Movie poster

Movie poster for the movie The Birth of a Nation ( US , 1915)

Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest - Poster for the 1922 Film

The bridge , movie poster for the film.
Illustrator Helmuth Ellgaard , 1959

A movie poster is a poster promoting a film .

history

Movie posters have been around as long as there have been films. The Lumière brothers already advertised their films with advertisements and posters - even though these only consisted of text. With the development of film into a mass medium , poster design began to develop further. The type of information on the posters changed, and larger productions, such as those made more and more frequently from around 1910, were also illustrated. From about 1920, when almost all feature films were still made, most posters were illustrated - many commercial artist who specialized in the poster drawing. As a rule, a striking scene from the film was illustrated and supplemented with information about the film title and the actors. Often these posters were designed in color, even though the film was in black and white. Later film images were also used as a poster motif.

Formats and usage

The size of movie posters has changed over the course of history. In part, this is due to the loss of meaning that movie posters take up in an advertising campaign. At least until the 1950s, posters were the most important medium for promoting a film. Correspondingly many and large posters on the street attract the attention of passers-by. Nowadays, movie posters play only a minor role alongside advertising on television, radio, the Internet and other, more recent advertising measures.

During the silent film era in Austria, where the movie posters were larger than in other countries, the standard format was 126 × 95 cm. In the second half of the 1920s, a large format of 280 × 126 cm was even used. This poster, consisting of two parts, took up a whole advertising column height . The largest format in Germany at that time was 210 × 95 cm.

Various cinemas have been able to accommodate oversized painted film announcements on the exterior facade, created by trained artists.

For the cinemas, posters are produced in different formats for posting. The largest formats are currently DIN A0 (841 × 1189 mm), used for wall displays in the vestibules of the cinemas, then DIN A1 (used as an announcement poster for partition walls and notice boxes) and DIN A3 for notice boxes.

layout

A large photo, illustration, or collage usually takes up the bulk of a movie poster. The film announcements are usually supplemented by several individual film frames showing excerpts from the films. Depending on the advertising budget, there are definitely differences in the number and quality of the film images.

Various film distributors had also forbidden in the past to display special film content on film photos or film posters. For example, the mask of actor Charles Laughton as Quasimodo for the film “ The Hunchback of Notre Dame ” (1939) was not allowed to be shown in the movie poster or in the posters at that time.

Importance as collector's items

Movie posters are now a huge collector's item. So was z. In November 2005, for example, the Metropolis film poster by graphic designer Heinz Schulz-Neudamm was sold in London for 398,000 pounds sterling (approx. 600,000 euros), the highest price ever paid for such a poster. The hand-painted film posters from Ghana have also become coveted collectibles in western art circles in recent years, which are repeatedly exhibited and sold in museums and galleries.

Well-known illustrators of movie posters

John Alvin ( Blade Runner , ET - The Extra-Terrestrial , Cocoon , The Color Purple , Mosquito Coast , ...)
Hans Braun ( The cat on a hot tin roof ; Gone with the wind ; a total of over 800 German film posters)
Reynold Brown ( The Horror of the Amazon , Attack of the 20-Meter Woman , Alamo , The Man from the Great River )
Renato Casaro ( My Name is Nobody , Dances with Wolves , Running Man , Angel Heart , The Last Emperor , never say never , James Bond 007 - Octopussy ...)
Klaus Dill ( Dance of the Vampires by Roman Polański ; bus stop ; twelve noon and numerous other westerns )
Helmuth Ellgaard ( The bridge , night fell over Gotenhafen )
Josef Fenneker (1895–1956) (German painter and graphic artist who designed over 250 film posters for major Berlin premiere cinemas, especially for the Marmorhaus film theater )
Rolf Goetze (first known title from 1948, last known poster from 1972. Probably the most productive film poster painter of this time. Has created at least 800 German film posters, including: Psycho (A1, 1960); Gone with the Wind (WA-A1, 1953) ; Dracula's Return (1968); Major Barbara (1949); The Red Rush (1962); King of Hot Rhythms (1964); The Ten Commandments (A0 + A1 1957))
Boris Grinson (1907–1999) (drew almost 2,000 film posters until 1972, after that mostly only portraits and landscapes)
Josh Kirby ( The Return of the Jedi , Krull , Beastmaster and the famous "copy" of Pieter Brueghel's " Tower of Babel " for the Monty Python film The Life of Brian .)
Ernst Litter (1918–2006) (painter and graphic artist, designed around 600 film posters) The Sinner , La Strada - The song of the street , The youngsters
Theo Matejko The ( Nibelungs )
Frank McCarthy and Robert McGinnis (James Bond films from Fireball to The Man with the Golden Gun )
James Montgomery Flagg ( In the Shackles of Shangri-La by Frank Capra )
Guy Gérard Noël (1912 - April 28, 1994) ( Fahrenheit 451 (French poster)) and more than 1000 movie posters, including many for the well-known hammer horror films and horror films from Universal Studios film distribution.
Bob Peak ( Star Trek Series, My Fair Lady , Apocalypse Now , Superman: The Movie , West Side Story , Rollerball , Camelot , In Like Flint , The Spy Who Loved Me )
Lutz Peltzer ( Psycho , Breakfast at Tiffany's , Vertigo , ...)
Peter Pewas
Georg Schubert (1911-2005)
Heinz Schulz-Neudamm (1899–1969) (most important and best-known poster Metropolis )
Armando Seguso ( Gone with the Wind )
Roger Soubie (June 14, 1898 - March 10, 1984) ( Gone with the Wind, French Revival poster) He created over 2000 posters for films
Drew Struzan ( Star Wars , Indiana Jones, and 150+ other movie posters)

