Poster Printing in Singapore: Large Format Printing Part One
The Poster's Graphic Design
The take-home poster measures about 30" wide by 5" long. It's big and squat, like a massive bumper sticker. The front of the poster is almost entirely black: a dark, matte black that seems to absorb all surrounding light.
Since the subject of the poster is the recent film Ouija, the poster is thick black with a gold plenum (the plastic, heart-shaped Ouija board reader with the transparent case).
The Poster's Reflection of Technology
When I examine the poster with a loupe, I see the following:
1. The poster's back is a dense sheet of acetate, similar to the big format backlit signs I've seen in department stores.
A sheet of white ink visible along the edges of the black coating (visible through the loupe) indicates that the painter applied a ground of white to the translucent or frosted acetate, perhaps to emphasize the black, gold, and green tones are written on the surface of the acetate and possibly to disperse the light if the poster was to be backlit.
2. The minuscule scatters dot pattern of stochastic screening or inkjet printing is seen by close inspection. Given the plastic substrate, I'm guessing it's an inkjet tool.
Having said that, I wondered how such a printed commodity could be manufactured at a low cost. After all, I would think that custom screen printing would be more effective than inkjet for such a long term. Then I had an idea.
The process would probably be very successful if this small poster was laid out (step and repeat) in large numbers on a large sheet of acetate and then trimmed down to the roughly 30” x 5” dimensions.
3. I couldn't get the poster off the backing, no matter how hard I tried. This leads me to believe that the product is made entirely of one piece. Instead of a paper or vinyl poster adhered with glue to an acetate carrier layer, the poster printing is an inkjet-printed acetate sheet.
To be sure, this will make it difficult for a moviegoer to hang the poster. To be properly viewed, it will need to be placed in a lightbox (such as the backlit poster cases used in movie theatres).
