February 24, 2007

Movie Posters - for that Unique Finishing Touch to Your Home Theater

Tip! It is advisable to research poster prices and refer to price guides. This is because there are certain websites and dealers, who not only sell fake posters but also charge double, even triple the market price.

Poster Presentation - Framing, Mounting and Light Boxes

Poster presentation is a most important aspect that should be taken into consideration when hanging a poster of your favorite movie on a wall. Appropriate presentation that matches with the rest of the room decor can help bring about the movie experience, but not only.

Presenting your newly acquired movie poster by framing or mounting will result in a more attractive finished product in any room. In particular, framed movie posters are most appropriate in a �shared’ room home theater e.g. a living room or a bedroom home theater.

Tip! 15th Century - Posters were hand painted and used as a way to provide announcements and information to the towns people.

However, mounting and in particular framing a poster, offers a further important advantage - it also represents an important step towards helping your posters stay nice for much longer.

While both frames and mounts offer a great way of presenting a more attractive finish in any room, yet in the case of a dedicated home theater room, the ultimate in movie poster presentation is the backlit poster light box. The use of a backlit box will better help bring about the cinematic ‘feeling’ into your home.

Movie poster light boxes add a unique finishing touch to your home theater, or in that case, anywhere you want to display your favorite poster.

The Poster Light Box:

Tip! Vintage posters were created using the technique of lithography. They provide a glimpse into a different era, as most of them are more than 80 to 100 years old.

The classical way to illuminate movie posters for display is from behind. Most poster light boxes operate in this manner by having a light source mounted on the rear side of a box frame. A diffuser plate is used to help eliminate the formation of possible hot spots of light over the movie poster area.

These poster light boxes are also referred to as ‘backlit poster boxes’ and are normally designed to take 1 Sheet posters. The latter are typically 27 inches in width by 40 to 41 inches in height, depending on whether the poster is a pre 1983/85 or otherwise. (More information on movie poster sizes is available at http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/poster-sizes.html).

Tip! Custom posters can be easily created online. There are a lot of websites that help, in the step-by-step creation of posters.

Take care, however! Not all one-sheet size movie posters are best suited for display in a backlit poster light box. Why?

One sheet comes in either single-sided or double-sided prints, with the latter being designated as �DS’ 1-Sheet. While it is possible to mount either type in a poster light box, yet the best posters to use in a backlit poster light box are double-sided posters.

DS 1 Sheet posters have printing on both the front and the back of the paper stock, with the printing on the backside being in precise alignment with that on the front and a mirror image of the printing on the front side.

Light from behind the 1-sheet poster will have to pass through both prints, with the poster acting as if it is a strip of film. The two prints on either side of the poster will render for a more robust and rich illumination of the poster artwork.

Tip! Vintage posters of various European artists can be found easily. In fact, it is now possible to find vintage posters of various kinds that deal with topics such as sports, travel, and food.

That is not to say that the cheaper and more common single-sided posters are not suitable for use in backlit light boxes. It is just that one-sided 1-Sheet posters look somewhat washed-out when illuminated from behind.

Andrew Ghigo - A Telecoms/Electronics engineer by profession, with specialization in digital switching and telecoms fraud management systems.

Editor and publisher of http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com - a comprehensive home theater guide to home theater systems, product reviews and home theater design.

This article is an excerpt from a series of guides appearing under the Movie Posters section of the site. Topics discussed include movie poster basics, poster sizes, poster presentation, and tips for building a DIY poster Light Box.

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