Professional Pre-Production: Promotional Material Creation

Following my marketing research & style post, I began creating my promotional materials for The Identity. Using all of the previously mentioned marketing styles and elements.

BBC YouTube Trailer

The first promotional material that I created was a fake screenshot of how The Identity's trailer on BBC One's YouTube channel would look. Below is the final result, using The Night Manager as a template, all created and transformed through Photoshop.

Before

After

To achieve this, I...

• Researched the types of fonts that BBC One use.
• Replaced the original title with 'The Identity' 's logo.
• Replaced 'bbc.co.uk/bbcone' to a simplified version to match the rest of the text.
• Replaced 'The Night Manager Trailer - BBC One' with 'The Identity Trailer - BBC One' both underneath the video and in the top left window tab.
• Replaced the published date to match the date of this Photoshop creation.
• Used Gill Sans MT for the BBC One font on 'bbc.co.uk/bbcone', and Helvetica and Ariel fonts to match YouTube and Microsoft conventions for all other text.

I think this was a great first step creating my promotional advertisements, and I think the end result looks highly realistic as a BBC One trailer for the series.

Promotional Photos

As well as creating posters, I wanted to create two separate promotional photos that can be used in my fake promotional BBC and AMC websites, along with adding to realistic visuals for The Identity.


First Photo
The first image that I decided to create was a landscape image of all characters in mid-shot framing, layered up. Placing main character Lauren in the centre, Helen and Ethan either side, and so on in consideration of character importance and type.

To find suitable and convincing images, I searched through Google images for each individual cast member, finding images that are high quality, have similar lighting, only black, grey or white clothing (aside from Lauren, allowing her to stand apart) and framing to each other, and suit their characters in my series. I then searched for a gritty, dark background to suit the overall style and themes of the series. All images that I collected are below...

Step 1:

The first part of the editing process was recolouring and sizing the background image. I then made precise cut outs of each, individual cast image.

Step 2:

I then added all of the characters to the background image, arranging them to looking organised and well positioned. Alongside cropping and altering the backdrop's contrast.

Step 3:

Following this, I then altered each character's colouring and brightness/contrast to match each other and fit with the tone of the overall image. I then continued to make precise, extensive and detailed changes to every character's light and shading, colouring, positioning and even certain facial features. This gave the image a large amount of consistency, realistic character appearances and a clean, professional look.

Lauren edited

Helen & Ethan edited

Frank & Amanda edited

Kathleen & Chris edited

Step 4:

Lastly, I made shading alterations to the background, making the characters appear to actually be stood in front of the backdrop. And lastly, gave the whole image a slightly blue tone to give a cold feel to this drama/thriller promotional photo.

Here is the final result...

I'm extremely pleased with the end result of the first promotional photo, I think it's of high quality, appears realistic as a promotional photo and supports the visuals of the series.

Second Photo

The second image that I wanted to create was a wide shot image, I initially hoped to include most of the cast for the wide shot image, however I struggled to find any usable wide shot images of cast members other than Tatiana Maslany (Lauren). So I decided to create an image using just her character and a slightly chaotic background.

I decided to go with the idea of Lauren being alone, looking lost in London, while everything races past her. Which is symbolic of everything changing before her eyes in the story, along with presenting the main character and location to the audience. For this I would need a wide shot of Maslany with an appropriate appearance/expression, and a dark but slightly motion blurred and colourful London background. I found the two exact images that I wanted.

Step 1:

To create the image that I had in mind, I firstly cropped and recoloured the background image of London, along with adding motion blur to create a rushing by feeling. I then carefully cut out Lauren's image.

Step 2:

Following this, I then added Lauren's image to the background, positioning her to appear as if she's standing on the street, and recoloured her image and altered the shading to blend her into the scene more.

Step 3:

To really put Lauren into her surroundings, I then decided to add fake extra hair to her image, to create the look of it being blown around in the wind of the street. I then added a shadow on the floor of the street to give the impression that it's Lauren's shadow, and blurred and darkened the edges to blend her in even more.

