13 Reasons Why
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| 13 Reasons Why Poster |
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| 13 Reasons Why Title Card |
Looking at some existing Netflix Originals, I came across some advertising for the series 13 Reasons Why, this series revolves around a young woman - Hannah, who takes her own life and leaves a box of recordings that explain why she chose to commit suicide. The series has some really tragic themes and these are reflected I think in the branding and advertising of the series. As seen here, the colour palette is very dark with tones of black and dark blues. The text is white which is prominent against the dark backgrounds and there are hints of red in the fonts, which connotes themes of violence and anger. I think that given some of the themes and plot of this series, it was important that the branding in particular was suitable. For example if they had chosen to use bright, lively colours and garish fonts and imagery, it would not be in keeping with the tone of the series. In terms of these influences on Motherhood, which also has some dark themes of loss and abduction, I have taken inspiration from this series' branding. I decided at an early stage that I wanted the colour palette to be largely monotone. Reasons for this included wanting to convey the serious tone of the production and reflect some of the locations and characters of the series. In terms of fonts and imagery, I am influenced by the first poster and would like to create some imagery with Phoebe Tonkin as the Mother to demonstrate the importance of her character in the series. I think it is important to choose branding that is going to represent the content of the production as well as the broadcasting channel and staying within their style guide.
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| Punisher Poster |
The Punisher
The Punisher is a 2017 American web series created for Netflix by Steve Lightfoot and based on the Marvel comics. The series revolves around the character Frank Castle, who uses lethal methods to fight crime as 'The Punisher'. During, my research, looking at Netflix series in particular, I came across this series. Although, I haven't watched it, I was extremely taken by the branding which interested me. Like, 13 Reasons Why they have chosen a very dark, blackened colour palette. The image is almost entirely black with the only accents being a an image of Jon Bernthal's face who plays the title character and the bold, white font. In terms of inspiration for this production, I was predominately inspired by the font of the title. It looks as if its been spray painted onto the background, giving it this really earthy, cracked and dishevelled appearance. When thinking about the font for the title, I wanted it to have a cracked, decaying appearance, similar to the design used here. Other elements of the poster are simple and typical of the Netflix style guide. A short slogan of 'The truth must be taken' has been added underneath the title and the release date and Netflix logo are just beneath that. When designing the layout for some of my branding imagery, I thought carefully about the placement of all of the text to ensure it reflected the Netflix layout and style.
Motherhood Branding
I have spoken about the font development previously, so will be analysing my choices for the visual branding largely here. For the title card, I made several adjustments from my previous developments. I decided that a black background was more suitable for the genre and tone of the series, as well as reflecting some of the colour palette choices of the series I was inspired by. Rather than a plain background, I wanted to add to the cracked font I had chosen and emphasis this theme. I found some imagery of a real cracked wall, and made several adjustments to it on Photoshop to get the right colour and level of contrast in the cracks. In terms of the layout, I had previously looked at some of the Netflix title cards and poster layouts and decided to be quite limited with the text used. I simply added the Netflix logo to the image, either above or below the title and included the release date and stated that it was a Netflix Original Series. After developing these significantly from my early concepts for the title card, I am very pleased with the final outcomes and think that they are suitable for the production and for the broadcasting channel.
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| Title Card |
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| Title Card Poster Variation |
For the poster advertising, I wanted to experiment with imagery of Phoebe Tonkin who I have cast as the Mother Vivian in the series. The series is focussed around her completely and her life choices, therefore it was important to produce some branding that featured her alone. The initial character poster entailed finding an image of Phoebe Tonkin, I chose a profile angle. I think used photoshop to change the threshold and make it into a two toned image, blending the hair and features into the background colour. I then added text to tell audiences what the title and broadcasting channel was. Although, I liked this initial branding, I decided I wanted to complicate it a bit more and add detail. Therefore, I began by sourcing another image of her online. Out of all of the images I found, I liked this one the most as her facial expression looks serious. I also liked how the position of her body was facing away from the audience, but her head is turned so you look straight at her eyes. To edit the image, I added some darkness using the paint tool around her eyes to make her look tired and worn. I also changed the colour of her dress, keeping the colours dark to reflect the tone and keep a blackened colour palette. I then enhanced the background, creating more contrast between it and her so that there was more shadowing. The final step was to add the text including the series title and the Netflix branding. For the portrait addition, I added the tag line of the series to give the audience more insight as to what the series will be about, without revealing too much. For the last poster in this series, I added the character of Thomas. I think that this is fitting as he is also a main character in the series. However, the series is not actually about him and so I think that the portrait character poster is more suitable for the production branding.
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| Simplified Character Poster |
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| Character Poster |
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| Character Poster Variation |
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| Character Poster Variation |
For another poster that I had in mind for using on the Netflix menu guide, I sourced an image for the chalet house that Vivian would be living in. This was the same image that I have used for the locations, however, I made some adjustments on Photoshop to fit the branding style I have chosen. I first made it greyscale and the added a posterising effect that gave it a slightly animated appearance that was more simplified than the original image. I also made changes to the background, making the sky look as if it were night to reflect the genre of the production and make it appear more harrowing. Final touches included adding a black silhouette in the foreground who I imagine to be Vivian. However, is it very subtle, adding to the mystery of it. Lastly, like the other branding imagery, I added the title and Netflix logos to give the audience more information about the production.
Overall, I am pleased with the branding creations for this production and think that through the research I found regarding other Netflix series, I have been able to develop some imagery that is suitable for the series and reflects the key themes and tone, as well as having suitability for the broadcasting platform which was really important.
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