Horror. Disney. Musical. Adventure. Action. Si-Fi. Drama. Crime-Drama. There are so many different genres and types of movies and some have more than one genre mixed together. Before anyone sees a movie, the trailer is where movie goers will see first in order to figure out if they truly want to see it. Either that or it’s based on the genre, actors in the film, the director, or for any other reason. However, there is another way that you would want to see a movie that may not have even crossed your mind. Movie posters!
Yeah, I know, it’s not as cool and exciting as a trailer or something interactive. But think of it this way. You are at the movie theater surrounded by all the different movie posters of the movies that are playing and some that have yet to come out. Then one catches your eye with a very intriguing image on it with the movie title and the premiere date. Afterwards that’s all you can think about and it gets you wanting to watch it when it comes to theaters. How about now? Gets you thinking doesn’t it?
Think about how many movie posters are out there and how many you saw for upcoming movies that you didn’t give much thought of, but are now thinking about how it started getting you interested in the movie. Movie posters have been around for a long time, and some are now a collectable.
Over the years the posters have gotten better and more captivating to look at. However, after doing a lot of research on the history of the movie posters and looking at how the posters are done for each genre there were definite trends whether it’s action, horror, romance, or a different genre. Society has gotten so used to these trends that with one look and not knowing the title right away, we know exactly what type of movie it is. For example in the article “The Trend in Movie Posters: Do They All Look the Same?” it states that when we see posters for romantic comedies, they always have a white background with the star couple for the film standing back to back.
The Project
When I heard about the project were assigned to do, I was excited. I was assigned to create anything that my heart desired and that I have been waiting to do. What could be better.
I have been focused on motion and illustration throughout college. However, I haven’t done as many print projects as I would have liked, so what better way than to start now. While I majored in graphic design I also minored in film, television, and media because I have a love for movies and television shows and how they are created.
Taking my two passions of design and film, I decided to combine them by creating my own take on movie posters for films of my choosing. Although, there is a twist that I put on the project after talking to others about it and really thinking it over. Instead of just recreating movie posters, I have decided to take the chosen movies and create a movie poster that would be since in a different time period. For example, if I were to create a movie poster for the film Avengers Endgame that came out in 2019 and the poster I create would look like the film came out in the 1940s. Another example is that if I do a movie poster for the film Vertigo that came out in 1958, I will make the poster like it will be coming out in 2020.
Phase 1: Research and Proposal
To begin the project I have to do research then create the proposal for the project. As I am researching I didn’t realize all the different trends there are for each genre like for romance, action, drama, comedies, etc. Once I learned about the trends, I moved on to which colors would be right to use for different genres and how it affects and influences the audience. Then, I found a couple of videos where an artist who actually created movie posters, discussed how a movie poster is the way it is by using actual examples. Actually seeing and hearing him talk really taught me how to create professional and successful movie posters.
After doing tons of research on the history movie posters and elements of designing a movie poster, next came the project proposal. I had to put together a packet so to speak on how I would go about creating my project. The most important part I had to think about and include in the project proposal was how I was going to complete it in seven weeks or less and what I needed to complete in order to do so. After doing print work throughout college, I had a good idea of what I needed to do. I decided on keeping the same process that includes: research, mood board, sketches, mockups, and final design of the posters.
Overall, I haven’t seen anyone create these kinds of movie posters, so being able to create something so new and different is exciting.
Michaela Ganezer 