How to Use Movie Posters to Teach Graphic Design
Students may often be bored with the sort of graphic designs commonly discussed in textbooks, but they come alive when they are presented with comics, book covers or movie poster art. Teach your class graphic design by helping it to create a movie poster design. You can use free movie posters that are easy to find and print off the Internet for reference, help your students to brainstorm their ideas and execute their vision. You can even teach them to create a logo for the movie title they choose.
Instructions
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Study popular movie poster art. Through the years, teams of creative artists have ceaselessly captured our attention with their attractive graphic designs. Furthermore, these professionals have been well-paid for their movie poster design services. You can browse free movie posters at the website listed in the Resources section of this article, where you can find a rich library of popular titles. However, if you plan to present this poster library to your class, make sure that the images your students see are age-appropriate.
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Remind students of how to employ the elements of art. When you're waiting in a movie lobby before or after your movie is about to start, your eye tends to be attracted to movie poster art if it is designed according to the same principles that are taught in art class. Popular graphic designs employ principles such as balance, texture, form and line to achieve their results. This is especially apparent with the way designers create a logo for the movie being advertised. The letters of the logo usually make use of a bold, multicolored font that is in agreement with the theme used in the total movie poster design. In essence, if you search online free movie posters for examples of prizewinning design, you will be able to reinforce design concepts to your students as they study and attempt to reproduce design elements of these posters.
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Allow students to create new designs for popular movies, or encourage them to imagine their own stories and characters. One roadblock you'll encounter when basing a lesson around movie poster art is that students enjoy talking about their favorite movies and re-living them in conversation for their entertainment-value. This means that if you want them to imagine their own stories and characters in their movie poster design, you should make this expectation clear early on. Alternatively, you can simply let them create graphic designs based upon existing movies. This will save a some time, since many students find brainstorming full-blown story ideas challenging. Don't let them get too distracted by this initial step. Emphasize that the act of designing the movie poster itself is the most important part of their project.
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Help the students to sketch ideas. Encourage your students to exchange ideas, and have them keep a record of their movie poster design ideas through sketches. Remind them to employ the elements of art in their graphic designs, as well as when they create a logo for their movie poster art. The great thing about sketching is that if an idea begins to get too complicated, the students can always "go back to the drawing board." Be sure to let them know that their sketches don't have to be perfect renderings of their final idea, only starting-points upon which they can base their poster designs.
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Assemble the posters with available materials. While you may not be able to create free movie posters, at least you should aim to create low-cost posters. Use materials that are easily-available to your students, such as markers, colored pencils, magazines, glue and posterboard. Glitter is another cheap product that can be fun to use in movie poster design. Finally, you might want to help your students to laminate the finished versions of their movie poster art.
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Tips & Warnings
Consider taking this idea to its extreme and allowing your students to group together to work on short film projects around their poster ideas. They can use principles of art in costume design, set design and as they edit their film together. They can even premiere final versions of their works in a "film festival."
Creativity is a key element of this sort of project. Students are tempted to rely on derivative ideas. However, challenge them to take their ideas to the next level, and monitor their progress.
