"Wolf Warrior 2" box office poster is popular. What is the value of a good movie poster?

"Grandmaster", "Golden Age", "Sun rises as usual", "Big Fish and Begonia", "search for Dragon Formula" …... These concise but meaningful movie posters were all created by the designer Huang Hai. Breaking through the tight encirclement in the design routines of "Star close-up" and "Big scene", he made his own efforts to raise Chinese film poster design to the top international level, and its design was highly praised as "rising Chinese design" in the industry.

recently, "Wolf Warriors 2" has set new box office records for domestic films, making it easier for the film to launch an official poster after every 100 million increase in box office, which has been sought after by many fans.

A good movie poster can be worth tens of millions at the box office. " "A well-designed movie poster will make you feel the urge to see the movie." Poster is an important link in the whole film industry system, and its artistic level and production are important indicators to measure the level of a country's film industry. As domestic films continue to surprise people, the design of film posters begins to attract more and more people's attention.

< strong > grasp the subtle emotions conveyed by the film by heart < / strong >

"Grandmaster", "Golden Age", "Sun rises as usual", "Big Fish and Begonia", "Dragon Formula"... These concise but meaningful movie posters were all created by the designer Huang Hai. Breaking through the tight encirclement in the design routines of "Star close-up" and "Big scene", he made his own efforts to raise Chinese film poster design to the top international level, and its design was highly praised as "rising Chinese design" in the industry.

A set of successful movie posters can not only promote and promote, produce box office appeal, but also show the core ideas and aesthetic temperament conveyed by the film. "poster design is a combination of creativity and commerce, and its difficulty lies in how to go in people's hearts, and the heart is the most essential thing." The first film poster design project of Huang Hai's career was the poster of Jiang Wen's film "the Sun Rises as usual". Watching movies and chewing scripts over and over again is the cornerstone of movie poster design, and it is common for proposals to be repeatedly killed, revised repeatedly, or even knocked down and started all over again. In the end, the Cannes poster of "China Red" stunned the four directions at the film festival. on the bright red background, the heroine shuttled barefoot between the title fonts, with a simple composition without losing artistic beauty and visual impact. The poster, which was favored by director Jiang Wen, also changed the course of Huang Hai's life.

the poster design of the Yellow Sea has become more and more mature. The five posters of "Golden Age" took him more than half a year, white paper and thick ink, small potatoes in the torrent of the great era, but indifferent and firm. In the poster specially made for the trip to Cannes, the design of the five protagonists highlights the tension of breaking free. The Chinese poster "Doraemon accompany me" uses the elements of the quintessence of Beijing Opera and four masterpieces to design, narrowing the gap between the film and the Chinese people.

whether it is a simple, lively little freshness, or a strong Chinese style, Huanghai focuses on the connotation of each film, and there is no strong brand of personal style in the works. "only by attentively grasping the subtle emotions conveyed in the art of film can we approach the extreme between square inches." Huang Hai said.

< strong > it is important to strike a good balance between commerciality and artistry < / strong >

before the release of the movie "the Sun Rises", "Let the bullet fly" and "one step away", the "concept version" poster was released, and then the alternative "concept poster" was gradually recognized in China, which also indicates that the artistic and commercial value of the poster as a film "wedding dress" is beginning to be excavated and valued. The so-called "concept poster" is a poster that is released at the beginning of filming or even before, under the premise that the specific details or characters of the film have not yet been released, to convey the temperament and tone of the film. Because there is no need to rigidly adhere to the plot itself and there is a lot of room for play, "concept posters" are often the "favorite" of designers, but such posters were not readily used by domestic films in the past. "with so many stars invited, isn't it a great loss not to put the big picture of the stars? And can such a poster audience understand? " This is not only the common concern of the film side, but also the contest between the artistry and commerciality of the film poster in the dark.

so, what kind of poster design is successful?

"it is very difficult to set a unified standard for good movie poster design." Chen Nan, an associate professor in the Department of Visual Communication Design, School of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University, believes that the development of modern design is a dynamic process, many concepts are constantly enriched or even changed, and the evaluation criteria of poster design are the same. "poster design is generally divided into commercial posters and cultural posters. From a professional point of view, we call cultural posters' posters' and commercial ones as' advertisements'." Chen Nan said that cultural posters interpret cultural and social issues from the designer's point of view, and the means of expression tend to be personalized and independent. The main function of poster design in commercial advertising is to promote commercial products or promote brand concepts, and its evaluation criteria will focus on the effect of commercial promotion.

Chen Nan stressed that movie posters are a special category of poster design between cultural posters and commercial advertisements. Looking back at the tradition of western drama poster design, designers generally do not directly take stills as the main body of the poster picture, because it is difficult to describe complex drama content with one picture. Designers usually grasp the core idea and tonality of drama, combine creativity to choose the combination of symbolic language, and build pictures and font design. " Film and drama posters are between cultural posters and commercial advertisements because films and dramas themselves are literary and ideological. For example, the design of the poster of "Hamlet" will certainly add thoughts on philosophical issues such as human nature, life and death, and the box office and promotion needs of commercial performances determine that the subjective will of the designer can not be taken as the only dimension in this poster design. Highlighting the portraits of stars and displaying the wonderful content in the drama are also the design needs to consider.

< strong > looking for the expressive language that embodies the aesthetic appreciation of Chinese culture < / strong >

there are routines for domestic film poster design: the avatars of the protagonists and heroines are arranged and combined in turn, the background is intense explosive scenes or wonderful moments, below is the open scene like a mountain and sea, and the headlines are fonts with traditional calligraphy or metal style. Like other design categories, cloning and imitation is a very common problem for a long time.

at present, domestic art colleges and universities generally add "film poster design" to the courses of design majors. Chen Nan, who has many years of teaching experience, pointed out that there are still some problems in the field of art and design education: urban development restrictions on poster display have brought poster design closer to media such as Internet advertising and mobile advertising, and the original design habits of posters have also changed. The professional education of art and design in China pursues cultural design rather than enough attention to commercial design and practice, so the poster design works which tend to be artistic become more and more unmarketable. Divorced from design practice, students do not consider sociality and communication effect in design. The weak accumulation of knowledge of the new generation of designers leads to the convergence of design concepts and means of expression. "the design of Chinese original film posters still has a long way to go."

Associate Professor Li Chun of Communication University Of China believes that the process of original film poster design must organically combine the ideas to be conveyed by the film with the art form of graphic design, and form a unique Chinese style. Li Chun pointed out that once a poster with an artistic standard enters the film industry system, its success or failure depends not only on its own quality, but also on the cooperation of a corresponding film distribution system, so that its artistic character is close to the artistic taste and aesthetic orientation of the Chinese audience, and echoes and interacts with the viewing psychology of the corresponding audience. "only in this way can the film posters achieve cultural value and publicity effect."

"created in China" is the direction of Chinese film poster designers. "the study of Chinese traditional design ideas and its combination with the current promotion is very important." Li Chun believes, "We should excavate the styles, symbols and aesthetic characteristics that belong to the East, and find the expressive language that embodies the aesthetics of Chinese culture from Chinese traditional culture."

Edit: mary