Step 4:

And to finish the image, I slightly brightened the centre of the image and added vignette shading to the edges of the frame, giving a dark, cold look.

Here is the final result...

I think that the end result is better than I imagined when I started work on the image, I think the wind in Lauren's hair gives the photo extra flair, and this second promotional image greatly differs from my first, making them both unique and able to stand apart.

BBC Website Pages

To fit with the previously researched conventions of BBC's advertising, I decided to create realistic website pages for The Identity on BBC's website. This is typical of all BBC One shows and provides a clear insight into series content, images, clips, interviews and characters.

Using The Night Manager's pages as starting points for my own, I used Photoshop to replace each feature of the pages with my own content. I decided to use my second promotional photo of Lauren in London as the background for the website pages, as the colouring and style fits with the layout BBC's pages. However I decided to move Lauren's image to the left side of the screen, so that she wasn't covered by the content in the middle of the page.

Below are The Night Manager's home page, and my starting template created from this...

The Night Manager Home Page

My template

Home Page

By using my own background, and copying BBC's use of Gill Sans MT and varying Ariel font uses, I was able to create a realistic looking initial structure. I then began work on the home page of my own BBC website section. Here is the result...

Before

After

To achieve this, I...

• Copied The Night Manager page's initial layout, replacing each individual component with my own information and images.
• Decided to use my first promotional picture as the series image, as it's a good representation of the gritty style and whole cast.
• Used a simple explanation of the series to describe the outlining story.
• Switched the iPlayer information to all episodes available, as my miniseries would be - to use the correct conventional font and writing I referenced 'The Missing's page, which is available on iPlayer.
• Left the information that 'there are no upcoming broadcasts' - as the idea is that this website is being viewed after all three episodes have aired. But changed the last episode aired to episode three, and the broadcasting time to my own schedule.
• Made my series only available for video download.
• Used an online image of Tatiana Maslany for 'Cast and Characters' as it has a professional look and as she is the main character/cast member. And replaced the description to fit my own character's part in the story.
• Replaced the article below to work as what would be an entertaining article on who Amanda is, along with part of Katie McGrath (Amanda)'s image.
• Replaced the two articles on the left to suit my series, while keeping a rough theme of cast and crew interviews. And replaced the images and content with my own cast and crew.

I think overall, this home page would draw in the audience with eye catching images and entertaining online content.

Episodes Page

The initial The Night Manager page differed largely from my own as the series has twice as many episodes as The Identity, so I decided to slightly edit the template of the Episodes page, while still keeping the conventional BBC look.

Before

After

I achieved this by...

• Re-positioning the episode stills, titles, content and 'buy online' section to suit three episodes instead of six.
• Used my concept images to appear as episode stills, using images that are based on each individual episode.
• Created brief summaries of each episode that allow insight on the content without giving anything away.
• Removed available to buy on DVD.

I think the end result looks just as realistic as the before image. I'm glad that I re-positioned and sized elements of the page to avoid it looking sparse with three episodes.

Clips Page

I decided to slightly crop the Clips page at the line of where the crucial content ended, therefore this page and the following page are of a different aspect ratio. This page consists of episode clips, interviews and trailers which all needed to be replaced with my own.

Before

After

To achieve this, I...

• Reused my concept images where appropriate, creating four separate sections on the page that could appear to be episode clips.
• Used my previously created trailer still image to appear as The Identity's trailer.
• Used a screenshot of the ending to my previously made opening titles, to appear as the opening titles video.
• Used online interview images of Tatiana Maslany and Katie McGrath to appear as watchable interviews.
• Replaced all titles, certain episode details, and certain timings to suit my own content.

I think this page looks realistic as a clips page, with a large amount of varying content that the website user would be interested in viewing.

Characters Page

This is the most simplistic of all pages, featuring cast images, character names and the cast that they're portrayed by. So I simply replaced The Night Manager's with my own cast and characters.

