The road to Hollywood doesn’t always include a stop on the
casting couch and a trip to the plastic surgeon. For UCLA alumna
Renata Raksha, creating her own path into the film industry was one
she accomplished with her education.
A recent graduate of the department of Design | Media Arts,
Raksha has used her talent, as well as her diploma, to enter the
film industry as a graphic designer. Having worked on such
advertising campaigns as “Ocean’s 12″ and
“National Treasure,” both set to hit box offices in the
next two months, Raksha has been part of the creative collaboration
process in charge of designing the huge billboards and posters seen
lining such streets as Sunset Boulevard.
“The poster basically sets off the mood before the film
even comes out,” said Raksha. “The ability to draw
people in and narrow down the audience is important in making sure
you’re communicating to the proper audience.”
According to Raksha, the process of creating a movie poster is
more of a collaboration than a single-person job. After reading
through the script of a film, she and a group of sometimes 30 other
designers will draft ideas and outlines they feel would best market
the movie. Eventually, they narrow down their ideas to one main
design, which is later transformed into the large images seen
everywhere from movie posters to digital advertisements.
While access to films before they hit the big screen is
exciting, Raksha maintains that it does have its drawbacks.
“It kind of sucks because now I know how a lot of these
big movies end,” she joked.
Still, Raksha says that it wasn’t the glamour of Hollywood
that drew her to the job. Instead, it was the behind-the-scenes
appeal that encouraged her to enter into the industry where stars
are born.
“When you’re in school you think, “˜Oh,
I’ll be working on really big films, that’s so
amazing,'” Raksha said. “But in reality
it’s like any other project; you’re still doing a
job.”
Fortunately, creating posters is a job she feels she’s
been well-trained to do from her years at UCLA, where she took
courses on everything from fine art to film to media art. While she
admits to sometimes feeling frustrated by the wide variety of
subjects taught by the department, Raksha says she now understands
their relevance.
“The more I look at it and talk with people from other
schools, I just realize it’s a really cool department,”
said Raksha. “There was this period after graduation where I
was feeling a bit lost, but now I realize that the freedom we had
was amazing.”
According to the annual report compiled by the Motion Picture
Association of America, the average cost of making a studio film
has risen to over $100 million over the last year, with a large
percentage of that going to advertising and marketing. With more
funds being poured into this segment of the film industry, many
graduates like Raksha have found opportunities not just in getting
a job, but in beginning to form a career.
“I enjoy it because you’re using a different part of
your imagination, because you’re creating advertisement for a
creative product, rather than a car or something more
concrete,” said Raksha.
Out of all the things she’s learned from designing movie
posters, Raksha says the most basic lesson is that much more goes
into making a successful movie than just a good script and a few
famous actors.
“It’s all about using a little bit of the old and a
little of the new. You don’t want to create something
completely new because people may not react to it,” said
Raksha. “But at the same time, you want to give them
something to attract their attention, launched in the old
stuff.”