Note on Advertisements

Note on Advertisements

During the 1910s, films as a source of entertainment became more prevalent. Gone were the days of having sideshow films at carnivals or accompanying a minstrel performance. The film industry had strayed from the montage stylings of newsreels and location expositions, such as the San Francisco earthquake (“Good Show”) and moved into the mainstream with disparate narrative structure and, for the first time, headliner movie stars. The historical break here begins around 1912 but finalizes around 1919 and can be gleaned by examining the advertising strategies of the film companies and theatres of this time. As the public eye started to look for more information regarding the films, advertising changed gears, utilizing many different techniques to intrigue potential moviegoers. Some advertisements went as far as highlighting the location of the film to add an aura of exoticism, such as the Aztec heroine adventure The Woman God Forgot, which suggests to the consumer that it was created for a higher caliber of movie patron (Ad. for Rialto, "Woman God Forgot"). Eventually, small text flooded columns gave way to large block print ads featuring full grayscale images and highly decorative fonts portraying the title of the motion picture to help generate excitement for it, something akin to modern day trailers (compare this Advertisement from 1904, and Advertisements from 1919). During this change, the advertisements prominently displayed the actors and actresses in the lead roles, for the first time helping create the Hollywood star subculture that millions of people from around the world obsess over still to this day.

Jordan Foster

Justin Loeb

Daniel Frontman

2015-11-02