CINE.shw | Showcards
Showcards were a ubiquitious marketing tool in the early to mid-twentieth century of pre-vinyl era printing. In South Asia, showcards were uniquely used as film publicity material. Hand-drawn with prominent brush strokes, hand-tinted with bright pigments, retrogravure, collotype or heliotype printing was widely used to fill the pictorial space with portraits of titular stars. They displayed credits, cast in flourishing typography, lettering and exclusive designs as if they flew out of comic strips. Smaller in size than Lobby Cards, showcards featured on display boards inside cinema halls. However as digital printing technologies took over, hand painting and lithographs were lost to cut and paste designs. Today, vintage showcards exist as paratextual filmephemera that lets us construct histories of Bombay cinema in conjunction with pop-art.
Showcards were a ubiquitious marketing tool in the early to mid-twentieth century of pre-vinyl era printing. In South Asia, showcards were uniquely used as film publicity material. Hand-drawn with prominent brush strokes, hand-tinted with bright pigments, retrogravure, collotype or heliotype printing was widely used to fill the pictorial space with portraits of titular stars. They displayed credits, cast in flourishing typography, lettering and exclusive designs as if they flew out of comic strips. Smaller in size than Lobby Cards, showcards featured on display boards inside cinema halls. However as digital printing technologies took over, hand painting and lithographs were lost to cut and paste designs. Today, vintage showcards exist as paratextual filmephemera that lets us construct histories of Bombay cinema in conjunction with pop-art.
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