I Knew I Had To Have Her

A note on poster design.

I am good at doing a lot of things. Most of them are entirely pointless skills (movie trivia retention being a case in point) but they remain something I’m good at. Working Photoshop is not one of them. I’ve tried. On more than one occasion. And failed. On more than one occasion. So in order to create promotional images for L.A. Blues, I needed help.

A good idea is hard to come by. And even when you do come by one, translating that idea into reality is not always successful, or even possible. This is especially true when working with someone else. Both individuals need to be on the same page, so to speak, striving for the same result. In this case, an image that was a fair presentation of the play. Not only fair, but cool. That probably reads as slightly childish – we wanted a cool poster. Well, think about it. L.A. Blues. A noir set in 1948 with mobsters, femme fatales and cabaret. Cool right? Exactly.

Researching old movie posters and pulp novel sleeves, I knew what I wanted. Sort of. I met with the designer (the fabulous Katie McDermott) and explained what I was thinking and left it with her. She came back with a design that I loved but just wasn’t exactly right. Back and forward we went, with ideas from both parties succeeding and failing in equal measure. But then, we got it. A poster that lets the audience know everything you need to about the play – character, period, tone. No one is going to arrive expecting a modern comedy with Linda Martin, that’s for sure. (Note to self – check Linda Martin’s availability for a modern comedy set in a cabaret bar).

In the end, it doesn’t matter who thought of what for where. (Although, for what it’s worth, I had very little to do with the design. I was more of a ‘minor alterations’ man – which I’m sure is every designers worst nightmare.) In the end, all that matters is that the result is great. That, and myself and Katie are still on speaking terms. It was a collaboration that worked. I say collaboration… but I’m massively grateful that at least one of us knew what she was doing. Check out the promotional images below and feel free to leave comments.

Right, who wants to know the director of photography for Home Alone? Anyone?