New Moon and Star Trek Get Redone
February 26, 2009 by Ellen Ewart
Filed under Marketing
Slumdog, Doubt and Milk aren’t the only movies getting attention lately. New title treatments for New Moon and Star Trek are popping up online, getting fans hyped about the upcoming releases.
New Moon, the sequel to Twilight and part of author Stephanie Meyer’s series, is getting some buzz about the logo adaptation for screen. The original title treatment for all four books was quite plain, with emphasis on the accompanying image. This gave designers ample wiggle room when adapting the brand for screen; though it remains an exercise in drawing viewers in while not disappointing the already-crazy fan-base.
Twilight, the first in the series to be adapted to the big screen, stuck close to the original font while bringing just a touch of the sparkle, “light-streaks-poking-through” treatment around the font. New Moon kicks that up a notch with revised font and plays up that glitter effect. Is this enough to whet the appetites of a screaming teenage fan-base? So far, the contentious issue with online fans is the decision to include “The Twilight saga” in the logo along with New Moon.
What are the pros and cons of re-releasing a movie logo for an established book?
Let’s switch gears and take a look at Star Trek. Now this is a long-standing brand – we’re talking head-to-toe Hollywood makeup convention-type established fan-base. You’d think that this brand could not be fiddled with often, and it can’t. And yet it’s seen over a dozen redesigns since its first release in 1966. Take a look at some of the logos over the years. What is the benefit of redesigning, especially when the resulting logo is so minor in changes?
Keeping things fresh to give consumers (aka viewers or fans) that added value is important but what are the risks of playing around with a good thing? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Maybe not. If a brand is a set of values that drive a business, then the logo or title treatment needs to reflect the values of the movie and its viewers – even as they change over time, which they certainly would.
Keeping things fresh is the key, old and new viewers of “Star Trek” want to know that they are seeing sometime new or at least a slightly fresh take on the theme.
Also the hype factory in full force, the designers want to make it new and shiny, abit of – ‘if you love star trek you’ll love this beefed up version’…
I had never heard of the New Moon book before I bought it. I purchased it solely based on how nice I thought the cover was. (I didn’t even read the back to see that it was the second in a series and intended for teenagers). Maybe they should’ve left it? I’m sure that part of the branding that helped make it a huge success was based on the look of the covers.
Funny you mention that Darcie! That’s how I bought my first copy of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass because I looooved the cover!
I took it home, read the first chapter, THEN read the back cover and was embarrassed to find out that it was a teen novel. I put it on the shelf and left it there.
Four years later, after sustained pressure from a friend and when the movie was in theatres, I went out and bought The Golden Compass (with the movie poster cover). After the first chapter I realized that I already owned the book – with a much more beautiful cover.