GETTING STARTED
What gets you excited and interested in seeing a new or upcoming film? Is it the actors, director, or was it the trailer? Whatever it may be, there is one way that gets the buzz going about upcoming films that many people don’t even think about – movie posters! 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.
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. Instead of just recreating movie posters, I have decided to take the chosen movies and create a movie poster that would look like it’s from a different time period than when the films were released.
THE PROPOSAL
Before I was able to dive in and start creating these movie posters, a proposal had to be given. It was here where I determined which films I would be creating the posters for which was The Princess Bride, Ocean’s 8, and Singin’ in the Rain. The proposal outlined what the project entailed and how I would accomplish it. Then everything that needed to be done for this unique project was outlined with details on what I would be doing for each task. Download the proposal below to see where it all began!
SETTING A SCHEDULE
Staying on track and getting tasks done can be difficult when there are so many distractions and other tasks that takes the attention away from what truly needs to get done. For me, setting myself a schedule week by week helped to keep me focus and attention to completing the task while making sure to be as creative and unique as possible. Trello has been a huge part in helping me achieve great designs while staying on track.
RESEARCH
As I did some preliminary research to do the project proposal, further and more in-depth research needed to be completed. Doing more research strengthened my knowledge on film posters and allowed me to understand more of how all the pieces are put together to create the posters we all see and love. My research included websites, articles, books, blogs, and even videos. At one point I was even watching a video where a real designer who has created some of the popular and well known movie posters. Throughout the research process I was able discover the patterns and trends within the different genres and so much more. In order to keep track of every piece of research that I have accumulated a bibliography was created along with a description of the source in case I wanted to refer back to it during the creation process.
VISUAL MOOD BOARD
As a visual learner, I was able to gather a lot of images as part of my research. These images include anything from still images from the films to color palettes to examples of movie posters from the time period I’ll be creating from. Having three mood boards (one for each poster) filled with these images allowed for creativity and inspiration to strike before I started sketching anything.
SKETCHING THE IDEAS
After the research, sketching out any concepts and ideas that came to mind was the next step in creating these unique posters. I sketched everything from different poster looks, textures, what the type would look like, color palettes and anything else that I thought of. Check out my posts for further insight into my sketching for my posters Sketching as Exploration and Digging deeper with the Sketches.
CREATING THE MOCKUPS
While I was creating the different versions of the posters, I kept the idea in mind to make sure that with one look at the posters the viewer can get an idea of what the movie will be about while keeping it in the chosen time period. As I was going through and creating the different versions for each movie, I ran into multiple obstacles. They included which typeface to use that will be from the time period, but also relate to the film as well as how to include all the information (that was a lot) I need to in a unique way. While I have done print design before I was still learning new things including how to take a movie released in 2018 and have the poster look like the movie was released in 1960. Also, throughout this stage, I learned how to create in styles I wasn’t used to and not go over board on the details. For a more in-depth look into how I put together these mockups check out my post It’s Beginning to Take Shape.
FINAL DESIGN DRAFT
Everyone knows that the final draft of something is never final – there is always something to improve and change no matter how small it may be. That was the case with this project. While I have narrowed it down to one version for each movie, changed and improved them based on feedback I received, I still wasn’t done with them. Improving on them once again I was able to find new ideas to use and new typefaces to use that relates to the film even more. For more about my process click here.
FINAL DESIGN
Creating these posters while running into obstacles along the way I was able to create three film posters from three different periods of history. These obstacles overall challenged me to become more creative and think outside the box more than I thought I would be in order to create intriguing poster designs.
Michaela Ganezer 