‘Montauk’: What made the ‘Stranger Things’ pitch deck so powerful?

As a pitch deck designer, I am always on the lookout for great examples of decks, especially those that have then gone on to be made into successful projects. And since it was released a few years back, the deck for ‘Montauk’ – better known to most of us under its eventual title ‘Stranger Things’ – has emerged for a lot of us as the gold standard.Read More

Meet the cast: How character posters build hype

In 2023, character posters are hot property. With adaptations from books, comics and videogames, remakes, sequels (or ‘requels’ as per last year’s Scream film) and star-studded blockbusters dominating film and TV – producers are keen to whet audiences’ appetites and get them talking way before a production’s release date – and these sets of posters profiling the main characters can be a great way to do this.

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The 6 most important film poster design trends for 2023

Keeping your finger on the pulse of film poster design can be tough – industry trends are constantly evolving and reinventing themselves. So – as we get in gear for 2023, I’ve taken a closer look at the posters for recent and upcoming releases to see what’s hot right now in film marketing.

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The inside story: How great film posters create meaningful narratives

How do you turn a good film poster into a great one? A good poster design is fantastic at communicating information – it will tell you everything the filmmakers want you to know about the film such as the title, the stars, the genre and the tone. All of this will be conveyed using powerful design elements such as colour, typography and photography to make you want to watch. But a great film poster? I’d argue they do something more. Great film posters – like all great art – tell a story.Read More

How to create quality poster designs using sub-optimal photos

In an ideal world, for every job I would be supplied with a good selection of well lit, high quality assets for creating the best poster possible. However, many of us working in this area will be aware that this is by no means a given – even when working on a big-ticket job.
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Six inspiring colour palette approaches for your sci-fi film poster

If you’ve read some of my previous articles covering colour concepts and the relationship between genre and colour in film posters, then you’ll know how much importance I put on the role of colour in design.

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How to make a living as a freelance graphic designer

‘How did you get into that then?’ is the question I’m most often asked when I tell people what I do for work.

The truth is there is no real set way into the design industry. I came to freelancing after several years working for various design agencies but I think that the lessons I learned through making this transition could apply to any freelance designer.

Thinking about taking that step, or just reflecting on your own journey? Read on…Read More

The 8 poster designers you need to follow on Instagram

Life as a freelance designer can sometimes feel a little isolated. Which is ironic because so much of what I do involves close collaboration with other creatives. However, there’s nothing quite like the work and encouragement of other designers to motivate you when you hit a slump.

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Moodboard example 1

Making moodboards work for you and your design process

Making and drawing inspiration from moodboards forms a vital part of my design process. As a visual thinker – working in a visual medium, I generally like to move my client communication into an image-based format as soon as possible.

Moodboards are a fantastic way to create a shared visual understanding between yourself and the client. They can draw from a variety of sources including film, art, illustration and street photography – reminding you both that ideas come from all kinds of sources.Read More

Pitch deck cover examples

An overview of the pitch deck design process

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

 

A wiser man than me (ok, it was Albert Einstein apparently) once said this about film pitches. Alright, it wasn’t about pitches exactly, but it seems to apply anyhow. You should be able to distil a pitch down to very few words, but also expand upon it when necessary – like one of those magic facecloths that expand when you put them into water (that quote is all mine).Read More

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