Evaluation Q2
How effective is the main product in combination with its assisting content?
Iconic Imagery
All of our products, the trailer, poster and magazine cover combined all have a brand identity for our trailer called Forsaken. The brand identity is composed of iconic imagery and iconic font. Iconic aspects to our products will be what helps people identify them amongst the many products that exist today. Without an iconic aspect to our products it will be easily forgotten about and not remembered. Iconic imagery in many industry examples usually focus on one single image or part that makes the product iconic.
All of these above examples are of iconic images relating to certain Horror movie Slasher franchise (Scream/Nightmare on Elm Street/Halloween respectively). All of these images represent the thing in these films that people will remember most or the image is so effective people generally associate that image with the corresponding franchise. Iconic images need to be eye-catching and representative of the product is it being used for, the iconic image is what will be placed on the movies theatrical poster and most likely the cover of the physical DVD release so the image needs to be good and effective. When developing and making our own poster for our trailer project we decided to set our brand identity around the killer, similar to other Slasher horror film theatrical posters. Having an effective killer can make or break the film so the killer will be one the most memorable parts of the film. Its for this reason we decided to use the killers mask to become our brand identity for our product and why its the centralised image on our poster. The killers mask in our trailer is seen all of the time and as we do not see the killers identity, the mask becomes the face associated with the killer in our trailer, hence why we chose the mask image as our definitive brand identity.
Iconic Text/Font
Similar to iconic imagery, text on a theatrical poster or DVD cover or just a unique font can also become associated with the product itself similar to the way images become iconic and associated with a product or franchise. Iconic font usually is unique and not used anywhere else. The iconic font usually displays connotations about the franchise and references to material in the franchise. Some examples of iconic font in real media products are below.
As shown above, iconic font is a very important part of your overall brand identity. These film franchises, Harry Potter, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings all have such a distinct and unique font styles that wherever else they are used, you would always think back to the original franchise they came from because of how distinct they are.
In our own trailer, poster and magazine cover projects, our title for our project 'Forsaken' we used the font Octin Spray-paint. We decided to use this font because along with the red colouring, the title looks like it was written in blood which helps the title itself look unique and it fits the theme rather well. This type of font is not too simple as to make it look like many other title font choices but looks unique enough to stand out against the rest. The font has a very grungy horror like aspect to it and really gives off the horror based connotations we want to the viewer.
In our own trailer, poster and magazine cover projects, our title for our project 'Forsaken' we used the font Octin Spray-paint. We decided to use this font because along with the red colouring, the title looks like it was written in blood which helps the title itself look unique and it fits the theme rather well. This type of font is not too simple as to make it look like many other title font choices but looks unique enough to stand out against the rest. The font has a very grungy horror like aspect to it and really gives off the horror based connotations we want to the viewer.
Iconic Posters/Our Product (Poster) Analysis Before and After
Below are some examples of iconic theatrical movie posters of all types of genre's. These three industry examples from different times are all successful because of something iconic about them.
The Ghostbusters theatrical movie poster was and is successful based off iconic visuals because of its iconic image based on its logo. The Ghostbusters logo is featured throughout the film many times because it becomes the characters company brand identity. As its heavily featured in the film, it made sense to use it on the poster.
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The Back to the Future theatrical movie poster was and is successful because of its iconic visuals based primarily on its text. The text used on this poster uses an iconic font choice. Iconic font is font that you will be able to know what film used that font style as its usually unique to that set film as a font style.
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The Batman Vs Superman theatrical movie poster was and is successful because of its iconic visuals based on iconic imagery. The Batman logo and the Superman logo are both iconic images associated with their specific franchises and superheroes in general. Combining both of the logos creates an extremely recognisable iconic image that is exclusive to that film alone based on its story-line premise as an explanation for its existence.
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Below is out own poster for our own trailer project where we will talk about the process behind the choice of the iconic image
The original photo we taken for what would be used on the poster was taken in the behind the stage location we used many times during filming. With this location we were able to change the lighting to be very dark and therefore focus the light we had onto the mask. Its because of this fact we decided that the mask would become the 'Forsaken' projects main brand identity and the iconic image associated with the project as it seems to be the main constant in most of the scenes and marketing material like the trailer and the magazine cover. As with many other Slasher Horror magazine covers, the iconic image used will be centralized on the killer. In our poster we decided to use exclusively the killers mask as out iconic image as the mask is what you identify to be the killer, he is never seen without it in the trailer.
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For our final poster design we slightly altered the original image in terms of effects. We decided to increase the brightness on the image a little to make the red blood sharper on the image in contrast to the white and black image and background on the poster. The title text for the 'Forsaken' name is in the same font used in the trailer and other material Octin Spray-paint is coloured to again also stand out against the rest of the posters colour schemes. The colour scheme of the poster is simple but eye-catching due to the contrasting colours. This colour scheme along with the iconic mask imagery help make this poster eye-catching to the viewer, hopefully enticing them to watch the trailers and later the film.
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Iconic Brands/ Our Product (Magazine Cover) Analysis Before and After
This is an industry example magazine cover from the company Empire. This specific example features a very visually striking layout and and powerful iconic image related to the film Inception.
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This is an industry example magazine cover from the company Total Film. This specific example features a very powerful image related to Fast and Furious 8 as well as a consistent colour scheme.
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This is an industry example magazine cover from the company ODEON. This specific example features a very iconic image of Tangled's two main characters as well as a consistent colour scheme and layout.
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On the final magazine cover, both images were implemented in such a way as to help reinforce the portrayals we were going for when taking the photos of the actors for the magazine cover. Using Photoshop we included a small black outline around the images just to make them stand out a little more against the background. The photo of the killer was placed in behind the photo of the victim character as to keep up the idea of the killer always looming behind the victim and being a constant threat. The way the photo of the killer is taken has him looking towards the reader. This was purposefully done to achieve a Direct Address to the reader. The way the killer is looking towards the reader and the way the photo is positioned on the page gives the Direct Address to the reader of danger and power from that character, something that would be reflected in the trailer project.