literature

Books in German

Volker Pantel: The Book of Movie Posters . Movie posters from the golden years of cinema 1946–1966. 1st edition. Günter Albert Ulmer Verlag, Schönaich 1984, ISBN 3-924191-04-2 .
Volker Pantel, Manfred Christ: 444 film posters from the golden years of cinema 1946–1966 . Wilfried Eppe Verlag, Bergatreute 1993, ISBN 3-89089-650-2 .
Manfred Christ: 700 film posters from the golden years of cinema 1946–1966. Volume 2. Self-published, Essen 2002, ISBN 3-00-008830-X .
Manfred Christ: poster art Ernst Litter. A selection of works in 650 illustrations . Self-published, Essen 2000, ISBN 3-88474-908-0 .
Thomas Nixdorf: License to Thrill - James Bond posters 1962–1997 . Poster concept, Hanover 1997, ISBN 3-9803792-3-X .
Manfred Christ: From Tarzan to Old Shatterhand - Lex Barker and his films . Günter Albert Ulmer Verlag, Tuningen 1994, ISBN 3-924191-81-6 .
Manfred Christ: Graphic dreams. 800 film posters from German and international productions . Bear-Family-Records, Hambergen 2004, ISBN 3-89916-050-9 .
Peter Mänz, Christian Maryska: The Ufa poster. Film premieres 1918 to 1943. Umschau Braus, Heidelberg 1998, ISBN 3-8295-7002-3 .
Movie posters 1908–1932 . From the holdings of the State Film Archive of the GDR, exhibition catalog. Potsdam 1986 OCLC 17879524 .
Klaus Dill: K. Dill movie posters . Edited by Joh. Heider with a foreword by Walter Schobert. Joh. Heider Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1997, ISBN 3-87314-323-2 .
Wolfgang Beilenhoff, Martin Heller: The movie poster . Scalo-Verlag, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-9803851-7-5 .
Hans-Martin Heider, Eberhard Urban (Hrsg.): Art for the cinema - The posters of the film award winner Klaus Dill. Henschel Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89487-441-4 .
The 8-CD box " Wild West - Hot Orient " - Karl May film music 1936–1968 (Bear Family Records, BCD 16413 HL) contains a 192-page film book with domestic and foreign film posters for the Karl May films . Text in German.
Gad Klein, Manfred Christ, Jürgen Brückner, Otto Hottmann, Richard Weize (eds.): Sophia Loren “How wonderful to be a woman”. (Lucky To Be A Woman / La Fortuna Di Essere Donna). Baer Family Records, Hambergen 2003, ISBN 3-89795-895-3 . (German, English, Italian)
Jens Müller, Karen Weiland: FilmKunstGrafik - A book on the new German film graphics of the 1960s. Catalog for the exhibition of the same name. German Film Institute, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-88799-044-2 .
Peter Payer (Hrsg.): Painting films - The Viennese poster painter Eduard Paryzek . Verlag Anton Pustet, Salzburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-7025-0622-3 .
Peter Osteried: The great John Wayne book . MPW Verlag, Hille 2010, ISBN 978-3-931608-99-6 .
Helmut Radermacher, Peter Osteried, Jürgen Muth (Ill.): The great Elvis Presley book. MPW Verlag, Hille 2011, ISBN 978-3-942621-01-4 .
Jasper P. Morgan: Spaghetti Heroes: Django - Sartana - Ringo . MPW Verlag, Hille 2008, ISBN 978-3-931608-86-6 .
Tobias Hohmann: Edgar & Bryan Edgar Wallace: The classic crime film. Volume 2, MPW Verlag, Hille 2011, ISBN 978-3-942621-02-1 .
Museum Folkwang (ed.): Bond, ... James Bond - film posters and photographs from fifty years . Steidl Vlg., Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-86930-523-3 .
Julia König (Hrsg.): Filmplakate: Posters from the collection of the Vienna Library . Metro-Verlag, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-99300-087-5 .
Detlef Claus (ed.): Asian monster and science fiction films: German advertising material from 1956–2011 . Belleville Verlag Michael Farin, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-943157-04-8 .
Henry Keazor (Ed.): Movie Poster Art. Dietrich Lehmann and the Heidelberg Film Club of the 50s , arthistoricum, Heidelberg 2017, ISBN 978-3-946653-71-4 , ISBN 978-3-946653-72-1 , doi : 10.11588 / arthistoricum.299.407
Detlef Helmbold (Ed.): More art than advertising. The GDR film poster 1945–1990 . Series of publications by the DEFA Foundation , Bertz + Fischer, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86505-410-4 .

