When movies are released
on video cassette and DVD, the movie studios issue a line of movie posters
and other advertising materials that can be used by the video rental or
sale outlets.
When movies were first released on video
cassette, the movie studios did not issue movie materials specifically designed
for the video industry. Instead, they would take the theatre movie posters
and place a tag somewhere on the poster to indicate that it was for video
cassette purposes. As cable TV began to compete with the video market, and
as independent filmmakers (without the distribution budgets to get to theatres)
found a welcome market in video stores, a deluge of movies began to hit
the video stores that never made a theatre run. As the popularity of video
increased, the studios began to create and issue advertising materials specifically
designed for the video market. More and more video posters carry entirely
different artwork than theatre posters.
Video direct movies that bypass the theatres
are gaining in popularity, particularty in the areas of science fiction
and action. Studios like Full Moon and Vidmark release posters with great
artwork to coincide with the release of their movies directly to video cassettes.
HOW DO THEY DIFFER FROM THEATRE ART?
In some cases, a movie studio will issue
video posters that have the same artwork as that of the theatre one
sheet. There are several ways to distinguish a video poster from a theatre
poster. Here are a few:
The video poster will have a tag along
the bottom or in the middle (sometimes within the credit information) which
says something like "Available on Video Cassette).
Most studio produced video posters will
have a notation of "Home Video" on their logo.
Video posters are never printed in reverse
double-sided printing. They do release doubled-sided
video posters; however, each side will portray a different movie.
Many video posters will contain a price
sticker or an indication of another movie available for sale.
Video posters come in a greater variety
of sizes, including as small as 25" x 38" and up.
AS A COLLECTIBLE
Video posters, by their definition, are
not "legitimate theatre art" as they were not intended for or sent directly
to theatres or film exchanges. In the beginning, movie studios merely plastered
a video sticker across a theatre sheet and called it a video poster. Movie
art collectors thumbed their nose at this "trash" paper. However, when the
number of direct-to-video movies increased, some movie art collectors experienced
a change in point of view.
Many collectors base their collections
on a particular star. If that star happens to be in a movie that is released
directly to video (bypassing the theatre), there will be no "legitimate
theatre" counterpart. In order to maintain a collection, many collectors
find themselves buying video posters.
In some instances, movie studios will
issue a video poster with totally different (sometimes more attractive)
artwork than their theatre counterparts. Certain collectors like to obtain
all versions of the paper for their individual collections.
For hard line movie art collectors, video
posters do not meet the strict criteria of "theatre art" and are still not
acceptable as movie art. But for the more lenient or specialized collectors,
video posters are being viewed in a more positive light.
