Storytelling around the Globe

Highlights in the History of Filmmaking and Movie Posters

There exists in man an innate desire to create. Author Fred E. Basten writes, "Communication has come a long way since the dawn of history. Not only have materials, methods, and styles changed, but people have changed. Yet the desired result is still the same: to show, to tell, to record, to illuminate through illustration. Through the years the artwork of the movies... has evolved into an art form all its own."¹⁶ Movie posters have evolved over the years, responding to developments in the film industry. Barton writes, "Movie posters offer a clear insight into the history and development of Hollywood as the film capital of the world. The posters, through their design, betray the ideas, attitudes and aspirations of American society throughout the 20^th century."¹⁷ The same can be said for both poster art and visual art of any country. Basten writes, "By the eighties, promotional artwork had become collaborative, a potpourri consisting of a photo by one person, illustration by another, a logo and copy lines by still others."¹⁸ He added about the art of the nineties, "The creative process has become more collaborative than ever and, because of digital technology, more confusing."¹⁹

That is a far cry from the humble beginnings of advertising for the entertainment industry. Basten writes, "The artwork of the movies was yet to come when Thomas Alva Edison shot the first successful motion picture film in 1889."²⁰ Edison invented film viewing machines called Kinetoscopes which would be watched by increasing numbers of patrons in peep shows. Soon after, technology existed to project films onto screens so that patrons could cram into those first theatre houses to watch them together. The French Lumiere brothers are considered by many (particularly the French) to be the fathers of world cinema with the showing of their films in 1895.

As competition grew between live entertainment venues and films, so did the realization that additional and improved advertising was necessary. Black and white handbills, posters using line art (from black India ink line drawings), window cards and posters were often created by individual non-credited artists. Newspaper ads were used. Wood engravings and printing presses were among the copying methods used. The advent of the process of lithography opened up a whole new vista of printing possibilities. "The earliest attempts at motion picture advertising art were crude by artistic standards, often featuring poorly reproduced halftone photographs. Line art was more successful, offering a sharper, cleaner image and permitting more flexibility in design. The trend to line art lasted well into the twenties. In an effort to be stylish, due in part to a dearth of available decorative typefaces, most headlines were hand lettered."²¹

Successful magazine illustrators were enticed into the field of movie poster design. Illustrator Aubrey Beardsley's exotic elongated figures, often depicted with his trademark peacock tails, lived on in others' poster art even after his death in 1898. Coles Phillips became famous with his innovative series of the "Fadeaway Girl,"²² illustrations that featured an attractive girl who blended into a dark background. This technique was used in many advertisements and parallels the artistic technique of using "lost and found edges" and the Italian "chiaroscuro" shading technique.

At the end of the 1920s, radio and the addition of sound challenged film companies. "Studio art departments worked overtime to create not only compelling advertising but a quality image for their releases. Headlines became stronger, design concepts more refined, copy messages more analytical. Improvements in printing techniques that permitted better reproduction of blackñand-white photographs led to the partial or even total replacement of pen-and-ink drawings by well-defined halftones of stars and scenes.nes."²³ Most poster artists still did not see their work credited in print. Color gradually entered the filmmaking scene and "By the end of the thirties, the studio illustrators and graphic artists were experimenting with overlays and reverse printing techniques, bringing a new excitement and dimension to the work."²⁴

In the 1950s, that sensational creation TV immerged as competition for film audiences. Since TV had limited fare in black and white, films tried to retain their audiences by capitalizing the use of adult themes that were censored on TV and "Technicolor" and other new processes. Tony Nourmand writes, "This exploitation of technical novelty was echoed in the work of the artists who had to devise the posters that would lure the audiences back into the movie houses. Illustrators like Saul Bass in America..., Jan Lenica in Poland..., and Raymond Gid in France created striking, often abstract, graphics which sought to promote a film by capturing its mood and message rather than simply depicting its stars."²⁵

In the 1960s, photography was incorporated into movie poster design even more. "Other changes included advances in techniques and materials, such as air brushing, mezzo tinting and double printing. Because advertising art of the sixties truly blended the best of all print media techniques, it was a significant force in keeping Hollywood's light burning."²⁶ In the 1970s, TV was utilized for its ability to instantly reach audiences. Viewers were tantalized with trailers or previews for upcoming films. Newspapers carried the times and locations for showings. The movie posters in the lobbies enticed viewers in and beckoned them to return for upcoming films. "A continuing trend toward big-budget "event" films, with emphasis on erotic thrillers, action, and special effects, was reflected in advertising campaigns that were more competitive and direct in content."²⁷ That holds true through the present as artists and designers utilize an arsenal of creative tools that range from pens and airbrushes to astounding computer wizardry.

Mike Salisbury gives insight into the creative development process with, "A motion picture has no shelf life. If nobody comes to see it the first day it's on the market, the party is over...Waterworld cost $200,000,000 to make. Prints, promotion, and advertising could use up another $100,000,000....You as a designer have just been asked by these nervous folks to create an icon which will convince at least 50,000,000 people to buy this product-that's about $300,000,000 in ticket sales which is about what Jurassic Park made. To start, at least 100 concepts from you and other designers will be revealed at a first stage presentation to the marketing department of the studio. Your idea will journey to at least six more meetings and could be revised... at any stop along through the kingdoms of motion picture advertising, management, production, and actors with the powers of approval."²⁸ All of this is before it even gets to the next stage. Like films, posters are now such collaborative efforts that many hands may touch it on its journey and one artist may create the key art or main image, another may do the title and others will create other parts.

Salisbury also writes on the composition of a movie poster, "Movie consumers make sure that every poster has the copy line at the top, the title two thirds of the way down the poster, with legal credits of the people involved in the marketing and distributing the epic at the bottom."²⁹ The students can examine successful posters to see if that holds true.