Before

After

I achieved this by...

• Using online images of my cast that were as similar in colouring, lighting and background as possible, that also appeared professional.
• Replacing all names to match my own series.

The end result of my entire BBC mock-up website pages for the series feel very effective. I think they look like realistic screenshots of a real website, and appear professional and entertaining for the audience to use and gather insight from. I think this greatly adds to BBC's promotional side of the miniseries.

AMC Website Pages

For my first AMC promotional creations, I created fabricated website pages for The Identity on AMC's website. Using the same methods as my BBC pages, I used The Night Manager on AMC as a template, and replaced all images and content with my own.


Home/Episodes Page
In an attempt to make the AMC page stand apart and differ from the BBC page, I decided to use my first promotional image as the cover for the home page, I then replaced all other photos and text with my own, along with changing the colour themes. From my The Night Manager template to the finished home page, the results are below...

Before

After

To achieve this, I...

• Copied The Night Manager page's initial layout, replacing each individual component with my own information and images.
• Created shading over my first promotional image to use as the cover photo for the page, so that any text wouldn't blend or become lost in the image.
• Replaced the logo with my own official 'The Identity' logo.
• Replaced the purple colouring with a deep blue colour to fit the themes and colour schemes of my own series.
• Unable to find the AMC website's exact font, I used a mixture of Ariel, Gill Sans MT, Helvetica, and Verdana to mimic the template's text.
• Replaced the pitch under 'Limited Series' to suit The Identity, outlining the premise in a descriptive way.
• Replaced all episode images with my own concept images to appear as screenshots, alongside shading the bottom of the images to make text stand out more.

The end result feels professional, eye catching and typical of an AMC website section.

Cast & Crew Page

Skipping to Cast & Crew due to a lack of interactivity on a fabricated website as previously mentioned in my Marketing post, I then created the page using online cast images and character descriptions for The Identity. As The Night Manager's cast images differ to that of BBC's, I decided to continue this by using different cast images from The Identity to my BBC page.

Here is the result...

Before

After

I achieved this by...

• Using the background from my first promotional image, edited and blended into black to create a suitable background for this page and the About page.
• Continued to recolour any purple themes into blue themes.
• Using professional-appearing images of the cast for each character.
• Replacing all character names and descriptions with my own, alongside adding two extra spaces for my cast members.
• Thinking up one-line descriptions that best represent each character of the series.

I think as a basic page, my changes make it stand apart largely from the initial template, as well as the BBC page, giving a unique and interesting feel.

About Page

The last AMC page that I created was one that describes the show and features a promotional image and clip, acting as a very informative and entertaining page. The results are below...

Before

After

To achieve this, I...

• Continued with colour, logo, background and text replacements.
• Replaced the large clip image under 'About the show' with my second promotional photo, as I think it's an interesting visual to add to the page.
• Replaced the brief synopsis with a newly created short synopsis of my own, that describes the premise and key characters.
• Used concept images and an online image of Tatiana Maslany to use as fake clips of trailer, behind the scenes and interviews.

Overall, I think The Identity's AMC website pages dramatically stand apart from the BBC pages, which is important so that their promotions are separate and don't feel like a copy of each other. I think these pages feel professional and visually stimulating.

Promotional Posters

One of the key marketing elements for the series is producing AMC promotional posters that feature the main characters, title, schedule information, and individual taglines for each character. One of the advantages of using AMC for the American production of the series is the fact that the channel creates and markets posters to promote their series, so I have created posters that captures their conventional styles.

As previously mentioned in my last post, I used a number of AMC posters as inspiration for my own, and decided to go with five close-up, black and white character posters that present an overall dark tone, key colours and AMC's schedule.

I decided to create a poster for Lauren, Helen, Ethan, and Amanda, and a joint poster for Frank and Kathleen. This is because I feel that their characters are always connected and are strongest together. I decided not to make a poster for Chris as his role and appearance in the series is too minor.

