How to be a brilliant poster artist
Think about a poster. A poster for a play or a movie let's say. How do you even go about coming up with something like that?
When I think of iconic movie posters the ones that immediately come to mind are the shark and swimmer of Jaws; the red lips of the Rocky Horror Picture Show; and the egg of Alien with its eerie green glow. The images in the posters are simple, striking and speak of what you might expect of the movie.
So when we decided we needed a poster for Marina and the Clone we knew we needed something that people would notice, remember and would give a glimpse of what was to come without giving away too much.
Mike Heath, our Director, had some clear ideas of what he wanted and it involved big hair, rubber gloves and a sharpie. We roped in our leading lady Chrissy and she landed on Friday night with more makeup that Joan Collins in her heyday and a bag full of eighties dresses and coats she'd begged and borrowed from friends and family.
Now forget everything you thought you knew about a photo shoot. This is the fringe. An iPhone, a light source and a poster app was all we had and all we needed. Obviously in an ideal world there'd be a studio, a crew of people, props and caterers but honestly you don't need that on this scale.
We spent about an hour photographing Chrissy and had lots of fun doing it. Starting with some over the top pouting and portraits we soon moved on to what Mike had envisioned - the face of a superstar about to go under the knife. A few dotted lines and arrows with a liquid eyeliner and she looked the part.
And just look at the results - these aren't the final versions but for a first attempt I think they're pretty good and I've already used them as a teaser on social media asking people to save the date. We've got loads of photos which we are going to make a range of different posters and fliers with to help promote the play.
So there you go - it's easier than I imagined and we had a great time doing it and the results are brilliant, and all we used was a free app and a phone.
Marina and the Clone will be at the Kings Arms, Salford from 15th - 18th March 2017
