An upfront is where entertainment brands pitch what audiences will watch next - so IMDb made the audience the entertainment. On Wednesday, May 27, 2026, at Amazon Upfront Canada at REBEL in Toronto, Booth Empire produced a movie poster photo booth for the Toronto event that cast each guest as the star of their own IMDb-style poster. Approximately 200 custom movie posters were created over the course of the evening.
The Brief
The experience needed to connect guests to IMDb’s identity in the most literal way available: by putting them on a movie poster. It had to offer genuine creative choice, deliver a polished finished piece, and carry IMDb branding through to the final touchpoint. One requirement was explicit - this was approved as a non-AI experience. The posters would be built through real photography and real compositing, not generative imagery.
Designing a Non-AI Movie Poster Photo Booth
Booth Empire built the activation as a non-AI green-screen photo booth. Guests began by selecting one of five movie genres - action, comedy, horror, romance or science fiction - choosing the kind of film they wanted to headline.
Each guest was then photographed against green screen, and their image was composited into a custom IMDb-style movie-poster template matching their chosen genre. The result was a finished, personalized one-sheet: the guest’s actual photograph, professionally placed into designed poster artwork.
Delivery extended the branding to the last step. Finished posters were sent digitally, wrapped in custom branded email messaging - so the moment a guest opened their poster, they were inside an IMDb-branded experience rather than a generic file transfer.
Built for an Industry Audience
An upfront audience is media-literate by definition; a composite that looks pasted together would undercut the brand hosting it. The green-screen workflow was engineered for clean, convincing composites at event pace - capture, keying, template placement and digital delivery running continuously through the evening at REBEL.
The five-genre structure also did practical work. Offering a real decision gave each guest a moment of authorship and produced visible variety across the roughly 200 posters - five distinct creative directions instead of two hundred near-identical outputs.
Program Output
- Approximately 200 custom movie posters created
- Five genre templates offered: action, comedy, horror, romance and science fiction
- Digital delivery through custom branded IMDb email messaging
- Produced entirely through non-AI green-screen photography and compositing
Roughly 200 personalized posters from a single evening event means the concept found sustained take-up throughout the night - and every delivery landed in an inbox wrapped in the client’s branding.
Why It Worked
The concept was the brand. IMDb is where audiences meet movies; a poster with the guest’s own face closes that loop personally.
Genre choice created ownership. Picking action over romance made each poster feel chosen, not assigned.
Real compositing earned credibility. For an industry audience, a genuine photographed-and-composited poster carries a craft quality that suits the client - and the non-AI approach was an explicit part of the approved creative.
Branded email finished the journey. The delivery moment became a second brand impression rather than an afterthought.
Plan a Movie Poster Activation
Booth Empire produces movie poster photo booth experiences in Toronto and across Canada and the United States, including green-screen photography, custom template design, genre-based guest choice and branded digital delivery for entertainment and movie-premiere activations and corporate events.
Planning an entertainment event or brand activation in Toronto? Contact Booth Empire to discuss custom photo booth experiences, green-screen compositing, and branded digital delivery.
