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Interview with Barbara Kolo
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Barbara Kolo is an award winning art
director who has worked on print advertising for film and television for the past seventeen
years. Early in her career she was based in New York working most notably five years for an
icon in the industry Bill Gold. Since moving to Los Angeles nine years ago, she has worked
freelance directly with almost all of the major film studios and was the Director of Print
Advertising for Universal Studios from 1992-'95. She currently works in the entertainment
industry as an independent freelance art director and also illustrator under the name Barbara
Kolo Design. Barbara's e-mail address is: kolohog@earthlink.net
SSSD: I like to get a better idea of how movie posters are
created. Let's start with who hires you to art direct the poster? The film studio, production
company or the design studio?
BK: I have been hired by all three at different times, but
in most cases I'm contacted by the V.P. of Creative Advertising at the film studio, or a design
studio might hire me to help out on part of a campaign. A production company usually does not
design the print campaign, although they might play a part in the marketing meetings and
strategy . For instance, Brian Glazer and Ron Howard of Imagine would attend marketing meetings
at Universal for their films.
SSSD: When do you come aboard? Before or after principle
photography?
BK: That depends on what capacity I'm working in. As a
freelancer I can be hired at any stage of the process. When I worked at Universal I would start
on sketches for a special shoot the first week a film went into production. It's the ideal time
to have a still photo shoot. When a film is in production you can have easy access to the
costumes, set, props and arrange availability of the actors etc.
SSSD: Is there more than one art director or design studio
working on the poster?
BK: Usually it is the Executive V.P. of Marketing that
makes that decision. Most people do not realize that for a major release the studio will have
hundreds of comps made by different art directors or design studios from which one is picked to
become the poster. Some film studios will keep a single graphic design studio on a picture as
long as they are happy with their work. Others have their own in-house department that competes
with outside design studios as well as freelance art directors. On a low budget film, I might
be the only art director assigned the poster.
SSSD: Briefly, describe your process of designing a
poster.
BK: I start by reading the script or if the film is
finished by viewing the film. Then I make a list of elements in the film or script that I feel
are important in conveying the story or are visually interesting. For example, I recently was
hired by another design studio to create photo shoot sketches for the film "Dick" which is an
outrageous comedy about Watergate. This allowed me to play with all the visual symbols of
Watergate, Nixon and the Presidency such as: reel to reel tapes, Nixon's double peace sign, the
Presidential seal etc. The trick to making an effective and memorable movie poster is to think
of a way to combine these elements in a visually exciting way . It should be uniquely
appropriate to the story, and appeal to the correct audience to market the film well. Sometimes
there are legal restrictions on the poster. Actors often have in their contract an equal size
and likeness clause. Naturally, this puts limits on creativity, but I usually do not limit
myself on my first group of ideas.
SSSD: What is an "equal size and likeness clause?"
BK: Equal size and likeness means that if you show one
actor on the poster you must show the other and in the same size. For example: If I show the
likeness (or to be clearer the image) of actor "A" at 1/4 the size of the poster then I must
also show the likeness of actor "B" at 1/4 the size of the poster. Their image size is
determined by the designer of the poster, but they must be the same. Measurements are taken to
make sure the actors are equal in size.
SSSD: Do you ever research the subject matter beyond
reading the script?
BK: Yes, I will research the subject matter of the film if
I'm not familiar with it. The film "Backdraft " is a good example. I learned about the
lifestyle of firemen by interviewing to several at the Burbank fire department. I also met a
fireman there that photographed fires on his time off. He was a great help to me because at
this early stage in the process, there was no still photography from the film available. I
finished my first round of ideas using his photography as inspiration, with his permission of
course.
SSSD: What stages does the poster go through after
that?
BK: Depending on the budget and instructions from the
studio, I might submit the thumbnail sketches that I have drawn myself or work with an
illustrator to draw up my ideas for presentation. When photography is available I might build
comps of my ideas on the computer. The comps would be submitted to the V.P. of Creative
Advertising at the film studio. Then the marketing department would have their internal
meetings and most likely make changes to the comps. Usually after several rounds, a
presentation would be made by the marketing department that might include the director,
producer, lead actor (if they have likeness approval) and the production company.
SSSD: Then, how much input does the art director have in
the look of the poster?
BK: The art director has a tremendous amount of input on
the look of the poster, especially during the first few rounds of the design process. The final
poster might be a compromise, but the look of the poster comes from the art director. In the
best situation obviously the final poster is close to the original comp.
SSSD: Some posters are photographic while others are
illustrated, or a combination. Are you asked to design the poster this way, or is it a creative
decision on your part?
BK: It can be either my decision or the marketing
executive's. Advances in computer imaging has made photographic posters more popular, but
occasionally I am asked to design a symbol or a concept for an illustration because the actors
in the film had little box office draw.
SSSD: Does the same art director, design the poster as
well as the other forms of ads billboards, standees etc.
BK: That decision is made by the V.P. of Creative
Advertising. Once the look of the poster is established it becomes what is called the "key
art". The key art is then utilized by other designers, graphic studios or ad agencies to lay
out the other forms of advertising. Standees might be designed by the same art director or
design studio that designed the poster, but it would then be built and produced by companies
that specifically make displays and standees.
SSSD: Are you ever asked to design several posters for the
same movie?
BK: Yes, for the comedy "CB4" starring Chris Rock I
designed a teaser poster, a one sheet poster and wild posting all with different art.
SSSD: Who usually makes the final decision on the
poster?
BK: The person that has the most influence and power on
the project, but a good marketing executive will sell the poster they feel will be the most
effective.
SSSD: Is the writer ever involved in the design of the
poster?
BK: David Mamet on "Oleanna" comes to mind, and also Tom
Noonan on "What Happened Was..." In both cases the writer was very influential in the entire
project.
SSSD: How important do you think it is for the writer to
be thinking about the poster while writing a script or coming up with their story line?
BK: I don't think it is essential, but a studio executive
might respond more favorably to a title that is intriguing and a story that lends itself to a
great marketing campaign.
SSSD: If a campaign isn't working, posters are sometimes
altered to better fit the marketplace. Have you ever been involved in such a scenario? Can you
tell us what changes were made and why?
BK: The day after the L.A. riots started, the marketing
department at Universal was a buzz making changes to all the advertising on the about to be
released film "Looters" starring Ice-T. The title was changed to "Trespass" for obvious
reasons, and the release date was changed.
SSSD: Can a bad poster hurt box office? Can a good poster
help the box office?
BK: A poster that doesn't convey the right message to the
target audience can negatively effect the box office. The curious thing is that a poster that I
might consider bad design probably won't negatively effect box office as long as it conveys the
right message to the target audience. I also believe that a well designed and visually exciting
poster can positively effect box office. I have a movie poster from "Gorky Park" that I
designed years ago in my office. I can't tell you how many times people have walked into my
office and told me that they went to see that movie because of the poster.
SSSD: Taking into consideration that most of the budget
for marketing is spent on trailers does print still play an important role?
BK: When a couple decides that they want to go see a
movie, the first thing they do is to look at the newspaper ads and discuss what film they want
to see. This is why creating effective key art is still very important to the film industry. It
is often the print ad that people are looking at when they are making their decision between
one film or another.
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