Graphic Design Process, Midterm Project-
"The Movie Poster"

BACKGROUND: You have already demonstrated your design skills in creating Company Logos, Cartoon Illustrations and other graphic products.

Now, you are going to demonstrate all of your design and Illustrator skills on our Midterm Graphic Design Process Project: "The Movie Poster."

For this project, assume that you have been asked to create a movie poster for the release of an independent production company's upcoming release of an animated movie. You will be creating the design, typography and illustrations for this movie.

THE MOVIES: From the table below, you will create the title and main characters of the movie. You will select ONE word or item from each column:

CHARACTER NAME #1 CHARACTER NAME #2 CHARACTER #1 TYPE CHARACTER #2 TYPE TITLE WORD ONE TITLE WORD TWO
"Squeaks" "Adababa" Squirrel Flamingo Blue Forest
"Jazzbo" "Lady" Robot Salamander Wild Planet
"Toesy" "Zeele" Parakeet Fish Neverending Ocean
"Purkz" "Bobo" Tree Clown Grandpa's Mountain
"Twelve" "Alex" Saxophone Octopus Deep River
"Cozee" "Mr. Quimby" Shark Lawn Mower Green Winter
"Vizbee" "Tick" Mouse Rock Monster Wonder Farm
"Ralphy" "Bobbles" Cat Insect Happy Days

THE POSTER:  You will be creating what is known in the industry as a teaser poster or advance poster.  These types of posters are early promotional pieces, containing a basic image or design without revealing too much information about the plot or theme. The purpose is to incite awareness and generate hype for the film. A tagline is included to give the viewer a hint at the type of film being produced.  Sometimes, teaser posters are issued even before a film goes into production.

FILM CHARACTERS: You have selected your characters, character names and the title of the film above. You will need to include illustrations of your characters on your movie poster. These should be ORIGINAL CREATIONS, not simply copied from another source! Feel free to combine images or modify other works, as you see fit, but your final characters should be clearly your own work. 

REQUIRED TEXT ELEMENTS: 

  • TITLE: Your film title "logo" from below.
  • Film Director: L. Princely
  • Writer/Screenplay: F. Schweeble
  • Runtime: 1 hour, 12 minutes
  • Production Company:  MRB Entertainment Productions.
  • Tagline:  The "catch phrase" of the film, for use in the graphics of your poster. 

CREATING YOUR POSTER:  You will be creating your poster on a vertical (8.5 inches wide x 11 inches high) or a horizontal (11 inches wide x 8.5 inches high) artboard in Illustrator.

I HIGHLY recommend sketching out some ideas for your poster first, plan a layout, design and text before you start playing with Illustrator!

I am looking for your very best work of the year!  I want to be amazed by your work, so get crazy creative and make something extraordinary!

Using the information outlined above, you will create your poster.  Follow the specific instructions below:

  • Graphics:  You will be creating illustration graphics that are appropriate to your film, including graphics of BOTH of the characters in the film.
  • Film Title: The production company would like you to create the film's "logo", using your Illustrator Typography Skills. This should strongly relate the theme or mood of the film through font, color and shape manipulation. 
  • Tagline:  The tagline or "catchphrase" is meant to increase the interest in the mind of the viewer. Place the tagline in a prominent, easy to view area of your poster. You will need to create your own tagline that fits the theme of the movie.
  • Release Information:  "In Cinemas in July!"
  • Movie Information:  The Director, Writers, Production Company and Runtime should be included in small, but readable letters on the bottom of your poster.

SAMPLE POSTER WITH ALL REQUIREMENTS LABELLED:

WRITTEN REQUIREMENTS:   Ordinarily, a Graphic Designer would be required to present their work to their client and explain their design decisions and how they enhance the message of their work.  You will do the same, but in writing.  Click over to the Graphic Design Movie Poster Presentation and fill out the form to explain your work when you are done creating your poster.

SAVING AND SUBMITTING: When your Poster is completely finished, export your work as a JPEG and save it to your MOVIE_POSTER folder on your network space for grading.

GRADING: This project will be graded in six parts, each worth 50 points:

  • Part One: Proper use of Illustrator to create GRAPHICS of the characters in your film- 50 points.
  • Part Two: Proper use of Illustrator Typographical Manipulation to create a LOGO that fits the theme of your film-  50 points.
  • Part Three: Proper inclusion of all necessary text and elements as outlined above- 50 points.
  • Part Four: Proper use of Graphic Design principles to create a pleasing and attractive layout for your poster- 50 points.
  • Part Five: Creativity, how creative and innovative you are in the creation of your poster-  50 points.
  • Part Six: Completion of the Graphic Design Movie Poster Presentation Form- 50 pts.