Melbourne International Film Festival 2013
The well-established Melbourne International Film Festival, or MIFF for those in the know, has been showcasing the best in cinema from all over the world since 1952.
As a cultural partner in 2013, Evan Evans provided signage, flags and banners for the festival, which saw venues throughout Melbourne’s CBD draped in lines of people prepared to brave Melbourne’s ever-present winter chill in the name of film and culture.
For a festival as intelligent, challenging and diverse as MIFF, we knew it was vital that our products met the high expectations of event organisers and appealed to cinema-goers.
The annual film festival brings visitors to Melbourne from all over the world so we knew the experience needed to start on the street, where tourists and passersby would be drawn in with interest. The first step was to install super banners for display all over the city in the lead up and throughout the festival.
Each year as the festival comes to town, the Greater Union cinema on Russel Street swells with thousands of film-goers coming and going and it’s not an uncommon sight to find friends, or even strangers, in deep conversation at the ticket box or foyer discussing the latest showing.
Greater Union’s high ceilings and traditional multiplex cinema layout was perfect for signage that could reflect a time when going to the cinema was an experience like no other and so we got to work straight away.
A light box banner spanning the length of the exterior of the Greater Union building was created in the iconic MIFF colours of red, blue, green and white, drawing people in to the cinema and off the busy Melbourne streets.
Inside the venue, large way finding signage was produced at a grand scale and flags, rather than traditional signage, were hung from the ceiling at the top of the steep staircase to direct patrons toward each cinema.
To the right of the stairs by the ticket box stood the large media backdrop produced using the lightweight and easy to assemble matrix frame and as patrons descended the stairs on their way out they never had to question what was going on, with a Melbourne International Film Festival banner spanning the width of the exit wall impossible to miss.
The centrepiece of the festival in 2013 was the Forum Theatre in the heart of Melbourne, just moments from the iconic Flinders Street Station and across from the architecturally impressive Federation Square.
The unique Gothic-Romanesque building housed the festival’s closing party and the challenge for us was producing signage that would complement its surrounds.
Large silk banners were hung from the ceiling either side of the stage, flowing toward the floor as hundreds of people danced to a soundtrack provided by movies past and present at the Festival’s closing party.
In the Forum’s foyer and at smaller venues, traditional and portable banners were erected, working with the larger installations to link the venues and spread the energy of the festival further than the cinema screen.
