Movie Poster Lesson

Photoshop - Advertising - Graphic Design This type of product is created by a Graphic Designer for an Advertisement used promote a Motion Picture.

Directions

This project will investigate the using Imagery and Typography together using Adobe Photoshop to creating a fictitious (not real or true, imaginary or having been fabricated) Movie Poster.

Movie Posters serve as promotional tools, offering glimpses into the plot, setting, and characters of the movie they're advertising. But more than that, movie poster design serves as a complementary art form to the film medium, with posters that aim to capture the visual aesthetic and mood of the movie itself.

​To begin creating your Movie Poster select a movie genre (drama, suspense, horror, comedy, action, etc.) and develop a name for your movie. Photoshop will be used for the imagery, movie title, tag line, other text, movie logos. Make sure your movie poster is school appropriate.

The original poster design you develop in Photoshop must help support the idea behind the movie. Ideas for the poster include: create a photomontage, change colors, add effects, gradients, brushes, and textures from photos to your image. Many movie posters fade the image at the bottom to black to include and be able to read the credit block (more on this below.)

Images for this movie poster MUST be taken from the following stock image websites:

Photos may be used located thru these sites for this project

• pexels.com

• pixabay.com

• unsplash.com​

No images from real movies or famous actors can be used in your Movie Posters

If you can't find what your looking for on these stock photo sites ask me to try and locate a large high quality photo for you. Remeber what we have learned on how to download large high quality photos. Google+Images+Size+large

See Examples below of real movie posters that incorporate a creative use in the movie titles; movie title with photos, title effects (blurring, textures, shadows), Photoshop effects, montage images, color effects, textures (backgrounds). Find an example and try to recreate that same style for your title.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and make your new document

Using Adobe Photoshop make a new document File > New Project and enter the following:

- Width 13 inches

- Height 19 inches

- Resolution 240 pixels/inch

Step 2

Select a color for the background of your poster and then Edit Menu > Fill with foreground color you chose. Black works good for this, but any color could be used.

Step 3

Find images to include on your Movie Poster and save them to your Google Drive

Photos may be used located thru these sites for this project

• pexels.com

• pixabay.com

• unsplash.com

• freephotos.cc

• stocksnap.io

Step 4

Use the layers feature, layer blend modes, layer masking, adjustment layers, filters, gradient maps, photo textures from previous projects to develop the image for this movie poster. Look at the examples on the various sites given as resources to generate ideas.

Step 5

Use the (T) TYPE tool to add type to your poster. REMEMBER you can get better results with type (movie title for example) by typing them on separate layers, using different sizes, and fonts. Look at the titles in the example posters and recreate the same look for your movie title!

Step 6

Click once in the poster with the (T) Type tool to enter a single text word. DON'T TYPE EVERYTHING TOGETHER. For example type the...

 - Movie Title

- Date of movie opening (make it up)

​- website

- Tag Line - Example (Roommate Wanted)

The movie tagline is the film's advertising slogan, usually printed on posters prior to the official release. It gives quick and catchy insight into themes, plot, and genre of the movie.

Tag Line- EVERY GOOD THING IN THIS WORLD STARTED WITH A DREAM

 Step 7

Credit / Billing block

The credits at the bottom of a movie poster are known as a billing block or credit block. The credit block consists of the names and titles of many of the “above the line” talent, key crew members, and others involved in the production of a film. The billing also includes logos for film related properties, including the MPAA rating — these logos are known as bugs. The order of names appearing in the movie’s billing are tightly regulated (as many aspects of film production are) via contracts by the various actors, agents, producers, director, etc. For example, some directors invoke the infamous “a film by” above title credit in their film’s billing. Once you factor in all these names and titles, space becomes a premium in the billing block. That’s where a condensed typeface comes into play. Most good ultra condensed typefaces (usually sans serif) will work in a billing block.

Select the Type Tool

COPY & PASTE THIS CREDIT BLOCK below.  Change the names of people if you wish and the movie tile in red to fit your movie in Photoshop!

PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESENTS A YOUR MOVIE NAME FILM IN ASSOCIATION WITH LAWRENCE BENDER PRODUCTIONS STARRING JOHN WURMAN HEATHER ANDREWS EMMA HARRISON AND STEVE ELGIN “NAME OF YOUR MOVIE” CASTING BY BONNIE TIMMERMAN MUSIC BY TREVOR RABIN COSTUME DESIGNER LIZZY GARDNER EDITED BY KEVIN BRADY, A.C.E. SCOTT CHESTNUT PRODUCTION DESIGNER BRUNO RUBERO DIRECTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY  PETER MENZILES JR., CO-PRODUCER ANTHONY WINLEY EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS BOB WEINSTEIN HARVEY WEINSTEIN JOHNATHON GORDAN MICHELLE RAIMO PRODUCED BY MARTY KATZ LAWRENCE BENDER BASED ON THE STORY “NAME OF YOUR MOVIE” BY WILLIAM BREUER

Step 8

The Movie Poster logos (black or white versions): Paramount Studios, Dolby Digital, MPAA Ratings logo. These graphics are located in Google WHEN YOU SEARCH FOR THEM.

Open them in Photoshop and drag and drop the logo on your poster project.

RESIZE THEM IF NEEDED TO FIT AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR POSTER!

These Logos could be re-colored if you need to using a layer style > color overlay. If you need help recoloring them please ask.

Step 9 

Save image to your Google drive folder as

Movie Poster.psd

Take a screenshot of the finished project and turn into Google Classroom for grading.

Student Example