Screenwriting : How do you make your movie posters? by Evelyne Gauthier

Hi, Evelyne. I make script posters with Canva.com. I don't put the actor names, credits, etc. on them. My script posters have pictures and titles.

Ooo, great resource, @Maurice! Canva is super-user-friendly for sure.

Movie posters can be an art form, so I tend to hire artists to design them. There are more than a few on Stage 32 that specialize in it, like Gerrin, who I met through the platform: https://www.stage32.com/profile/788832/about

Also, you could try reaching out through the Animation Lounge for artistic insight (https://www.stage32.com/lounge/animation), or the Producing Lounge for marketing tips on design (https://www.stage32.com/lounge/producing).

Haaaa... yes, Canva! I use it sometimes for FB and Instagram posts, but I think I haven't figured it out completely. I didn't think about that for movie posters. Thanks!

You're welcome, Evelyne Gauthier. Most (maybe all) of the posters in the logline section of my page are made with Canva.

Thanks, Karen! I will take a look into that. :)

I use the free version of Snappa.com. I've actually been working on one today!

Andrea, I never heard about that one. Thank you. :)

I think of an image that sums up the thrust of the story, then I head to Pixabay find something close and start work.

I have an old copy of Fireworks from Adobe. I normally just crop, colour correct and drop some titles on it.

Thankfully I'm a graphic designer and in the last couple of years I've noticed that I really do love to create art for films.

But it depends if it's a concept poster, a production temporary poster or a final project poster.

If it's concept poster then I just find an image on stock photo or sometime we even create an image to use and then just use the design guidelines to do that.

If it's a final project poster I usually make it a point to create some photos for the art and then use that.

It's pretty straight forward as a film poster needs a certain amount of information and that info has to be scattered in the right places so if you use the abundance of film posters that are out there you have a pretty simple guide and just use that.

I usually use Photoshop or Gimp or some kind of photo editing software but I usually like to link the assets so that I don't destroy stuff and leave myself room where I can then reedit something.

I think I made every poster I have here with this. I know it's not professional tool but it'll do the trick. https://bighugelabs.com/poster.php

Photoshop/Photopia/Affinity-Photo for me. My background is in design so I'm happy to do it the hard way.

I also employ a local tattoo artist to do my front page illustrations. Yes, I put illustrations on my scripts - deal with it.

For anyone looking for inspiration, check out the Script Revolution Poster Wall.

The posters on Script Revolution are designed well, CJ.

Microsoft Powerpoint and Gimp do it for me. For free images (yes, 100% free) pexels.com has tons of stuff!

I'm also an animator, so my first choice would be Blender (a free 3-D modeling and animation package) combined with Photoshop (or GIMP). There are so many free assets out there (and way more for low-cost purchase), that you can make some truly impressive scenes without knowing how to make any of the individual pieces.

Evelyne, I use GIMP to make my movie posters...and I doggone love it!

Thanks, everyone! I actually use pictures from freepik, pixabay or pexels, most of the time. I will take a look to the rest as well, but since I am not a graphic designer, sometimes, I'm not quite sure if what I'm doing is ok.

I hate the movement towards posters for unproduced spec scripts. We're writers - not graphic designers,

That being said, I am old, grumpy, set in my ways and just shooed some kids off my lawn. So... ya know. Probably not a go-to.

source on this

David, they help if you use scriptrevolution.com

Images of the world in which the story is set helps me tell the story.

I agree, Craig D Griffiths - for SR, they help get people interested in your scripts. But in a wider sense, I also agree with David - they don't really help get screenplays looked at. Sort of like book trailers - don't really do anything, despite what the creators of book trailers will tell you.

Relationships are what matters. Oh, and a great script. :)

InDesign from Adobe.

Hi Evelyne!

What about an artist painting your picture for your poster. It could make it more of a collectors item. Really, there is just something special about art from an artists mind . :-)

More ridiculousness... like pitch decks

Adobe photoshop & a little paint has always worked for me . .. Independent & Styling

Adobe Photoshop & oil paints, revisiting, enhancing the most iconic car ad of all time . .. Mother Warned Me, Catch Dodge Fever

For some of my early shorts I've done posters myself...working as an graphic designer at the time, was a good practice...Now I'd seek assistance mostly (my sister's professional graphic designer did some work for me) but don't waste time constructing posters on unproduced scripts...that's, like Dan said, plain ridiculousness...

Have you tried using Canva?

I know it's frustrating not being able to rely on just words for marketing but the spec script market is just so hyper-competitive now.

Realistically, if you want to compete on every level, you need the following as a bare minimum;

Script

Logline

Short Synopsis

Personal Bio

Then strongly recommended;

Long Synopsis

Character Descriptions

Poster

The people I'm watching succeed are doing all/most of this. My experience is that industry members love good posters just the same as consumers are drawn to good book/album covers.

Validation/endorsement is becoming a good way to get attention too. Everything's switching from competitions to coverage now.

Script Revolution simply leans into the behaviour demonstrated by those looking for scripts while trying to provide as many routes as possible. Screenwriters keep telling me what does and doesn't work but it rarely correlates with reality.

CJ Walley you forgot one thing:

Relationships

:)

Sorry for not responding this weekend. I caught a big cold from my son and still feel like total cr*p. Always interesting to see all your opinions and advices. :)

Hope you get better soon Evelyne!

Thanks, everyone. Rachel, yes I do feel much better now. :)

i use photopea its a free online photoshop software thats not too hard to learn