Books in English

Tony Nourmand, Graham Marsh (Eds.): Film Posters of the 30s. The Essential Movies of the Decade. Evergreen / Taschen, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-8228-4511-6 .
... Film Posters of the 40s . .., ISBN 3-8228-4516-7 .
... Film Posters of the 50s . .., ISBN 3-8228-4521-3 .
... Film Posters of the 60s . .., ISBN 3-8228-4526-4 .
... Film Posters of the 70s . .., ISBN 3-8228-4531-0 .
... Film Posters of the 80s . .., ISBN 3-8228-4536-1 .
... Film Posters of the 90s . .., ISBN 3-8228-4710-0 .

(Note: the volumes "Film Posters of the 30s" to "... 80s" were previously published in Great Britain by Aurum Books. Only the volume "Film Posters of the 90s" was first published by Taschen / Evergreen)

Tony Nourmand, Graham Marsh (Eds.): Film Posters Horror . 1st edition: Aurum Press, London / New York 2004, ISBN 1-84513-010-3 . (New edition: Taschen Verlag, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-8228-5626-6 )
Tony Nourmand, Graham Marsh (Eds.): Film Posters Science Fiction . 1st edition. Aurum Press, London / New York 2003, ISBN 1-85410-946-4 . (New edition: Taschen Verlag, Cologne, June 2006, ISBN 3-8228-5627-4 )
Tony Nourmand, Graham Marsh (Eds.): Exploitation Poster Art . 1st edition. Aurum Press, London / New York 2005, ISBN 1-84513-099-5 . (New edition: Taschen Verlag, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-8228-5625-8 )
Tony Nourmand, Graham Marsh (Eds.): X-Rated: Adult Movie Posters of the 60s and 70s. Volume 1, Snoeck-Ducaji & Zoon, 2003, ISBN 90-5349-433-2 .
Mark H. Wolff, Tony Nourmand (Eds.): Hitchcock Poster Art . 1st edition: Aurum Press, London 1999. (New edition: Overlook Press, New York 1999, ISBN 1-58567-092-8 )
Babett Stach, Helmut Morsbach (ed.): Posters of GDR-Films 1945–1990. KG Saur, Munich / London / New York / Paris 1991, ISBN 3-598-22591-1 .
Babett Stach, Helmut Morsbach (Eds.): German Film Posters 1895–1945. Vol. 3, KG Saur, Munich / London / New York / Paris 1992, ISBN 3-598-22593-8 .

Books in French

Martine Boyer, Pierre Bourdy: Roger Soubie. Affiches de cinema / Movie Posters. (Stanislas Choko Collection, Volume 1). intemporel Cinéma Archives, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-9517702-1-9 .
Aurélie Druart: Paris s'Affiche. Affiches de cinema / Movie Posters. (Stanislas Choko Collection, Volume 2). intemporel Cinéma Archives, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-9517702-2-7 .
Christophe Capacci: Guy Gérard Noël. Affiches de cinema / Movie Posters. (Stanislas Choko Collection, Volume 3). intemporel Cinéma Archives, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-9517702-3-5 .
Jean Segura: Boris Grinsson. Affiches de cinema / Movie Posters. (Stanislas Choko Collection, Volume 4). intemporel Cinéma Archives, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-9517702-4-3 .
Martine Boyer, Pierre Bourdy: Monstres - humaines et inhumains - Affiches de cinema / Movie Posters. (Stanislas Choko Collection, Volume 5). intemporel Cinéma Archives, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-9517702-5-1 .
Jean-Pierre Putters (Ed.): Ze Craignos Monsters . Vents d'Ouest, France 1993, ISBN 2-86967-159-8 .
Jean-Pierre Putters: Ze Craignos Monsters - le retour . Vents d'Ouest, France 1995, ISBN 2-86967-443-0 .
Jean-Pierre Putters: Ze Craignos Monsters - le re-retour . Vents d'Ouest, France 1998, ISBN 2-86967-769-3 .

Web links

Commons : Movie posters - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Movie poster - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

The most extensive summary and links to books and catalogs on the subject of film posters (in German) can be found on the website: www.KinoKunst.de .
Archive for film posters - images of over 12,000 German film posters from 1918 to the present day.
Internet Movie Poster Awards - American database with images of various film and video / DVD posters
MovieposterDB - Over 100,000 international posters for more than 20,000 films
PosterDB - German-speaking community project with over 180,000 international posters, posters and cover images

Individual evidence

↑ Christian Maryska: Pars pro toto - A picture for many. The Austrian silent film poster. In: Francesco Bono (Hrsg.), Paolo Caneppele (Hrsg.), Günter Krenn (Hrsg.): Electric shadows - Contributions to the Austrian silent film history. Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 1999, p. 173.

[1] Christian Maryska: Pars pro toto - A picture for many. The Austrian silent film poster. In: Francesco Bono (Hrsg.), Paolo Caneppele (Hrsg.), Günter Krenn (Hrsg.): Electric shadows - Contributions to the Austrian silent film history. Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 1999, p. 173.