The End of Harry Potter

I like many other out there are celebrating the end of the Harry Potter era with the last installment of the Harry Potter movies. I thought it would be fun to take a look at the movie posters for the 8 films, and how they have changed with time. Obviously the characters have grown but I find the progression of the poster art showed a shift in quality as well. The Harry Potter logo type has been the standard wizardry font with the lightning bolt "P", but it has degraded a little more with each movie.

Let the Magic Begin: This first poster is obviously
the sore thumb in this series. the characters have
been given a drawn effect to give the movie
poster the illustrious quality of the book.

Something Evil has Returned to Hogwarts!
Yeah, and it is those cheesy stars used as the
dots of the "i". More Realistic than the first, and
here begin the glow and smokey effects. Who
is to blame the designer or the software,
but the smoke effects are not very convincing.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: I love
that Macbeth quote, but it is often used.
The poster is another one that is set apart from
the rest. This poster lacks the greenish, blue glow
that the rest of the posters have, and is particularly
close to their faces (much like the final poster).
This is also the only poster to not use the
"Lumos" typeface for the theme line.

Everything is About to Change: After short
break Harry Potter returns to the blue/green glow
color with magical fog seeping through. There
is an epic quality to the triangular
placement of the characters.

The Rebellion Begins: Another dynamic
placement of characters that adds depth, but
I find that there is an over use of the glow and
blur effects on their faces. They are
inhumanly smooth.

Without a Theme: From here on the posters
have left off a tag-line or theme for the top of the
poster. For a time 45 degree angles were trending.
I guess this movie came out then.

The Beginning of the End: An action packed
shot for an action packed movie. This the the
second and last poster with the E.T.-like
glow of the wands.

The End: The Harry Potter logo is no longer
necessary. We know these characters, and
we are invested into the outcome of the final
battle (even if we have already read the entire
series) I am ready to wrap up this series.

I have enjoyed this walk through memory lane. As much as the characters, books, and movies have progressed so have the movie posters. The beginning was very child-like and sweet, and the last poster is gritty, serious, and a little gory. This is a grown up wizardry battle. The effects have changed but some styles that connect (most of the posters is that green/blue hues, darkness contrasted with mystical glows, and strong character imagery. I don't have tickets yet, but I am excited to finish of this series and see have movie makers interpret the battles to come. Good bye Harry!