The document compares the branding strategies of a new film production to an existing Sherlock Holmes franchise. Both productions use consistent fonts, imagery of recognizable lead actors, and similar color palettes across promotional materials like posters and magazine covers. They also portray common genre themes of mystery and tension through techniques like low-key lighting and the mysterious poses of protagonists. By representing characters and conveying these themes uniformly, the productions establish clear and conventional brand identities that link their various promotional elements together.

1. By Josh Davey

2. Font:
My product
Existing product
A brand identity has been established conventionally, across all three products, as
shown above, for both the existing product as well as my own production. The images
show a clear comparison, showing that the same font, or at least a similar font has
been used across all three products, therefore familiarising the audience that this
brand is now associated with this style of typography.

3. Image:
My product
Existing product
All images used in my film poster and magazine cover are of the three main characters
within the film, who would be “recognisable actors”, similar to the way that the
Sherlock Holmes franchise has branded their product, showing the lead protagonist
looking mysterious on the front cover of both, which is a similar approach to what I
did.

4. Colours:
My product
Existing product
The colours used on my product are very similar therefore associating conventional
colours of the genre with my production, similar to what the Sherlock brand did, by
consistently using white across the promotional methods, as it is a contrasting colour
with the typically mysterious and dark background of the images, which is the
approach I followed for my own production.

5. Themes:
The themes portrayed in all of the
Sherlock methods of promotion are
conventional themes of mystery and
tension, created by the low key
lighting and the dark and bleak
typography used, as well as the
mysterious and mischievous pose
undertaken by the lead protagonist.
My production is very similar to this
as it is all in low key lighting, with the
trailer having the majority in low key
lighting, with various scenes of
tension and mystery, therefore
meeting the conventions, and with
all three products doing the same it
further shows the brand identity
through the use of conventional
themes, both in my production and
in the existing production.

6. Representations:
For the existing production, the
pictured character on the film
poster and magazine cover is
represented as mysterious, which
is how he has been represented
throughout the trailer, giving a
conventional representation that
all together creates a
conventional brand identity.
My production does the same by
representing the protagonist as
weak within the poster and film
trailer, as well as representing
the antagonists as strong and
mysterious, which are all
conventions of the
genre, therefore adding together
to generate a conventional brand
identity.

7. Film trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS2cdq8R2Ak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq175nYr8B8
The film trailers both add to make the brand identity further, by taking these themes and
representations shown in the film posters and ensuring that the audience can clearly see how
the characters have each individually been represented, as shown within the posters and
magazine covers.

8. Summary:
It is clearly shown through the previous slides that both productions have utilised
production methods and created a strong brand identity that not only directly links all
three promotional methods together as one, but also puts forward the conventions of
the film genres through the use of character representations, as well as use of
themes. As all film posters, magazine covers and film trailers each clearly showed the
following representations and themes:
•Showing the protagonist as weak or mysterious
•Showing the antagonist as strong and deviant
•Clearly portraying the use of the theme of mystery
•Clearly portraying the use of the theme of tension
All of these themes and representations put across the brand identity further and
essentially make it mean something more, as without it being conventional, the
advertisement methods would be rendered useless.
But overall my production has generated a brand identity that is similar to that of an
existing product, therefore meaning it was successful.