Client Corner: Film4

This week sees a new set of brand idents launch for Film4 as part of a refresh for the UK’s number one film channel. The clips present a series of looping cinematic scenes with various references from the world of film and a focus on the channel’s logo centred in each.

The films include a host of classic references to the cinema such as a corridor set inspired by Barton Fink and The Grand Budapest Hotel, a service trolley from Ghostbusters and a bath that's almost a perfect match to the one used in the original Psycho movie.

Below, 4Creative’s creative director behind the new identities, Dan Chase (below), speaks about why the time was right for a rebrand, the company’s approach to the new look and feel and the importance of the clips in the film-viewing experience.

Also, Mike Alderson, founder and creative director at ManvsMachine, offers his thoughts on teaming up with 4Creative, why the job appealed and what it was like to target film fans as opposed to their work in commercials with repeat viewing in mind.

Why is now the right time for a brand refresh for Film4

Our previous on-air identity dates back to July 2006, and after eight years it felt the time was right to change the wallpaper.

How do you go about approaching such job? Are there many options and themes to explore?

There are many options but ultimately the theme has to be firmly rooted in the world of cinema. I was keen to avoid the idents becoming too genre specific, but it’s almost impossible so we tried to cross-pollenate them wherever we could with as many film references and homages as we could pack into them.

Tell us a bit more about the creative process in narrowing down the 16 clips and were there more ideas?

Part of the concept revolved around the logo sitting in the centre of frame and the environment suggesting a real world square around it. [Director] ManvsMachine found a host of picture references that could work and we gave them to our location manager to try to find. To get the most value from them we hit upon the idea of several endings for each set-up that could be achieved within the time we had.

One of the original references that got away was an overhead shot looking down on a square swimming pool. It immediately felt inherently cinematic but budget and post ruled it out – this time.

Tell us a bit more about the locations…

Two of the locations were built as sets for practical reasons, the staircase was found in the Grand Hotel in Brighton and the Gas Station and Woodlands had to be in the US to give us a healthy dose of Americana. They each took a day to shoot.

Tell us about the craft aspect of the films and how you went about achieving your vision?

They were all shot on a motion control rig which had to travel in from the top of frame and end below the frame. This became a constant throughout each shoot. In the studio, the sets were built on decking giving us five feet of clearance for the camera to come to a rest and the staircase was looking up so we could go beyond the edges quite easily.

It was only the two American locations where we realised digging would have to take place for the camera to leave frame. We even had a park ranger with us to make sure we didn’t disturb any ancient burial ground in the Woodlands location.

Why is this aspect of Film4’s broadcasting so important to the brand?

We’re 100 per cent film so everything we do around the content should be immersing the viewer in the world of cinema.

And why was ManvsMachine the right talent to direct the films?

4Creative has worked with ManvsMachine several times before on other channel identities so they’re a known quantity, always producing cutting-edge work. We originally approached them to pitch just on the on-screen presentation but they wasted no time in offering ideas for the idents. Mike, Curtis, MJ and Tim are very collaborative so the process is a pleasure.

What’s your favourite of all the clips?

I honestly can’t pick a favourite although the American shoots were obviously more of an adventure.

How powerful do you think an ident can be in the film viewing experience?

I think any successful ident on any channel works ultimately because of familiarity and staying the right side of the line where they remain pleasurable to watch over countless viewings. Hopefully over time they work as an endorsement of a great viewing experience.

And will the idents be paired with specific films?

We air them randomly – we try not to get tied down to genre. You never know which one you’re going to get.

Answers from ManvsMachine:

What appealed to you about this job, the brand and the idea for the idents?

Having worked with Channel 4 before on the current identities for More4 and 4Seven, and knowing from experience what a like-minded client they are to work with, we were excited simply by the prospect of working with them again. Film4 is the UK's number one film channel so a fantastic heritage and the thought of designing for such a broad demographic was also very appealing.

Tell us about your approach considering the cinematic style of the brief?

We were looking to create branding for a film channel rather than a TV channel. This became our mantra. The difference is subtle, but they have different requirements. If there was ever a tricky decision we would refer to the film side of our brains rather than TV.

In terms of the cinematic style we were looking to create something that felt cinematic and familiar, diverse and all-encompassing in the world of film. We developed the in-camera contemporary filmstrip-esque technique that stacks up live action scenes and then built everything brand related around that.

Creatively we wanted the idents to work like establishing shots. They needed to be mood based rather than genre based, each starting off ambiguously, which gave us the flexibility to create three different variations for each of the five scenes to really embrace different aspects of the idents cinematically.

How much creative input did you have on the idea?

We were lucky enough to be given creative freedom to develop the project however we saw fit. Film4 creative director, Dan Chase, came to us with the initial brief and following a successful creative pitch we worked alongside him to create and develop the rebrand.

The idents are obviously beautifully crafted. How important do you think a good ident is to the film viewing experience?

Thank you! A good ident plays an important role on a channel. In this case we wanted these idents to play a strong supporting role to the films on the channel; it was important that they felt cinematic and in fitting with the films screened on Film4 of course, but what was most important is that they convey the ethos of the brand. The idents are in essence the visual expression of Film4, and so they needed to be a celebration of cinema.

How did shooting for a film viewing audience compare to that of a commercials job and targeting a brand consumer?

They’re both the same in that you have something you need to communicate to a specific group of people. The challenges of doing that are very much the same kind of challenges. However in this case the film-loving audience, practically everyone, is a specifically unspecific audience.

Film4 is an all-encompassing brand with a very broad demographic. It embraces all lovers of film, from the ultimate film buffs to the occasional action movie fans. This meant us focussing broadly on the love of film, film craft and its wonderful diversity. The other main difference is that idents are intended to stay around for 3-5 years, not 3-5 months like most commercials, so repeat viewing becomes a major consideration.

Are you Film4 fans and how did you go about getting into the mind-set of the brand for the job?

We’re definitely fans of Film4 and as avid movie fans ourselves we were already part of the target demographic. This inherently put us in the mind-set of the brand in this way. Understanding how broad this brand mind-set is was the important thing. It sounds obvious, but it was crucial for us to continuously remind ourselves of this for the communication to work effectively. Film4 is for everyone.