Creating the packaging for the “most anticipated Blu-ray release of all time” would not have been possible without many months of strategic planning, creative exploration and a valued partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm. Each of us here at Menagerie Creative is a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise so dedicating more than 1,700 hours to the project was a labor of love. Most importantly we wanted to ensure fans would hold in their hands the most definitive and collectible presentation of these treasured films. With every project of this length and magnitude much goes on behind-the-scenes, so in honor of this year’s Home Media Awards announcement, we share with you a few of our own Behind-the-Saga facts…by the numbers.

4 Padawans (Interns) in Training
20 Original Paintings
34 Star Wars Movie Marathons
63 Concepts Presented
174 Shifts Burning the Midnight Oil
731 Yoda Impersonations
2,499 Cups of Coffee
3,933 Email Conversations
8,052,010 Mouse Clicks

In the great stories of film, Mom can personify the superhero as in The Incredibles or be disguised as the villain as in Snow White. She can embody the fearlessness of youth as in Juno or be the one most feared as in Alien. Her journey can be at the heart of the film as in The Changeling or become the thread that holds many stories together as in Four Brothers. Most of us wouldn’t consider Psycho or Dumbo the traditional “Mother’s Day” film, but imagine the movie without her.

Oprah Winfrey once said, “It is on her back that great nations are built. As we affirm other women, and as we teach our sons, husbands and friends to hold them in the highest regard, we honor both the mothers whose shoulders we’ve stood on and the daughters who will one day stand tall on ours.”

So here’s to the irreplaceable, irreproachable, unexpected, and always unforgettable mother of film. We love you all! Happy Mother’s Day!

Visit our Pinterest Mother’s Day Board for movies that honor mothers.

The Dirty Dancing 2-Film Collection is available May 8th. And if you love the films as much as we do you won’t be putting this baby in a corner.

George Lois is considered “the most creative, prolific advertising communicator of our time.” His book, Damn Good Advice (for people with talent!), encompasses 25 years of business and creative industry wisdom. Through George’s life experiences he teaches us to discover our own creative potential with an “unabashed chutzpah.” One of my personal favorite lessons “You can be Cautious or you can be Creative (but there is no such thing as a Cautious Creative).”

120 lessons packed in a pocket-sized manual. Stories of ego and celebrity, humor and truth. Many lessons point to shifting our perspective that may cause us to become unfocused, unfiltered and reactive rather than creative. Now I’ve always liked the play of words, both literally and figuratively, so let’s take a look at that word REACTIVE. If we just move that one letter “C” to the front of the word we gain a whole new power…CREATIVE. George Lois reminds us how to stay focused on possibility and curiosity.

Lois’ timeless lessons speak from passion, dedication and leadership from a man who pioneered the modern advertising campaign. But if you don’t take our word for it, Tommy Hilfiger comments “If I hadn’t taken George Lois’ Damn Good Advice 25 years ago, I’d probably be poor today.” Acclaimed author Steven Heller adds “The only thing better than being with George Lois as he talks about big ideas, is having his wisdom in my back pocket.”

So no matter where your creativity takes you…Madison Avenue, Wall Street or Sunset Blvd, hit up Amazon.com or head over to your local bookstore because Damn Good Advice (for people with talent!) will ignite that courageous and creative spirit inside.

The hero is the change agent, a messenger of courage and hope, inspiring, motivating and transforming his world.

Looking at a few of film’s most celebrated heroes Harry Potter, Anakin Skywalker and Katniss Everdeen, we realize these properties connected with audiences and earned their riches because their foundation is a courageous story. Each character copes with the death of a parent, a deep emotional loss that weighs them down in their youth and carries them into adulthood where fear beckons around every corner, tree and galaxy. Their loss instills a coping mechanism where complete willfulness and fearlessness are ingrained in their core.

Below we’ve selected a few of our best-loved heroic tales of courage, where the hero reminds us to look past what we see and look towards what we believe.

What film captures the courageous spirit in you? Share your favorites with us and we’ll add them to our Pinterest board to inspire us all.

Visit our Pinterest competitive set and discover even more tales of truth in the face of adversity.

Click HERE to take the survey

Today, with websites like www.IMPAwards.com and www.ArtOfTheTitle.com and Google Images most robust search engine ever built, everything we want is but a click away if you know what to look for.

