Acme, Weyland Corp, Wonka Chocolate, Cyberdine Systems, Buy N Large, The Big Kahuna Burger, OfCom – what do all these brands have in common?
Aside from being iconic and even having their revenues ranked by Forbes none of them actually exist. Can you name the films they feature in? Most of you probably can name most if not all of them – they are part of the worldbuilding that has enabled many films to feel so real.
For the most part these brands are part of the scenery – a detail of the art direction or a line of description in the screenplay. There are of course exceptions – Ghostbusters and Jurassic Park are both the name of the brands and the names of the movies in which they first appear – they even share logos!
Why fictional brands?
So why is all this attention spent on creating fictional brands – why not just use real brands like Dr Pepper in Back to the Future and FedEx in Castaway? There are several reasons:
Sometimes the hero is an entrepreneur like Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne so their companies are part of their identities.
Sometimes the company is explicitly evil. Would Sony, IBM or Lockheed Martin want to be associated with the Skynet system intent on wiping out humanity? Probably not.
It can be a running gag: who doesn’t remember the expectation whenever Wil-E-Coyote opens an Acme box or views a catalogue with cunning eyes?
They can be part of the promotional campaign, in some cases being arguably better than the movie itself.
Issues with using real brands
Of course using real brands has its pros and cons: brands will often pay for positive portrayals of their products in movies – so called product placement. Indeed many of our ideas, such as diamonds as the ultimate romantic gift, come from product placement (by de beers TK). Heineken reportedly paid filmmakers a cool $45 million for James Bond to exchange a Shaken Martini for a bottle of their beer in Skyfall.
Although this is unlikely to work for indies to the same extent some on our blog even suggest using this technique on a smaller scale for short films (perhaps with a local business).
But brands do not always pay or even wish their brands to appear in films and often stipulate their portrayal and/or require payment of a fee. Otherwise requiring that logos be removed or concealed either by art-department or in post (almost every Junior Compositor working in VFX will have painted out a few logos in their early career).
The power of fictional brands
Fictional brands, provided they are not too similar to existing brands, offer a certain amount of freedom. The UTS Corporation in the fantastic Korean sci fi, Space Sweepers, bears a striking resemblance to a certain online delivery company… The Big Kahuna Burger in Tarantino and Robert Rodrigeuz movies and Pizza Planet in the Toy Story movies help to tie the worlds together and give a nod to the fans. In Jurassic World one of the characters, Lowery actually wears a Jurassic Park T-Shirt sparking fan theories and debates and increasing audience engagement.
So how do we go about creating fictional brands for our films?
Well in many cases we start with the product – who made our starfighter’s ship? Which restaurant do the lovers meet on their first date? Working backwards we can create the kind of atmosphere we want and use it to tie scenes together – one couple could propose and another could ask for a divorce in the same restaurant – if the branding is memorable those two events will be brought together creating juxtaposition.
Sometimes we want the brand to reflect the tone of the film, like the grim Weyland Corporation logo in Aliens or the Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner. Sometimes we want the tone to contrast with the tone of the film.
Case Study: the Mikkei Toy Company in “Broken Toy”
My upcoming short film, Broken Toy, is quite a dark story about a child’s toy robot, Mikkei, thrown out by an abusive parent.
Nevertheless I wanted the toy brand itself to be upbeat and happy and we even made a TV Advertisement featuring sunshine, happy idyllic childhood play and everything we do not see in the film.
I managed to persuade a professional designer friend, Eleanor Valentino, to design both the fictional brand and the logo for the film. Interestingly they both use the same base font with different treatments. It’s a subtle detail but one which people read subconsciously.
Expanding the world – using fake brands as a springboard for future projects
I can see so many potential other tales spinning off from the company – potentially a lot bigger than the short film I am making. If the founder and ethos is a pacifist what if it has its own “Don’t Be Evil” moment? Whatever happens with Broken Toy I know Mikkei will be a part of my filmmaking for some time…
Developing the brand I thought about it’s founder and how their values might have been instilled in the product. I read up on the founders of Lego of Nintendo (which interestingly began selling playing cards TK) and oddly enough the Morihei Ueshiba – the founder of Aikido who became a pacifist during World War 2:
“The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst thing a human being can do. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent such slaughter – it is the Art of Peace, the power of love.”
So a toy maker who believed his toys could help children become better, kinder adults? Who made a toy which is exposed to a cruel and brutal world? I wrote up the story (which is entirely separate from the screenplay) and sent it out to the film’s mailing list followers. You can read it here.
Did you know?
- Raindance members save 20% on filmmaking courses?
You can join online >HERE< and access freebies and discounts immediately - This course is FREE for our HND, top-up BA and postgraduate/MA/ students
- You can book a free 1-1 consultation about our full-time degree filmmaking courses HERE
- The Raindance Guarantee: If any filmmaking course fails to meet your expectations, let us know at the break and we will make a full, 100% no-questions-asked refund
- We don’t teach ‘filmmaking’ at Raindance. At Raindance we make filmmakers.
Director Daniel Mark Miller is British-Iranian VFX artist, screenwriter and filmmaker. He is a co-host of The VFX Artists Podcast.
Daniel began writing at a young age and has always had a love of the strange, the fantastical and the underdog. Daniel has continued writing and independent work while working for over 10 years as a professional Digital Compositor on major feature films and TV shows such as Baby Driver, The Crown, Good Omens, Pinocchio, Giri Haji and Morbius.
He has recently won Best Short Screenplay with the script for “Broken Toy” at the New Renaissance Film Festival 2020 and is currently working on a promo for the short.