The first poster that I created needed to also act as a template for the other four posters, as they all needed to look identical in layout and image styles (eye level close-up shot, head on). I firstly created Lauren's poster, being the main character.

Lauren's Poster

I started by selecting my ideal image of Tatiana Maslany...

I then cropped the image to a poster format, completely desaturated the image to be black and white, altered the brightness and contrast, and used lighting effects to highlight her face and have the rest fade to black...

After this, I repositioned her image to leave more room for text, altered some lighting and shading on her face, and painted any extra unfaded areas in black. I then added The Identity logo, along with deciding to add the text 'Miniseries Event' (inspired by The Night Manager's poster), and the pre-decided AMC schedule time and logo. Using a professional and structured layout.

Lastly, I created a tagline layout, deciding to use bold, caps text in blue, with lowered opacity to blend into the image slightly. I then thought up ways of approaching the tagline, and liked the idea of each character seemingly addressing either other characters or the audience - allowing the taglines to be open to interpretation.

For Lauren's I decided on 'You can't hide me anymore' I feel that this greatly fits for either addressing Helen, who hid her away for 27 years, or her birth parents, who covered up that she ever existed after she was stolen. I wanted Lauren and all character taglines to represent a change, ambition or stubbornness that each character feels in the story, hinting at their role in the series.

Once this was added, Lauren's poster was finished and the layout for the next four posters was decided. I feel very pleased with Lauren's poster, I think it gives a clear representation of her character, the dark and modern tone of the series and provides key information.

Here is the end result...

Helen's Poster

Using the same image type, Photoshop tools and styles, and overall layout I then made Helen's promotional poster. Firstly using this image...

I wanted all of my images to match by being face on and at eye-level, however I struggled to find a suitable image of Felicity Huffman aside from the one above, so it required extra work. Following the same steps as the last poster, I altered her image's size, colours and lighting, and brushed around the image to make a dark background. I then added a small amount of ageing detail to her face, as the image of Huffman is one of when she was younger...

As the shading of the image appeared to be quite flat, I then added lighting and shading to her face and hair, to make it slightly more similar to that of Lauren's...

Lastly, I brightened her face even more, and added the title, AMC logo etc. And using the same layout, created Helen's tagline; 'You can't undo my mistakes'. I think this is suited as being addressed to Lauren, explaining that no matter what she does now, Lauren can't change the past.

Here is the end result...

Ethan's Poster

Finding an appropriate image of Michael B. Jordan for Ethan's poster, I selected the picture below...

When starting his poster, I slightly rotated his image before cropping and continuing with the step by step poster alterations, along with shifting his image up slightly. Achieving the below result...

Following this, I brushed out the rest of his image to give him a black background and fade, matching the posters' themes. I then added the poster's text, deciding on his tagline to be 'You can't use me for your benefit' - allowing for an audience's misconception of him addressing Lauren when helping her, when in actual fact this represents a message of Ethan standing up to Chris when he doesn't want to help him anymore.

Here is his final poster...

Amanda's Poster

When looking for a poster of Katie McGrath, I found an image that no only matched my requirements, but closely resembles my chosen poster image of Tatiana Maslany/Lauren, so I decided to use this image to represent their similarities - with Amanda being her replacement...

I then made my step by step alterations of cropping, recolouring, and adding lighting to the image.

After this, I added extra shading and lighting to her features, making her image match my other posters more. And added extra shading under her eyes to give her character a darker look. Along with brushing over the edges of the image for fading.

To finish the poster, I added the usual text and Amanda's tagline of 'You won't get in my way'. I think this gives the audience the impression that she's the villain of the story, along with her addressing Lauren about taking her family away.

Below is her poster...

Frank & Kathleen's Poster

In order to create a joint poster for Frank and Kathleen, I need images that weren't too close up, as they both needed to fit within the frame. Struggling to find new images that I needed, I decided to use images that I'd already used in a promotional photo, but I feel that as they are both for promotional purposes, it still works.

