DESIGN A GREAT POSTER FOR YOUR FILM

Types, clichés and essential elements to a good poster

by Marta Ávila

We tend to say that a picture paints a thousand words, that’s why we shouldn’t ignore the importance of the design of the poster for our film project.

Audiovisual pieces help a lot to sell any film project and, without a doubt, the poster represents the quickest and most effective way of communicating our product.

We have two types of posters:

The teaser poster

Teaser posters present the film before it’s even been made, therefore, they’re more creative and free.

The teaser poster for one of the contestants at 2nd Pitchbox.

Film poster

Actual film posters, once the film has been made, announce the film once it has been released, with the objective of selling tickets in cinemas; but also have a whole marketing campaign behind them, which has been worked on and strategized months before the release. Images from the film have been used, there’s the names of the actors, director, prizes or festivals the film has attended (if any), tagline etc.

On the online market at Filmarket Hub you can upload a teaser poster, a concept image that will give a glimpse about the kind of story we want to tell.

The usual clichés in the design of posters

When tackling the design of your poster, it’d be good if you give a good look through the usual clichés used in their design, to see what elements are associated to one type of films or another.

For example:

1. The color yellow is usually used in comedies and independent filmmaking. Whereas red is used for romantic films and black is associated to horror films…
2. The hero giving his back to us is usually associated with solitary and vengeful characters.
3. A man running along a solitary alley usually announces an action thriller.
4. Floating heads over the sea associates with drama.
5. Women with her legs spread out is usually evocative of a funny and racy film.
6. The profile of a tough guy, in black & white, with a background of explosions or fire, refers to fights and car chases films.
7. The posters with characters looking at us usually are associated with showing sexual or criminal interest.
8. Two main characters standing against each other’s back announces a love/hate comedy.

What essential elements does a poster usually have?

1. Show the title of the film in one go, with a big and easily read title.
2. Include a reference image or a frame from the movie that represents the film.
3. Use few colors, taking into account the emotions they signify.
4. Follow each genre’s clichés.
5. Only make stand out the actors if they’re well known, who will sell the film, otherwise, don’t.

Summarizing, the poster isn’t a work of art, as it’s main function is to attract the potential audience’s attention. And, as they’re designed to sell tickets they must be memorable, striking, concise and informative. Remember that on your One Page you can upload an image that includes the title (and tagline), it must be A4 format, .jpg or .png file with a maximum weight of 20MB.

Where do I start?

Look for references, compile images and go for it. Probably, when designing your teaser poster you won’t have enough and/or you won't want to pay the money it costs to hire a professional designer to make the poster for you, but you can always work with free tools you can find online, like for example, Canva.

So, take a chance and start working on your teaser poster for your project on Filmarket Hub!