Method

Founded in 1957, the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) is the longest-running film festival in the Americas. Held each spring, SFIFF showcases 200-plus films and hosts more than 100 filmmakers over a two-week schedule, drawing a diverse audience of more than 80,000 attendees each year.

Challenge

In 2006, the San Francisco Film Society, presenter of the film festival, asked Method to update the festival's image. The goal was to attract a broader audience, including the large Bay Area audience of young, tech-savvy filmgoers, and to help it prepare for its upcoming 50th anniversary.

Approach

After brainstorming sessions with Film Society stakeholders, the team developed a broad range of design concepts. The final solution lays the groundwork for a consistent and more intuitional brand, flexible enough to accommodate campaign imagery and graphics, but structured enough to live on from year to year. The logotype is based on a hard-edged, solid type with a Constructivist, international edge. The film festival's year was added in a contrasting font to provide an updated identity from year to year.

For the 2007 festival, graphic overlays are based on the idea of "transformation" - a reference to the transformative experience of watching a film; the transformation that turns a screenplay, shots, action, and milieu into the magic of a movie; and transformation underway in how technology is changing the way people create, access, and experience movies. Contrasted with black and white film stills, circles in various sizes and bright colors were arranged to give the impression of movement in static media, and actually moved over the dark background in dynamic media, such as in the trailer shown on theater screens. Method extended the system to a broad range of venues and media, from the festival's web site to its T-shirts, plus event signage, bus shelter posters, newspaper and web banner ads, attendee badges and other applications.

Outcome

This campaign successfully increased interest in the festival. The number of sold-out screenings doubled, sponsorship for the event increased by 41 percent, and membership in the film society posted a 30 percent increase in that year alone. "It's a total departure from the look of previous festivals and it's brilliant," said Graham Leggat, SFIFF Festival Director.