Over the years, we’ve collected our own massive archive of favorite key arts and organized them by genre and we want to share them with you. Visit our Pinterest Movie Genre boards and take a peak into our vault. Collections are updated daily with both vintage and new favorites – art that inspire us and stories that touch us. We’re also sharing many of our specific competitive research and collections of CVC’s (common visual conventions). 

So whether you’re a student or intern creating your first poster, an art director looking to stay far from the common conventions, or a marketing executive refining your film’s positioning, these genre boards will be one of the most powerful tools on your pallet (next to an adventurous mind and a wacom pen that is).

If you are interested in being a contributor to our boards, reach out to us at engage@menageriecreative.com.

So how can you be a little extra green today?

In celebration of Hollywood’s best “Rom Coms”, we’ve uncovered 10 dating lessons inherent in some of filmmaking’s most popular flicks. Enjoy this lighthearted look at movies and dating and remember “The love you take is equal to the love you make!

SYMPTOM #1: If your guy still lives with his parents and thinks self esteem comes from a fat wallet, he may just suffer from a… Failure to Launch.
Remedy: Capture the winds of his resistance then leave him wanting more.
Lesson: You don’t have to be a professional motivator like Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) to know the best lesson any coach would offer is to be true and honest with yourself. Everyone carries emotional baggage, but hiding it under Superman bed sheets or in shots of saki never lasts. Commitment is the enemy of resistance so turn those sails around, commit to a new direction and sail your relationship forward.

SYMPTOM #2: If your boyfriend is hiding a closet full of Action Figures and 80s video games he may just be… The 40 Year Old Virgin.
Remedy: Discover the one thing that scares men most.
Lesson: Over the years Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) lost many things, but there’s one thing he never lost. Once he hung up the bike, packed up the toys and stopped listening to his friends’ bad advice he was soon practicing the horizontal mambo with a woman who really touched…his heart.

SYMPTOM #3: Too many drinks, a crowded bar, and one too many rotations of “You Sexy Thing” just may find you… Knocked Up.
Remedy: A bundle of patience, a supportive family and loads of diapers.
Lesson: In a comedy about where babies come from and how grown ups are born Ben and Allison (Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl) realize love isn’t about what you have in common. It’s about having the courage to appreciate what makes each other different.

Want more?
SUBSCRIBE with Menagerie Creative and we’ll send you details on how you can own our very special limited edition handbook! It’s perfect for bachelors, bachelorettes and movie lovers everywhere.

It was a privilege to partner one-on-one with filmmakers not only to create the film’s one sheet and online presence but to also strategize the marketing strategy and overall voice of the film. Collaborating directly with agencies – in lieu of the big studio model – is a sign of the times. Often times the studios may not even know how to market your film. Even George Lucas was turned down by every studio in Hollywood with his epic true hero story of Red Tails so he took the bull by the horns and funded most of the marketing himself. By teaming with the creative and marketing minds, filmmakers can save thousands if not millions of dollars. Even more importantly, a creative team with a track record in marketing savvy never loses sight of the emotion and visual voice filmmakers strive so hard to capture on film.

“In most cases, creative boutiques serve to reflect the style of the film they are marketing in the artwork and materials,” comments filmmaker Jeremy Weiss. “In and of itself, this is generally a good thing; but in the case of Stages of a Dream, the process was far more organic than that. Because we had asked Cheryl to become involved with the film at such an early stage, her bold ideas and dynamic visual style in fact helped inform the actual visual aesthetic of the film itself. Cheryl’s inexhaustible drive and creativity encouraged us to work hand in hand between the production and marketing, so that as the style of the film evolved from conception to realization, the website and key art were likewise refined and developed, and vise versa.”

When YouTube can bring a talented young singer from Canada into the homes of millions of fans seemingly overnight and Twitter feeds scroll across CNN breaking news, film marketing moves more swiftly than ever. Voice and vision must be crafted concurrently with film development. This means exploring the visual brand as early as the script treatment phase, writing online content strategy during pre-production and hiring a still photographer and videographer to capture Facebook content on-set. It’s time to re-examine the old slow-to-take “studio” marketing model. It’s time for the artistry of your film to beat within the hearts of your audience!