Blogless: Blog of Design Less Better.

Film Poster Paintings from Ghana

Check out these amazing Ghanaian paintings used to advertising films on the “mobile cinema” (traveling VHS) circuit.

In the 1980s, video cassette technology made it possible for “mobile cinema” operators in Ghana to travel from town to town and village to village creating temporary cinemas. The touring film group would create a theatre by hooking up a TV and VCR onto a portable generator and playing the films for the people to see.

Ghanaian Poster for Cujo
Cujo (Lewis Teague, 1983)

In order to promote these showings, artists were hired to paint large posters of the films (usually on used canvas flour sacks). The artists were given the artistic freedom to paint the posters as they desired – often adding elements that weren’t in the actual films, or without even having seen the movies. When the posters were finished they were rolled up and taken on the road (note the heavy damages). The “mobile cinema” began to decline in the mid-nineties due to greater availability of television and video; as a result the painted film posters were substituted for less interesting/artistic posters produced on photocopied paper.

Ghanaian Poster for Terminator  2
Terminator 2 (James Cameron, 1991)

This is via, and see more here.

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
PaulMay 21, 2010
 

No Comments

Post a comment

Name
Email
Url
Comment
  Please feel free to use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> <pre lang="" line="" escaped="" highlight="">
Validate

Want to know more?

You're reading BlogLESS, a thrice-weekly blog about the ethics of advertising, branding, design, social media and business. We are also fans of zen, although this itself is perhaps not so zen.