Saturday, February 4, 2012

What Exactly is a Lobby Card and are They Worth Anything?

By James Speentz


Lobby cards are in use for a few years in countries like America. These are form of advertising that have been employed by film makers all around the planet. Though more modern kinds of film advertising are being used in the recent times, there are still a few film makers who go for these lobby cards to give that mawkish or retro feel to their marketing campaign. These lobby cards are still being produced in The USA for distribution to other parts of the globe.

The lobby cards were first used in the year 1910 and they were used as display items in the lobbies of the theaters. For the first ten years, the lobby cards came in black and white. Nonetheless after 10 years with advances in film technology, lobby cards were revealed in colour. These lobby cards went through transformations together with the changing theater aesthetics and lobbies. It even vanished from theaters which used alternative routes of promoting the films. By the year 1985, the multiplex culture hit America and lobby cards were nowhere to be found afterward. However , these cards are still produced for distribution overseas.

These lobby cards were pretty little when put next to some of the other kit and tools used for promoting a film. These cards usually were measured in inches. There wasn't any single card produced for a film. These lobby cards were produced in groups and it used to show the plots of the film. These cards would either be released together or over a time period. Such groups of cards were called sets and there were 8 cards in one set. The 1st set was the title of the film and the remaining seven cards were for depicting random scenes of the movie. Most lobby cards were produced in sets and were pretty desirable. There are even folk who collect these lobby cards as keepsakes or collectibles. Each sentimental piece of art has some value in this world and it's absolutely right in the case of lobby cards.

Though lobby cards were introduced in the 1910s for commercial use, folk began using these lobby cards as collectible items only in the 1940s. As the usage of these cards started declining on one end, the quantity of people wishing to store them as works of art increased on the opposite side. Though lobby cards are no more produced for more modern films in The USA, there are some people making lobby cards of old films just for selling them as collectible items.

The cost of the lobby card varies and it depends on what is depicted on the card and , the size of the card. The title lobby card is usually the most expensive of all the lobby cards and it comes at a price tag which is 20 to 30 p.c higher than the other lobby cards. The other cards ' price customarily relies upon the seriousness of the scene being showed in the card. The scenes which aren't popular or which have not got enough recognition usually sell for less. Folks that are not able to buy the pricey lobby cards would sometimes go for these less expensive cards, thus satisfying their want for owning a lobby card without sinking a hole in their pocket.




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