PW Web Resources: Professional Design and Film

Professional Design and Film

Everything you wanted to know about creating movie posters, but were too afraid to ask

Tristan Johnson

Overview

A well made-movie poster can make or break a film. If successful, it will pull in viewers who otherwise might never have given the movie a second thought. There's more to these posters than just exciting pictures, although those can often help. Designing an effective movie poster requires careful placement of names, titles and images in a way that any passerby can hardly look away. This site provides you with all the resources you need to create your own masterpiece in film promotion. Take advantage of the links below and good luck in designing your first movie poster.

Getting Started ~ Definitions and Examples

What is a movie poster?

Now this may seem too basic, but everything has to start simple. In order to learn the finer crafts of poster design, you must first understand what they are and what makes them effective. Wikipedia's article on movie posters is as good a place to begin as any.

Onesheetdesign

Now that you know just what you're dealing with, it's time to take a glance through the prolific history of movie posters. Onesheetdesign.com features numerous posters from film and television, collected primarily from recent years. This site will give you a fair look at contemporary movie posters.

Specimenbox

Specimenbox.com is concerned with all kinds of design; however, one survey profiles what have been deemed to be excellent examples of recent movie poster designs. Take a quick look at what they have chosen as some of the most effective and appealing designs out there.

Classic Posters

Finally, for those of you not interested in the contemporary, above is an excellent source for classic movie posters. This wide catalogue features the best of yesteryear up through today. Many of these posters possess a certain edge not present in the styles we know now and the wise designer will know how to use these classics, whether for imitation or inspiration.

Learn from the Best ~ What Professionals Do

Designer Jon Allen

Check out this interview with movie poster designer Jon Allen. Allen discusses how he got into the business and the importance of movie posters on the whole. He also explains what makes a poster good or bad and provides tips on making your own.

Designer Bob Peak

Bob Peak was one of the leading poster designers of the last century. His work, ranging from My Fair Lady to Apocalypse Now to Superman is displayed at the website above. Peak's design style relied heavily on the artwork he created rather than on numerous well-placed graphics.

Designer Drew Struzan

Drew Struzan ranks as one of today's leading movie poster designers. His work has appeared on many of the biggest box office hits of the last thirty years including Star Wars, E.T. the Extraterrestrial and both the Harry Potter and Indiana Jones series. Check out Struzan's website for an in depth look at his style.

The Independent Scene

Odds are, you won't be designing for Hollywood like the pros listed above. That's why these tips on how to make independent film posters might come in handy. If you're doing work on the local scene or just having fun with a student film, these hints will benefit you as much, if not more, than what any professional will say.

Posterwire

Posterwire is a weblog devoted to movie posters. Different designs are featured on the site, which also features explanations on effective film art. This is a good site to visit frequently to keep up with what is going on in the world of movie posters.

You've Seen it All ~ Now It's Your Turn

Bighugelabs

This fun and easy tutorial requires no knowledge of Photoshop. The posters you create won't be incredible, but this should suit any basic needs. On top of that, this takes a fraction of the time that a design in Photoshop would, so if you need to create something in a hurry, this is where to go.

Photoshopdesign

This is where you take control. Having learned what you need to look for in a poster, try your hand at creating your own. Photoshopdesign.net features tutorials for many aspects of design, not the least of which are movie posters.

Intermediate Tutorial

If you have a basic knowledge of Photoshop, this is where you want to start. There's nothing fancy here, but if you want to test the waters with a design, this is as good a place as any.

Advanced Tutorial

If you've mastered the intermediate tutorial, or you have a well-rounded knowledge of Photoshop, then you should look into the advanced tutorial offered above. This builds on previous knowledge of poster design so make sure you go in with a clear idea of what style you want to create.

Tutorio

Tutorio, as the name would imply, deals with tutorials of all kinds. Movie posters may only make up a small part of those, but search for them on the site and you will find some genre specific examples in addition to several familiar tutorials listed above. Romance, western, or whatever, look through some of Tutorio's links to find the style right for you.

Poster Text

Adobe provides a tutorial here for creating text for movie posters. It explains how to blend graphics with text so as to create a distinct look and feel often used on posters. This tutorial is short and easy to follow.

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