LÉON: 30th Anniversary
Brand Identity | Layout | Typography | Image Making
For my thesis project, I decided to rebrand the film LÉON: The Professional (1994) for its 30th anniversary. I hope to work in the TV/Film industry someday as a designer and this project allowed me to use a culmination of all the design skills I’ve picked up during my time at Tyler. I created a brand identity based on the film’s content, muted color palette, and iconic symbolism. I enjoyed playing with layout and creative image-making to give a fresh feel to this film.
Celebrating the film
The movie "Léon: The Professional" will celebrate its 30th anniversary on November 18, 2024. The film, which was written and directed by Luc Besson, is considered a cult classic and has had a lasting impact on the action and thriller genres. To mark the anniversary, several screenings and special events will be held around the world, allowing fans to revisit the movie on the big screen. The anniversary also provides an opportunity for fans and critics alike to reflect on the film's themes and legacy, including its depiction of violence, corruption, and human connection. Despite some controversy surrounding the film's content and the age of its young protagonist, "Léon: The Professional" has endured as a powerful and thought-provoking work of cinema.
When deciding which film to work on for my thesis, I wanted to choose one that had iconic imagery and captivating themes that I could turn into a brand. "Léon: The Professional" is one of my favorite movies and there is a lot of material from the movie that I thought would be fun to play around with.
Approach
I took time to rewatch the film and analyze different parts of the plot and imagery to create a fresh look for the branding. I researched the different actors in the cast to find out more about the way they each approached their roles, as well as the fan response to the film. The film is considered controversial by some because of the odd nature of Léon and Mathilda’s relationship, but a deeper look into the making of the film helped me understand the actor’s perspective on the story.
Using the film’s muted color palette and indie aesthetic, I created a series of image-making styles to apply to my movie poster design and screenplay book. I wanted to match the vibe of the movie when it first came out in 1994 and bring a modern design take to it. My image-making style contains a mix of black-and-white images edited with threshold, bitmap, and noise styles in Photoshop, as well as a selection of full-color stills directly from the movie. My type pairings were inspired by typefaces used in the film as well as the updated look I wanted to bring to the project.
Movie Poster
For the reimagined movie poster, I wanted to highlight the loving and protective relationship between Léon and Mathilda. Since the main concern with this film is Mathilda’s romantic advances on Léon despite their age difference, I wanted the first image associated with my project to be one that highlights the parental role Léon fills in Mathilda’s life. Jean Reno played Léon’s character so there would never be a question if he would ever be romantically involved with Mathilda. Jean Reno and Natalie Portman both ignored the pedophilic lens that Luc Besson wrote the story through when they played their characters.
I also included vector icons of important imagery along the bottom of the poster. The plant, gun, and milk icons are all motifs repeated frequently throughout the film and all bring Léon and Mathilda together somehow.
Screenplay Book
I spent the most time on the screenplay book, which allowed me to manipulate stills directly from the movie and incorporate creative use of type. I created multiple spreads for the four main characters: Léon, Mathilda, Stansfield, and Tony. There are spreads of stills and spreads including portions of the script. My table of contents spread implies that the book has more content than I could create, caused by the time limits I was met with. I chose a hardcover book for the mockups to make it seem more sophisticated and expensive.
Merchandise
At the anniversary screening, merch will be given out to guests to help commemorate the experience. First, guests will receive a hotel keychain with branding from Hotel National, the hotel that Léon and Mathilda stay in for a portion of the film. Instead of having the hotel room number on the keychain, the seat number for the screening will be on the keychain. Guests will also receive a boxed water bottle that is shaped like a milk carton, with a movie-themed design replicating the original packaging. I felt that these souvenirs bring the iconic symbolism in the movie to life and would be a playful addition to the project.
Conclusion
If I had more time to work on this project, I would have expanded on the hypothetical screening event. There is more branding I could have done for the event on top of the work I did to revamp the movie’s imagery in the book and poster. It would have been interesting to put my deliverables in a space to make the event seem even more realistic. This project was a culmination of all the design skills I learned during my college career and it made me excited about the design work I want to do in the future. I’m looking forward to working on design projects with different timelines and resources once I enter the field.