History of film poster

A film poster has the purpose of promoting and advertising a film. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. They normally contain an image with text. Today's posters often feature photographs of the main actors. Prior to the 1990s, illustrations instead of photos were far more common. The text on film posters usually contains the film title in large lettering and often the names of the main actors. It may also include a tagline, the name of the director, names of characters, the release date, etc.

Film posters are displayed inside and on the outside of movie theaters, and elsewhere on the street or in shops. The same images appear in the film exhibitor's pressbook and may also be used on websites, DVD (and historically VHS) packaging, flyers, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, etc.

Film posters have been used since the earliest public exhibitions of film. They began as outside placards listing the programme of (short) films to be shown inside the hall or movie theater. By the early 1900s, they began to feature illistrations of a film scene or an array of overlaid images from several scenes. Other posters have used artistic interpretations of a scene or even the theme of the film, represented in a wide variety of artistic styles.

Types of film posters

• Character posters would feature the main character or characters. These posters only reveal subtle information about the character in terms of mise-en-scene and the body gestures.

• Teaser posters, promotional film poster, containing a basic image or design without revealing too much information such as the plot, theme and characters. These posters only reveal the release date and maybe a sentence from the movie.

• Main poster reveals the release cinema date of the movie and maybe a little bit of information about the movie.