Once I selected their images, I tested them side by side, to make sure that I was happy with my decision before editing.

I felt that the combination worked, so I began work on the poster of the pair. Using Frank as the base image, I made a cut out of Kathleen and added her next to Frank, then proceeded to paint around their images to create a black background.

Following this, I recoloured, lit and further blending their images into the poster by brushing over the edges of their image. I then added extra shading and lighting to both images, and altered Kathleen's facial features to appear less happy, and slightly more aged.

Finally, I faded the edges of the image and added the poster's text, with the tagline 'You won't tear us apart'. I think this shows a slight stubbornness, as they can be seen to be addressing either Helen after she stole their baby, or Lauren once she comes back into their lives. But ultimately they're torn apart by Frank's affair and their daughter's death.

Here is the final poster...

I'm very pleased with all of my posters, I think they have a great amount of professionalism and and consistency, and I'm glad that I added the extra touch of personalised taglines, as I think they make the characters come alive in the posters.

Poster Marketing

The final promotional materials that I created for marketing The Identity are two fake displays of promotional posters in public places in America. Following research (which can be seen in my previous posts), AMC most commonly advertise their promotional posters on billboards and on bus advertisements in the USA. So in keeping with this, and as another way that my miniseries could be advertised and marketed to the general public, I created one billboard and one bus ad for the series.

I decided to use a similar image of Tatiana Maslany (Lauren) to her promotional poster, sticking with the overall poster's theme. Alongside this, I used the gritty blue background that I used in the AMC website home page and my first promotional photo. And lastly the same text content as Lauren's promotional poster - all on both the billboard and bus ad.


Billboard
Using an official American AMC billboard for The Walking Dead as a template for my own billboard, I began to combine my own content with the billboard's angular shape. Below is the original billboard...

Using a wider-shot image of Lauren, I made a cut out of her image to use on both the billboard and the bus ad...

I then cut out the original advertisement from the billboard and placed Lauren's image over it, and began reshaping the image with a number of tools to give it an angular look...

After this, I added my promo photo backdrop to give the background of the poster more texture and colour. I then improved the shape of Lauren's image, and began adding and reshaping the logo and schedule text in the same way.

In the last few additions before my final billboard, I decided to add Lauren's tagline to give the billboard some extra content and that same personal touch that her poster has, and re-positioned and slightly blurring the remaining text for authenticity.

Lastly, once I was certain of Lauren's positioning, I cut out the rest of her body to have her fit onto the billboard. And then made final colour, shading and lighting alterations to her image. The final result of The Identity's billboard is below...

I think that the appearance of a real life billboard being used to advertise the series really brings the whole show to life to see it in the public eye. I think that this would be a great way to grab a viewer's attention.

Bus Advertisement

I decided to use another real AMC example for this marketing type, by using AMC's Humans promotional poster on the side of a New York bus...

Once deciding to use this image, I removed AMC's ads from the bus, and added my previously cropped and cut out images of Lauren and my backdrop to the image.

After having already used my text and logos once and figured out the best ways to reshape them to appear three dimensional, I continued to simply add them to the lower advertisement in a similar style to the billboard.

I then added similar text and the AMC logo to the top bus advertisement, in a similar style to the bus's original Humans advertising.

In my finishing touches, I made sure to crop, recolour and blur each element of the advertisement to make it appear realistically in the image. I then also added a small amount of lighting effects to the images to add to the realism.

Here is the final bus ad...

I think that hand-in-hand with the billboard, these present the many ways that The Identity could be advertised all across America, and that the promotional material layout is very eye catching.

All Content

With visuals being a very important part of my project, I wanted to make sure that the promotional content that I produced for my series was not only realistic and conventional for both of my broadcasters, but extremely eye catching and enjoyable to view. I feel proud of my Photoshop work and use of initiative from creating each individual promotional item, and I feel that they greatly support the project and prove how well the series could succeed in the real world.