How Hollywood Movie Posters Evolved

Since the motion picture industry's infancy in the nineteenth century, posters and billboards were the centerpiece of the studios' advertising campaigns. The first movie posters were simple outside placards listing the program being shown inside auditoriums, nickelodeons, and other public venues. The name of the film, the producer, and the director were listed. There were no movie stars yet. These handbills were distributed on the streets and posted outside businesses or wherever there was foot traffic to incite awareness and generate hype to sell movie tickets.

The first movie poster was created in 1890 by French painter and lithographer Jules Cheret for "Projections Artistiques." In early Hollywood, playbills began illustrating a film's scene or an array of overlaid images from several scenes. Ordinarily, they contained a basic image and text with the film title in large lettering, sometimes with a tag line. Soon, actors' names were added to the posters.

The illustrators were most often anonymous and did not sign their work. They were hired as studio staff. Prior to the 1990s, illustrations instead of photographs were far more common. Today's movie posters contain a billing block in small print at the bottom which includes an array of licensing and consumer information.

Today, movie poster images are used on websites, DVD packaging, magazine ads, and movie databases. They can hint at the plot, highlight the stars, or offer an abstract representation of a key moment in the film.

Between 1940 and 1984, film posters were exclusively made and distributed by the National Screen Service. The advertising traveled with the film canisters from one exhibitor to the next. At the end of the film's run, the posters were returned with the film canisters and pretty beat up. Few survive intact. In the 1980s, the American film studios took over the direct production and distribution of their poster advertising and began to license the sale of poster reprints for fans. These have little or no value to collectors.

The first movie poster auction by a major house occurred on December 11, 1999. Today, original artwork and vintage posters command huge prices. The record price paid for a single poster was $690,000 for Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis, far more than the original film cost to make.

Nine decades of movie posters are depicted with a brief explanation of trends for each decade. There are many fan favorites shown.
http://creativeoverflow.net/the-90-year-evolution-of-movie-posters/

My Lost Hollywood Interview

Over two years ago, I did an interview in Los Angeles at a Hollywood hotel. It was the first time I was asked to do a video interview, and I was excited about it.

I drove up from San Diego and somehow managed to get a great parking space in back of the place. I cinched up my tie and looked for my contact person in the lobby. 

She took several of us up to a hotel suite set up as a makeshift studio. One part of of the suite was set up with the camera man and the interviewer; the other part was set up as a waiting area (green room) with snacks and drinks and a half dozen authors.

One of the authors who was also a booking agent was holding court when I arrived. Her project was about Spiritual Cleansing or something like that. She sucked all of the oxygen out of the room until it was time for her interview. 

Then there was the math professor from Cal Poly who was promoting a college textbook he had written. He launched into a discussion of chaos theory.

One by one, the others did their interviews in the other room and were led out by that exit. Finally, it was just me and a solidly-built, blonde, thirty-something woman waiting for our turn. 

"Who are you? She asked me.

"Oh, I'm Joe Nobody."

She laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. What's your book about?"

I gave her the Reader's Digest version of my novel, Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel, and my business card.

"Tell me about your book," I said.

"It's about my experiences in ladies' roller derby."

"Fascinating."

That helped explain her general muscle tone and solid build. She went on to say that she appeared in the feature film, Whip It, with Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig, and Drew Barrymore. Her name was Ari Graynor.

Now it was her turn to leave and be interviewed. I was alone.

Finally! Mine must have been the last shoot of the day. I settled into the chair and prepared to talk about my novel when the interviewer asked me about converting a novel into a stage play. 

What? He was either tired, unprepared, or had me mixed up with someone else. Anyway, I made the best of it. "That's show business," I thought.

I left feeling like I had wasted my time. When the producers didn't get back with me, I felt that the interview had gone badly, so I didn't follow up. Then today, it appeared in my gmail with an apology for letting it slip through the cracks. For what it's worth, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7rZBXZly8A

Hurray for Hollywood - The Los Angeles Book Festival and DIY Indie Film Awards

Last evening, my wife and I spent a wonderful night in West Hollywood at the Los Angeles Book Festival and DIY Independent Film Awards held at the historic Roosevelt Hotel, site of the first Academy Awards in 1928. Located on Hollywood Boulevard - across and down the street from the Kodak Center - we were there on a Saturday night, and I couldn't help but feel like a tourist.

My novel, Zug Island, won an Honorable Mention in General Fiction. After a very nice awards presentation and the acceptance speeches, we viewed a dozen clips from independent films which had won awards. See the films yourself at the link below.

It was a fun night, and I got to meet some interesting and ambitious people. Hal Holbrook won an award for a children's book he had written, but he couldn't be there to accept it because he was on tour.

Some of the authors had remarkable stories to tell. I particularly liked the story about blind people using power tools to build toys and their self-confidence. Seriously!

Afterwards, I took my sweetheart to Mel's Drive-In and made a night of it. I couldn't help but think of Marion Ross and the Fonz - their pictures were all over the place.

Happy Days!

DIYFILMFEST.COM