# Film festival branding: a look for a season of screenings [Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/film-festival-branding) A festival has dozens of films, each with its own posters and stills, and only a week or two to make an impression. Its own identity is the thread that ties all of them into one event. ## The short version - Film festival branding works when one fixed system frames dozens of films without competing with their own artwork. - Each edition usually gets its own colour world, while the festival's logo, typeface and layouts stay the same from year to year. - Programme posts should credit each film properly, with title, director, country, year and screening time. - Laurels for selected films should come in light and dark versions with transparent backgrounds, carrying the festival name, the year and the selection. - Daily schedule graphics and sponsor posts are easiest to keep accurate when they are generated from the programme spreadsheet. Good **film festival branding** is a frame rather than a picture. The festival screens dozens of films, each with its own poster and stills, so its identity has to hold them together without fighting them. Fix a logo, a typeface and a handful of layouts that stay the same every year, give each edition its own colour world, and apply that system to everything: the poster, programme posts, daily schedules, laurels, sponsor thanks and the slides on screen before each film. ## Everything a festival identity has to cover Festivals are judged on dozens of small touchpoints, most designed in a hurry the week before opening. Listing them early lets you build templates once rather than improvising each one. [Event branding](https://gradiently.design/guide/event-branding) covers the general approach; this is the festival version. - A3 poster: 3508 × 4961 - Programme post: 1080 × 1350 - Schedule story: 1080 × 1920 - Cinema slide: 1920 × 1080 - Event cover: 1920 × 1005 A festival's core formats to scale: the edition poster, a post per film, a story per day, slides for the cinema screen and the Facebook event cover. ## Building the look for each edition Many festivals keep their logo for decades and change the poster every year. That rhythm suits film: the festival is the institution, and the edition is the season. Choose a colour world for the year with a reason behind it, a theme, a place, a mood in the programme, and apply it to everything. Dark grounds suit cinema because they echo the auditorium and make colour glow like a projected image; [dark gradient backgrounds](https://gradiently.design/guide/dark-gradient-backgrounds) shows how to keep them clean. - Projector beam: amber on black: `radial-gradient(ellipse at 50% 0%, #fef3c7 0%, #d97706 30%, #1c1917 75%)` - Velvet seat: black to red: `linear-gradient(180deg, #0c0a09 0%, #7f1d1d 55%, #fca5a5 100%)` - Night screening: cyan glow: `radial-gradient(circle at 30% 70%, #22d3ee 0%, #155e75 40%, #020617 85%)` - Silver screen: grey scale: `linear-gradient(160deg, #f5f5f4 0%, #a8a29e 50%, #292524 100%)` Four edition looks with a cinema feeling. Each sits well behind white type and next to almost any film still. A portrait film festival poster for the twelfth Harbour Film Festival, 8 to 17 October, across four cinemas The edition poster at A4. The festival name and dates do the work; the colour world says which year it is. ## Programme posts for every film The film is the star of its own post. Use the official still the distributor or filmmaker supplied, uncropped where you can, and put the festival frame around it: a band of the edition colour with the film's details in the festival typeface. Every programme post should carry the same credit order so audiences can scan dozens of them quickly. - **Title**, in the language of release with an English title if it differs. - **Director**, then **country** and **year**. - **Running time** and **certificate or age rating**. - **Screening**: day, time and cinema. - **Strand** or section, such as Debut Features or Shorts, if the festival uses them. A portrait festival programme post for a debut feature called The Salt Road with director, country, year and running time A programme post with the full credit line. In use, the film's own still fills most of the frame. A vertical story promoting a screening of The Salt Road tonight at 8.30pm in Screen 2 with a director Q&A The same film as a same day story, leading with the time and the Q&A. ## Film festival schedule design The daily schedule is the post people screenshot and come back to. Make one per day rather than one for the whole festival, and keep the columns fixed so readers learn the layout on day one. ```text SATURDAY 9 OCTOBER 12:00 Shorts Programme 1 Screen 1 78 min 14:30 The Salt Road Screen 2 94 min + Q&A 17:00 Night Swimmers Screen 1 108 min 19:30 Opening Gala: Low Tide Main Hall 121 min 21:45 Midnight Strand: Static Screen 3 88 min ``` One day, fixed columns: time, film, cinema, running time and any extra. Long titles get the most room. The programme already lives in a spreadsheet, so use it. With Gradiently Pro, [bulk create](https://gradiently.design/guide/bulk-create-from-spreadsheet) connects the spreadsheet's columns to a programme post or a schedule page and makes every version in one pass. When a screening moves, change the row and create the page again rather than hunting for the old artwork. ## Laurels for selected films Laurels are the wreath shaped badges filmmakers put on their posters and trailers to show a selection or award. They travel far beyond your own channels, so they are some of the most widely seen pieces of your identity. Send every selected film a small pack as soon as the line up is announced. ### Avoid - A laurel with no year on it - Only one colour version - A JPEG with a box of background around it - Thin script type that vanishes on a poster - Different wording on every file ### Do - Festival name, year and selection or award - White and black versions, plus one in the edition colour - Transparent PNG and SVG files - A plain, sturdy typeface that reads small - Fixed wording: Official Selection, Winner, Special Mention Gradiently Pro exports transparent PNG and SVG, covered in [exporting SVG and transparent PNG](https://gradiently.design/guide/export-svg-transparent-png), which is exactly what a filmmaker's designer needs to drop a laurel onto a poster. ## Sponsor and partner posts Sponsors keep most festivals alive, and they notice how they are thanked. Use one partner frame for the whole edition so every logo gets the same respect, and set logos on a calm part of the background where they read clearly; [logos on gradient backgrounds](https://gradiently.design/guide/logo-on-gradient-background) covers contrast and spacing. Agree what each tier receives before the festival, so nobody is surprised. | Partner tier | Social | Screen and print | | --- | --- | --- | | Headline | Own announcement post and thank you post | Logo on poster and before every screening | | Strand partner | Named on that strand's programme posts | Slide before that strand's screenings | | Supporter | Shared partners carousel | Partners slide and programme back page | A simple tier plan. Writing it down early stops the last minute logo shuffling. On the cinema screen, partner and housekeeping slides run at 1920×1080 before each film; [slide design tips](https://gradiently.design/guide/slide-design-tips) apply. Close the festival with a [thank you post](https://gradiently.design/guide/thank-you-post) that names partners, volunteers and filmmakers. In Gradiently, a claimed Mark can carry the edition's colour world across every format, and with Pro each design resizes to every size in one step. ## FAQ ### What is included in film festival branding? A logo, a typeface and layouts that stay fixed, an edition poster and colour world, programme posts, schedules, laurels, sponsor posts and slides shown before each film. ### What file format should film festival laurels be? Transparent PNG and SVG, in white, black and one edition colour, so filmmakers can place them on any poster or trailer. ### What should a film festival programme post include? The film's title, director, country, year, running time, rating and the screening day, time and cinema, around the film's official still. ### Should a film festival change its branding every year? Most keep the logo and typeface and change the poster and colour world for each edition, so the festival stays recognisable while each year feels new.