A movie poster is a must for any movie to be released. If you want to reach out to your audience and have an attractive impact then you need a stunning movie poster for sure. However, there are lots of things involved while creating a movie poster-like billing block, movie credits, one sheet, cast, looks, and much more. Following every rule can get a little confusing in such a situation.

To make your task easier, you can use free movie poster templates and create amazing posters in just a few minutes. Here we have a complete guide on how to make an eye-catchy movie poster, so, let’s dive right in-

Types of Movie Poster Templates

There are different kinds of movie posters available. The types are-

One sheet Movie Poster

This is a type of poster which uses a billing block for sure. It is only one sheet as the name suggests. This movie poster type focuses on featuring the key poster art for the movie, cast, and crew. This is the most used movie poster type.

Teaser Movie Poster

In teasers, the movie credits, or even titles are a little hidden. Such kinds of logos usually only feature a specific element such as a logo or a specific date or something like coming soon, etc.

Wild Posting

The final type of movie poster is wild posting. These can include posters pasted on billboards, taxi tops, online banners, etc.

Billing Credits

The billing credits or the billing block is the name of the cluster of movie credits mentioned at the bottom of the movie poster. This is mentioned in the familiar and condensed movie poster credits font.

Regarding the billing block, there are certain specific rules in the industry. The Writers Guild (WGA) and Directors Guild (DGA) insist that the movie credits of members are at least 15 percent of the size of the movie title.

The purpose of the billing block is to represent who worked on the film and in what capacity fairly on the movie poster.

Bottom Text of Movie Poster

Usually, the bottom text on movie poster templates is the movie credits or billing credits. But you must be aware of the order in which the credits are mentioned, movie poster font, specific titles to be mentioned, specific rules, etc. Let’s discuss the bottom text in more detail.

• Leading off

There are a few presented by credits to be mentioned in the bottom text of the movie poster. It can include production companies such as Paramount, Warner Bros, Legendary, Syncopy, and Lynda Obst.

The presentation credit comes first and it belongs to the distributor. The one producer who developed the film and has a production company can be mentioned as ‘a Sam Smith Production’. Next, you can also have a director who gets additional movie credits. So, you can mention it like, ‘A Jackson film’.

• Cast

In this section, the first names mentioned are of the lead actors. Some actors and actresses negotiate to get their names first. This is referred to as top billing. It is also important because usually, people go to movie theaters to watch their movie starts. So, the lead actors’ and actresses’ names need to be mentioned in the front for the audience to see.

This leads to more viewership for the films. In the billing block, the big stars’ names will be mentioned before the title.

In modern movies advertising, the brand of a superhero character is much outweighed by any actor actually playing the character. Sometimes, the actors’ names get listed in alphabetical order or negotiated order.

Other than position, there are certainly other ways to mention talent. Special negotiations or special talents can be mentioned ‘with’ or ‘an’ and proceeding the name. An ‘introducing’ label is also mentioned sometimes.

• Crew

The standard crew is casting by, costumes by, edited by, and production designer. Other titles like Director of Photography, Music by or Orginal Score by may be negotiated and placed majorly.

If you have no negotiations, then you can place the titles as you like depending on the effort in the project. The order should be visually appealing to you as well as the audience and must be fair too.

• Producers

There are different types of producers who are mentioned in the movie credits. It might include Producer, Executive producer, Co-Producer, and Associate Producer.

• Writers

There are various writers on any film. If your script is based on a published book or material then you must write, ‘from a novel by Liam Ridley’ or ‘Based on a character by Liam Ridley’.

• Writing Teams

From a story by credit can be given to credit writing which was not done in a screenplay form. When you start as, screenplay by, it means this individual wrote the script.

Written by is when one writer has written whole story and the script such as ‘Written by Dan Humphery’.

If there is a writing team who developed the story, it can be written as-

Story by Rory Gilmore and Emily Jones

Screenplay by Damon Roberts, Elena Mitchell, and Tyler Johnson

You can keep on adding more teams and individuals to your movie poster template if needed.

• Direction

At last, you need to mention who directed the movie and fill out the movie posters template. Directed by is the last movie poster credit in the billing credits. If the writer is the director, then it will be mentioned as Written and Directed by Bella Kensey. The directed by is the final credit to be mentioned on a movie poster.

There are some other things also mentioned in the movie poster credits. This includes logos, official ratings from the MPAA. people also mention the website, social media accounts, hashtags, and release date at the bottom of a movie poster design template.

Creating Movie Poster Using a Movie Poster Template

There are lots of rules that are usually taken care of but still, it’s you and your production team who decide what goes on. To make your task easy, you can create a movie poster using a movie poster template free. This makes it so easy to create posters in just a few minutes. Here are some other tips that you need despite a free movie poster template.

• Think of the main idea of the movie

While creating the movie poster, remember that the main idea of the film must be conveyed through it. Among other things such as star choice, visuals on the poster matter a lot. If they are able to grab the attention of your target audience instantly, then the chances of people actually watching the movie increase by multi-folds. So, keep the main idea in mind and connect with your audience. Use a free movie poster template to make your task super easy.

• Decide the style

When you are looking for references, your choice is not everything. You need to keep in mind, something that does not appeal to you can be important and appealing to your audience. So, to be open try to remember what you should not do. Everything else can be given a chance of at least looking at.

• Do not copy

Copying is going to destroy everything including your perfect film. If you copy, there are very high chances people will relate to those who you copied from. They might think about the source you cooped from, the message and vibe they conveyed instead of what you have to say. You cannot copy anything that worked in the past because you are different. So, you will need a unique movie poster.

• Simple enough to understand

The primary need is to get the message to your audience and it should be understood by them. If your audience is not able to understand your movie poster, there will be no point left. So, make your movie poster interesting, a little complex but simple enough that your audience is able to connect and understand. Look at some movie poster templates for free from websites like Designhill and get some inspiration.

• Poster size

If the poster is being put online-only, make it in A4 format. If you need to print it, A1-A2 formats are recommended. The largest format is A0 which is best if you have a lot of details to mention.

• Typography

Typography must be determined before the layout. Different printing houses have different technical requirements. First research printing companies and then choose the best one for production time, price, and quality.

• Ensure image replacements are in high resolution

The footage you have cannot always be used to choose the poster images. If you pick images from the footage, first of all, they will not be planned or appealing and next, not be clear or crisp enough. You need to get your actors and click new, planned and better images to put on your amazing movie poster.

Once you ensure you have new images, then the images on the poster must be in high resolution. It should look rich and full of quality. In case, you get blurred or low-quality movie posters, people will relate that directly to your movie.

Make use of free movie poster templates and create stunning and attractive designs.

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