Trends Used In Comedy Movie Posters From 1915 to 2010
Movie posters are a fantastic source of inspiration for artists and designers of all kinds. Different genres of film tend to have different techniques and trends – sci-fi posters tend to be dark, gloomy and atmospheric for example, whereas comedy posters (as showcased in this article) are quite minimal (especially posters designed in the more modern day such as the 90′s and 2000′s).
This compilation showcases a total of nintey-nine comedy posters, that’s one poster per year going all the way back to 1915. Throughout the decades and years we can see how movie poster design has developed from full-on painted works of art to incredible rendered posters and digitally textured photographs.
We ask for one thing in return for showcasing this awesome collection of posters: What are your favorite posters showcased in the article, and why? Be sure to let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the post!
The 1910′s
An obvious trend used in the very early 1900′s were borders. From oddly shaped yellow borders in ‘Hearts and Planets’ to green triangle patterned borders used in ‘His Picture in the Papers’. It was clear a lot of effort went into these early movie posters.
1915 – Hearts and Planets
1916 – His Picture in the Papers
1917 – The Man from the Painted Post
1918 – Mickey
1919 – Daddy Long Legs
The 1920′s
In the posters showcased below for the 1920′s we see a bit of everything, from minimalisticism in ‘Woman-Proof’ and ‘The Cohens and the Kellys’, monochromatic images in ‘Along Came Ruth’, to basic comic drawings in ‘So This Is College’.
1920 – The Texan
1921 – Alf’s Button
1922 – French Heels
1923 – Woman-Proof
1924 – Along Came Ruth
1925 – Little Annie Rooney
1926 – The Cohens and the Kellys
1927 – Casey at the Bat
1928 – The Fleets In
1929 – So this is College
The 1930′s
Although typography strokes were used prior to the 1930′s, I feel they were taken to the next level in this decade. Strokes were used to make text appear three-dimensional in movie posters such as ‘Check and Double Check’ and ‘The Devil is a Sissy’.
1930 – Check and Double Check
1931 – City Lights
1932 – Dance Team
1933 – Duck Soup
1934 – Gay Love
1935 – Top Hat
1936 – The Devil is a Sissy
1937 – Wild and Woolly
1938 – Bringing Up Baby
1939 – At The Circus
The 1940′s
The 1940′s seems to be the year when comedy movie posters actually had a fun and energetic feel to them. Oversized heads were used in the poster ‘A Night in Casablanca’ and there are smiles all round.
1940 – A Chump at Oxford
1941 – Mr. Bug goes to Town
1942 – Tortilla Flat
1943 – Girl Crazy
1944 – Cover Girl
1945 – The Charlie Chaplin Cavalcade
1946 – A Night in Casablanca
1947 – The Egg and I
1948 – The Boy with Green Hair
1949 – I was a Male Bride
The 1950′s
Experimental compositions started to come into play in the 50′s. Prior to the 50′s, most posters were made up from individual images and some typography, whereas in the 50′s posters are composed using several different images – a huge step in the movie poster world, giving it’s viewers more of a feel for the movie.
1950 – Key to the City
1951 – Let’s Make It Legal
1952 – Love is Better Than Ever
1953 – Stalag 17
1954 – Sabrina
1955 – The Trouble With Harry
1956 – Around the World in 80 Days
1957 – Funny Face
1958 – Damn Yankees
1959 – Some Like It Hot
The 1960′s
As color was becoming easier to process, more bright and vivid color schemes were being used in movie posters of the 60′s. Bright blues, pinks and oranges were used in ‘Once More, With Feeling!’ as well as what looks like real developed photographs instead of illustrated paintings.
1960 – Once More, With Feeling!
1961 – One, Two, Three
1962 – The Road to Hong Kong
1963 – Sunday in New York
1964 – Never Put it in Writing
1965 – The Art of Love
1966 – Alfie
1967 – Thoroughly Modern Millie
1968 – Salt and Pepper
1969 – Some Kind of a Nut
The 1970′s
The 70′s saw hand-drawn sketches being merged with photographic portraits in Walt Disneys ‘Boatniks’, early use of grid-based design in ‘Trafic’, and simple two-color color schemes such as that used in the ‘Outrageous!’ movie poster.
1970 – Boatniks
1971 – Guess What!?!
1972 – Trafic
1973 – Bummer!
1974 – The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
1975 – Six Pack Annie
1976 – The Shaggy D.A.
1977 – Outrageous!
1978 – Malibu Beach
1979 – The Jerk
The 1980′s
Minimalism became a big trend in movie poster design in the 80′s that posters such as ‘They All Laughed’, ‘Fast Times’, ‘Private School’ and ‘Bad Medicine’ all followed. Grid-based design continued to grow, with more and more elements in the posters being aligned to one another to create an easy composition for the eyes to scan.
1980 – Middle Age Crazy
1981 – They All Laughed
1982 – Fast Times
1983 – Private School
1984 – Where The Boys Are ’84
1985 – Bad Medicine
1986 – Off Beat
1987 – Nice Girls Don’t Explode
1988 – Twins
1989 – Loverboy
The 1990′s
We don’t see many more trends in the early or mid 90′s, only improvements on the trends and techniques that were already in place.
Minimalism was still a huge factor of movie poster design, as well as grid-design. However, the posters do look much more adventurous, using different techniques to attract the viewers attention. In 1995 ‘Toy Story’ was released, along with it came several superb animated film posters using handfuls of technology. ‘American Pie’ broke the rule of the grid, purposely tilting the grid sideways to create a unique look.
1990 – Men at Work
1991 – Only the Lonely
1992 – Home Alone
1993 – The Sandlot
1994 – Dreisam
1995 – Toy Story
1996 – Happy Gilmore
1997 – Flubber
1998 – Antz
1999 – American Pie
The 2000′s
The future is here and computer software is getting more and more powerful – I’m sure most of you will recognize most of these posters, meaning they did there job correctly and stuck in your mind for all these years. We see some more great animated posters from ‘Monsters, Inc.’, ‘Surf’s Up’ and ‘Cloudy with a chance of Meat Balls’.
2000 – Scary Movie
2001 – Monters, Inc.
2002 – Jackass: The Movie
2003 – Bruce Almighty
2004 – Dodgeball
2005 – The 40 Year-Old Virgin
2006 – Big Mommas House
2007 – Surf’s Up
2008 – Bedtime Stories
2009 – Cloudy with a chance of Meat Balls
The trends of 2010
Here are four comedy posters that are due to be released in 2010:
2010 – Despicable Me
2010 – Shrek: The Final Chapter
2010 – Toy Story 3
2010 – Youth in Revolt
Your Turn To Talk
I hope you enjoyed this post! Please take a minute to chime in and leave a comment below. Which posters were your favorites?
source: IMP Awards
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About the author:
Callum Chapman is a self-employed designer, illustrator & blogger. View his work at Circlebox Creative. He is also the founder of Picmix Store, a store dedicated to limited edition prints, and The Inspiration Blog. Drop him a line on Twitter!
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