My Sunset Screening Posters: The Process of Design

This week I’ve been sitting in on some programming workshops and meetings, which gave a real sense of the thought and intention behind programming theatre events at an arts organisation. This included considering things like what makes a production ‘good’ (seriously unknown territory), and not just artistically, but also what’s appropriate for The Dukes’ audience, image etc. I was particularly interested in how programming and marketing can help build an audience and guide them towards more contemporary and unusual events, allowing a viewer to develop their own tastes over time. These are ideas that I jotted down to consider if I am involved in arts curating in the future.

I’ve also been working on an exciting project surrounding the Sunset Screenings taking place in Williamson Park this summer. Previously I had done some work designing and painting poster imagery for the local theatre company VETO. Building on this, I’ve been offered to make a series of posters for each of The Dukes’ Sunset Screening films, which I was eager to get started on.

There are a few steps to check off for making each poster, beginning with collating images and video clips for each film, to recognise the colour palette, any iconic scenes and visual imagery that is important. Then I’ll sketch some ideas that can be transferred to a digital mock up design of the poster, which makes the painting process far easier and can be shared for feedback. I’ll then paint, scan and digitally edit the image to create the finished poster. So far Jurassic Park has been my favorite to design and I’m looking forward to finishing the image to be shared on The Dukes’ social media channels!