 A2 A3 at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Less than $20 on Ebay if it is for A1 size.

 

[Carl David]

If you are looking for inexpensive poster frames with a plastic "window" to protect the poster as well as backing board and hook hardware, the cheapest I have found was at Michaels.com -- their 27inX40in 1sheet frame is about $20 and is the cheapest I've seen so far. Be careful tho, because before the 90s, the standard size for 1sheets was 27inX41in. If you have original theatrical posters earlier before they made that change, the height will be 1 inch taller than that frame. If you are collecting posters for yourself and not for an investment, then almost always there is a border of at least 1 inch around the poster image that you can trim so the 27x41 poster will fit in the 27x40 frame. If you are collecting as an investment, then of course you certainly don't want to trim anything, especially if you've paid the sums they are asking these days for 1sheets.

For my own and my family's edification, there are posters I like and want to display but certainly am not in a position to pay what they are asking -- for example, the 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY Star Child/The Ultimate Trip poster is going for $9000 (I kid you not). But I so want to have that poster. There is an easy solution -- get the best resolution image off the internet, copy it and if you like enhance it in PhotoShop, then using the "tiling" feature found on almost all color printer printing software, tile it out to a 3x9 page tiled printout. Carefully past them together. The pagers are printed out with score lines that allow your to line each page up to its surrounding mates. I have done a number of these -- put them in those poster frames and I promise, anyone standing even a foot away or more with swear it the real thing. A little effort and you've saved yourself $9000. You want to have a printer that has large capacity ink because this does eat up ink. And you also want to have a decent printer so that you don't get weird anomalies like lines or streaks or color shift. I use an Epson large tank printer, the kind that have ink tanks that you fill rather than cartridges. Or you can get place like Kinkos that have a large format printer to print out the image to your 1sheet size. Last time I check before I tried doing it myself, it cost about $15 for a 1sheet size print.

Another seller here with an original size 27 x 41 replica poster reprint for $80:

'2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY' 1969 Psychedelic Eye One-Sheet Film Poster, 27"x41" | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for '2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY' 1969 Psychedelic Eye One-Sheet Film Poster, 27"x41" at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk