Overview
This template provides a standardized framework for creating posters for animation projects, helping ensure that all films are presented in a professional and visually cohesive manner across festivals, showcases, screenings, and promotional platforms. While students are encouraged to develop artwork that reflects the unique identity of their film, the template establishes baseline expectations for formatting, credits, resolution, and required information.
The goal is not to limit creativity, but to prepare students for the practical realities of professional film marketing and distribution. Poster design is often a key part of a project’s public identity, shaping first impressions for audiences, festival programmers, and industry professionals. Learning to balance artistic expression with technical specifications and marketing clarity is an important component of presenting work professionally.
Instructions
This is the official poster template to be used in the creation of marketing materials for FSUFILM productions. Use it as your foundation for making something beautiful and compelling!
Do:
- Make sure to install the Steel Tongs font on your computer before starting work on the poster. This is the font for the credit block. Note: Steel Tongs does not contain shortcuts for all the credits needed for animated films, so some of the credits in the billing block have been hand-crafted.
- Keep all of your layers inside the appropriate folders, so that everything remains well-organized when you deliver the final Photoshop file. Make sure all of your layers have appropriate names, so that someone else could make sense of what each layer is.
- Take your artwork all the way to the edge of the frame, but keep any essential elements at least a quarter-inch from the edge, in case they are trimmed during printing.
- Adjust the color of the credits, logos, and copyright to best fit the aesthetic of your poster concept. Be particularly mindful of the legibility of the credit block, as it can quickly become hard to read if the background is busy or if there’s not enough tonal separation between the credits and the background.
Don’t:
- Do not adjust the dimensions or resolution of the file. It’s set up to meet the specs needed for printing.
- Do not reposition or resize the logos or copyright.