Thursday, February 10, 2011

Movie Poster Collecting


Movie Poster Collecting

There is a great deal of history behind movie posters and movie poster collecting. Jules Cheret, who created 2 movie posters in the 1890's, was the artist given credit for creating the first movie posters. It was in this early period in movie history, however, that movie studios realized movie stars were as much of an attraction to the moviegoer as the movie itself. Thus, the movie star was born, and movie posters began showcasing actors' names along with the title of the movie.
By the 1920's, the golden age of silent movies, movie posters became more artistic and spectacular, with accomplished artists being hired by movie studios to paint portraits of the stars for posters. By the late 1920's, movie poster images became sharper due to a new printing process developed by the Morgan Litho Company.
In the 1930's, also known in the movie industry as "The Golden Age of Movies", another style of movie poster was created, the half sheet. The movie industry cut advertising costs and used cheaper paper for posters due to the paper shortage of wartime.
By the 1970's, movie posters used photography, occasionally using drawing and painting styles. Movie posters at this time were being printed on a clay-coated paper, which gave them a glossy finish. Star Wars and Star Trek posters were the most popular posters of the time and are still collected by many today.

In the 1980's, the age of the special effects blockbuster, the mini sheet was invented, and video stores became popular, thus the video store poster was created. Today, reprints of movie posters are mass-produced and sold in many stores or are just a click away on the Internet.There are several types of movie posters. Because of their rarity, the avid movie poster collector has concentrated on movie poster or theater art. These are the posters that are delivered and displayed by the movie theaters and then intended to be thrown away. Another type of movie poster is the commercial poster, which is mass-produced for direct sale to the public. Video posters are distributed to video rental stores for advertising material. Cable and TV posters are use as promotional material for TV stations for their programming. Like theater art, video posters and cable and TV posters are not produced for the public. Although not as valuable as theater art, these types of posters are still popular among collectors. Special promotion posters promote a movie along with a product. Other types of movie posters include advance posters that promote a movie well ahead of the movie's release. The award poster, which indicates that a movie has won an Academy award. The combo poster, advertising two movies instead of just one. The popular double-sided poster that has art on both sides, with the artwork reversed on one side of the poster. There are featurette posters highlighting short films or cartoons, review posters for when a movie gets a good review, serial posters for movie serials, and special distribution posters.
With the popularity of movie posters has come the necessity to create various sizes of posters. The first and most widely used poster is the one sheet, which is usually 27" x 41". The 3 sheet is three times the size of the one sheet measuring at 41" x 81". The 6 sheet is six times the size of the one sheet measuring of 81" x 81". As with all collectibles, condition is a great factor when placing a value on posters. A movie poster's value is determined by demand, rarity, and condition. For those who want to be serious movie poster collectors, you will need to know some things about taking care of your movie poster art.
Tips to retain the total collectable value of movie posters 
Never alter the appearance of a poster. Never place a movie poster in direct sunlight. Don't write on your poster, even on the back. Never put tape on the front of a poster even to repair tears. Posters can be restored the same way rare comic books are professionally restored.
When shipping posters use thick poster tubes or bubble envelopes. When framing a poster do not dry mount it, and use an acid free backing board.
Now that you know a little more about movie posters and movie poster collecting, go ahead, start collecting!
1. Preparing the poster
If your poster is general YCL agit-prop to attract attention and possible members rather than to announce an event, make sure that your poster gives reasons why someone should join the YCL rather than just stating that it is a good idea. If you are doing a huge print run it may be worth while to see if you can get the printing sponsored by a union or other organization which has access to printing facilities.
If you can get the posters copied for free that is obviously best. 2. Using the poster
A) Volunteers: You can't use a poster if nobody is there to put them up. B) Affixing the posters- How?: There are many ways to put up posters and the various ways work more or less depending on the conditions you are working in.
The best way stick up posters is using home made postering glue. To make this you will need a can of condensed milk for every fifty posters or so, water, a spray bottle and a squeegee. Spray the milk-water on any surface that is relatively clean and flat then apply the poster, spray again on top of the poster and use the squeegee to flatten the poster on securely. When the milk dries the poster will be stuck. In normal conditions though it works excellently as a cheap, effective and environmentally friendly method of affixing posters.
Other methods of affixing posters include using tape, wheat paste or staples.
It is also easier for people to remove your posters if they are affixed with tape. For wheat paste you will need wheat flour, water, paint brushes and a bucket. Staples work well for sticking posters to wooden poles. C) Affixing the posters- Where?: When you are putting up your posters around your community try to keep in mind who you are targeting and make sure that is who will see the posters most where you are putting them. Target busy areas where lots of people will be sure to walk by the poster. You can also sometimes poster inside of buildings.
You sometimes never really know how far you can take your custom posters. Some people are wild and outright adventurous with their custom poster printing (to their detriment), while others are so guarded and simple with their styles that they don't look like custom posters at all. If you are developing your own color posters yourself, you will of course need to find that fine balance between "unimpressively manufactured" custom poster designs and the "just a little bit too much" wild posters.
• Poster sizes - First we shall discuss sizes. The best way to be just right with color poster sizes is to refer to poster templates. If you follow the standard sizes of your poster templates, your color posters should be good enough for any poster printer and poster deployment scheme. What you should avoid though here is the use of too large or too small posters.
So make sure that you pick poster sizes that are in between the largest formats and the smallest ones. A poster that is 18x24 is a nice middle ground option for most people.
• Poster shapes - When it comes to poster shapes, you are better off using the standard rectangular shape for poster printing. Since most printers and locations support rectangular posters, it is far more easier and convenient to just abide by standard poster shapes. • Poster colors - In terms of poster colors, the best option is to always go for color schemes that have 3 colors or less. Add more colors to this scheme and you will be going on the deep end of color poster design that might overwhelm your poster viewers. • Poster images - When it comes to images, the best way to go about it is to use simple professional quality images. You do not need to create abstract or grunge poster designs to make an impression on people. You will want readers to understand your poster text quickly and the only way to do this is via simple headline poster font styles. So never use those wild font text, it will only make your color posters harder to understand.
Great! Now you know what is relatively good and what to avoid in custom poster printing. Hopefully now, you should be able to create custom posters with just the right design elements that work well.

See Other Article Here

No comments:

Post a Comment