In my post "Digital Neanderthals" I lamented the fact that many people in the motion picture / entertainment industry are not reformatting their key art for this new digital age. Some of you asked, "Is this really necessary?"
Yes, it is... see?
Connected devices that share with friends... this is going to affect all sorts of things. Delivery, ratings, marketing, finance, production, creation and development.
Please notice that the Comcast application doesn't use the key art for GANGS OF NEW YORK (at 1:24 in the video) on its main page. It uses a 16:9 image from the movie. Note also how small and insignificant the thumbnails look on the menu screen (0:43 ). It's the last thing you want - people thinking your movie looks insignificant. It's a good thing this is the IPad application and not an IPhone application or the art would be even smaller. Sadly, the only art I can read clearly is LEAP YEAR.
The way we watch and connect with movies is changing.
So should their key art design... and yeah, everything else.
6 comments:
Fair point, however what I'm suggesting isn't a total rethink of a key art but a reformat(That is unless there are circumstances which dictate a total rethink like bad sales). Key art is reformatted or chucked aside entirely for DVD all the time.
You can still be consistent in your look even if it's in a different 'container.'
Most adaptions would simply be reductions, sort of like finding the log line for a movie. You'd basically go from http://www.zml.com/content/covers/41491_3.jpg to http://rookery9.aviary.com.s3.amazonaws.com/3932500/3932635_370b_625x625.jpg
The FUN (and possibly a steady flow of petty cash) would be in resurrecting all those lost gems and duds in company back logs...
Fun is a good word for it.
As I've always thought this is a tremendous marketing opportunity for companies to breathe new life into their movies...especially those that haven't performed.
Joe Konrath was talking about testing his book covers for his Kindle editions and the same concept applies here. How many good movies have been saddled with bad titles and marketing? Plenty!
(I know, because I've been guilty of this myself).
I think part of the reluctance is based on the idea that the internet isn't paying all that much. However if studios are currently looking at the internet streaming world as a support system or transition platform for physical DVD sales then it only makes sense for the key art to be reformatted for optimum consumer response...
And yet...
And that's exactly the point of "branding", isn't it? You build an easily recognizable property that can be applied to a variety of different formats. Why companies aren't leaping to apply their brands to the new digital formats is beyond me.
Jon - Hollywood is filled with "hurry up and wait."
Post a Comment