How To Create An Epic Movie Poster?

Movie posters are indeed great promotional tools, but they’re also a great way to help get funding for your film and attract key talent

It’s the end of our google meeting and my script supervisor gives me the task of not only correcting my synopsis but also creating a movie poster to associate with my film. I absolutely had no idea where to start. All I knew was that the look needed to be the exact tone of my script – dark while giving off a sense of mystery.

I immediately googled and studied the top and worst movie posters of all time and documented their similarities and differences. The top movie posters that attracted me were: The Silence Of The Lambs, Us, Scream, Titanic, and Das Irrlict. Then, I observed that most of the best movie posters have minimal color, design/objects, and no more than two actors in the image.

And, if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that “you should never aim to reinvent the wheel. You can tweak it to give it your own personal touch, but you do not reinvent”.

I wanted to do this right and if I wanted quality work, I knew I was going to have to pay a substantial amount of money. So, I went to Upwork (now there’s Fiverr) and searched for graphic designers who specialized specifically in movie posters.

Once I settled on a candidate it was time to get a quality photo. I needed a “male hand”. Since, the antagonist in my script was “heavy set” like a wrestler or NFL player, I needed the hand to be strong and exude extreme male dominance.  

I wanted a hand that if it were to punch into a wall a hole once, it would go straight through.

But who?

Then, I remembered. I met another production assistant (PA) named Ron Cromartie during pre-production who’s actually a wrestler for the WWE. I’d only met him once, but I figured it was worth a shot to ask. So, I sent him a kind text and he agreed. (Whew!).

Next, it’s time for wardrobe. I wanted the protagonist in my script to appear dirty and give off the feeling that she’s being heavily mistreated. So, I went to Rainbow and bought a $5.99 dark grey sweatshirt and had another (PA) help me cut holes into it. To make the sweater appear even more worn out, we stepped on it. Jumped on it. And rolled it in the dirt.  

Now, it’s time to figure out how we were going to get the photo and when. It had to be quick, when filming was wrapped for the day and all my duties were complete. Then, the moment came. It’s roughly around 8:30pm and we’ve wrapped after 10 hours of shooting.

I immediately urged Ron and two other PA’s to help me take the picture. I threw on the dirty sweatshirt, took direction from the PA’s who urged me to open my eyes as wide as possible and after a few takes the perfect photo was captured.

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The author is not liable for any losses or damages related to actions of failure to act related to the content in this article. If you need specific legal advice, consult with an attorney who specializes in your subject matter and jurisdiction.