Movie Posters: Color, Type and Meaning-Making

CM 410 Students will adopt a book on digital literacies, social media, or design from the collection at Limestone's A.J Eastwood Library and will imagine the book being made into a movie. They will create iterations of three or more movie posters imagining the movie as different genres (comedy, action, mystery, crime drama, documentary, love story, etc.) and will compose "movie posters" that utilize all their existing skills and knowledge on issues such as:

image made at fakemovieposter.com

• Fonts and Types
• Color Theory
• Basic Design Principles
• Digital Photography Principles
• Image Editing
• Rhetoric of Framing
• Semiotics, and more...

They might glean ideas from sites such as Fandango, IMDB, Movies.com, etc. but will also explore the design of great movie posters from the past at Paste's The Top 100 Movie Posters of All Time, and Salon's 50 Beautiful Movie Posters.

After perusing the wide collection of movie posters for ideas and inspiration,  students will consider the principles in WebDesignerDepot's "7 Elements of a Great Movie Poster Design"


Limestone's library has many books that would make ideal movie treatment topics - some sample titles are listed in this ad:

Each Student will produce a project that meets these criteria:

• 3 posters – each a different “take” on the same book.
• Posters should be printed in "tabloid" or "ledger" size - 11"x17" and may be either landscape or portrait in orientation.
• 1 poster must include original photography taken by the student.
• 1 poster must feature a “legal use” image – with credit given, license identified, and source cited.
• Design consideration should be given to EACH element identified on the full Design/Semiotic/Rhetorical Analysis worksheet.
• The Posters will be accompanied by a written “rationale” explaining your process, how your design(s) address the elements on the Design/Semiotic/Rhetorical Analysis Worksheet, skills you’ve learned and applied, etc. Each rationale should be expressive and complete, but each should be limited to 500 words or less.
• All 3 complete drafts due Monday, March 3 for workshop and review.  
• Final Drafts to be presented, with rationales, to the class on Wednesday, March 5.