Film posters have evolved significantly over the decades from the 1920s to today. Early posters in the 1920s-1930s featured hand-drawn illustrations and scenes from movies with a focus on stars. By the 1940s-1950s, posters shifted to prominently feature characters' faces over scenes using bolder typography. The 1960s saw typeface play a bigger role while the 1970s began prominently featuring photographs. Modern posters from the 1980s onward became more balanced with large photographic backgrounds and information laid out in a formulaic manner that has remained consistent.

1. HISTORY OF FILM POSTERS

2. THE BEGINNING
Film posters were important before digital media appeared. They served to
circulate personality of movie stars and thus embody the cult status of a movie.
For a long period of time, film posters were an important part of the film
industry.

3. THE 1920’s AND THE 1930’s.
1920’s
Movie posters that
used a fairly
traditional type for
the time and hand-
drawn illustrations on
still images
representing scenes
from the movie were
known in the 1970’s.
1930’s
In the 1930’s, we see a
shift towards bolder
typographic designs with a
growing tendency towards
illustrations focusing on
main characters of the
film, particularly faces,
over depictions of scenes.

4. THE 1940’s AND THE 1950’s
1940’s
In the 1940’s, it was a
rare to see scene
representations. Some
of the evolutions are
that the characters are
much more prominent.
After the experience of
the 40’s, typographic
treatments are a bit
more moderate.
1950’s
Poster designers were
beginning to be seen in
the 1950’s. Designers
were trying to show
conceptual approaches
with posters. An
example, which is free of
characters. Emphasize
the typography and
subtle clues about the
content of the film that
forms the background of
the type.

5. THE 1960’s AND THE 1970’s
1960’s
In the 1960’s, typeface
played a bigger role in
poster designs. The
illustrations are moved
tona more peripheral
paper, adorning the
type.
1970’s
In the 1970s,
photographs played an
important role on
posters for the first
time. They often take up
most of the canvas with
the type thrown below,
apparently as an
afterthought. This us an
example of the rapid
movement of trends in
the design industry.

6. THE 1980’s AND THE 1990’s
1980’s
We began to see the
movie poster in a
similiar way to what
we are used to seein
tiday in the 80s. The
images are more
balanced that we
have seen in previous
decades and large
photographic
backgrounds are
more common than
before.
1990’s
Posters of the 90s
are reasonably
formulaic. We’ve got
the photograohic
backgrounds, pithy
slogans at the top,
and the names of
headline actors
sitting quietly above
the name of the
film, usually near
the bottom of the
poster.

7. 2000’s
We started to see the evolution of movie posters
throughout the 80s and 90s. This slows down as
designers come up with a number of designs.
In the 2000s we see incremental improvements to
keep up with trends in typography and
photography, but the design often remains the
same.
Reaching the end of the decade, minimalism
becomes fashionable and that influence can be
seen on the posters of films such as Up, The Dark
Knight and Buried. It moves away from a more
balanced design that probably won’t turn out to be
timeless.