Brand kit for a film release: one identity, every aspect ratio

A film's visual identity is the set of decisions that make every piece of its release look like the same film: the title treatment, the typefaces, the colours, the way the credit block sits, how much air there is around the logo. A brand kit is where those decisions live, so that the poster, the trailer titles and a 9:16 story all come from one source instead of five slightly different copies.

The short version of the workflow: define the identity once, store it as a kit, apply it to every layout and title, then adapt each design to its sizes and export them together. In cinemaOS that is Atelier ▸ Brand for the kit, Layout and the CREATE titles for applying it, Adapt for sizes and Export All Aspects (⌘⌥E) for the batch. The rest of this article is about doing each step well.

Why indie releases drift off-brand

On a small release, the identity usually starts in one person's poster file. Then the trailer editor rebuilds the title card by eye. Someone else makes the festival laurel version. The social cut-downs are made late at night by whoever is free. By the time the film is on its third platform, the title font is a near match and the red is three different reds.

None of this is carelessness. It is what happens when the identity exists only as a finished picture rather than as a set of rules. A brand kit turns the picture back into rules: this typeface for the title, this one for credits, these colours, this logo lock-up, this safe margin. Anyone who applies the kit gets the same answers.

Decide the identity before you build anything

Before opening any software, write down the decisions. A one-page style sheet is enough.

• Title treatment. The main title as a finished lock-up, plus a simplified version that still reads at thumbnail size.
• Typefaces. One for the title or display, one for body copy and credits. Two is usually plenty.
• Colours. A dominant colour pulled from the film itself, a neutral, and one accent. Pull them from frames, not from a mood board, so the art feels like the film.
• Imagery rules. Which frames or stills are approved, and how they are treated (grade, grain, crop).
• Fixed elements. Credit block, laurels, website or release line, distributor or production logos.

The most useful habit here is choosing the frames first. If your key art and your trailer both start from the same graded stills, the colours will agree without effort. We cover choosing and finishing those frames in making a film poster from your own frames.

Build the kit in Atelier ▸ Brand

Switch to Atelier with ⌘3. The Brand room sits under Advanced, next to Photo, Layout and Video Composition. You can also reach it from the HOME chip (⌘⇧H) with the Brand Kit tile.

In the Brand room you create a new kit or import one. Kits are saved as .momentumbrand files, which matters for two reasons. First, a kit is a file you can keep with the film's other assets and back up. Second, you can hand the same kit to whoever cuts the trailer or the social versions, and they start from identical rules.

Practical advice while building it:

1. Name the kit after the film and the release stage, for example the festival identity versus the theatrical one if they differ.
2. Add the title lock-up and the simplified version as separate assets so nobody squeezes the full lock-up into a square.
3. Keep the palette small. A kit with twelve colours is not a kit, it is a swatch library.
4. Use Deploy / Sync in the Brand room when you change the kit, so the designs that use it pick up the change.

The kit applies across Photo, Layout, Video Composition and titles. That is the point of building it once.

Apply it to the poster and the trailer titles

Go to Layout and set up the poster. Add the title, place an approved frame, and apply the kit. If you prefer to type, ask J.A.R.E.D. (⌘J) "Apply this brand kit to the project". It runs locally and the change lands on the real document, so ⌘Z undoes it like any other edit.

From there, refine by eye. Natural-language edits work for small adjustments, such as "Headline bigger and bold", but the composition is still your job. Look at the poster at full size and at the size of a phone thumbnail. If the title does not read small, use the simplified lock-up.

For the trailer, the kit follows you into the Sequencer. Click CREATE (between HOME and J.A.R.E.D.), open Titles, and drag a title onto the timeline. Titles made this way stay live: you can change the wording later without rebuilding the card, and the kit's typefaces and colours stay consistent with the poster. If you have an old title that was baked into a clip, right-click it and choose Make Live.

A tip that saves a lot of rework: build the trailer's end card in the same session as the poster, and compare them side by side. The end card is where a mismatch is most visible, because people see it a second before they see the poster on a festival page.

Adapt every size, then Export All Aspects

A release needs the same design in many shapes. A typical list for an indie film looks like this:

• Portrait poster for festival submissions and listings
• 16:9 for trailer end cards, website banners and video thumbnails
• 1:1 for feed posts
• 4:5 for taller feed posts
• 9:16 for stories and vertical video

Exact pixel sizes change by platform and festival, so check each one's current spec before you export.

In Layout, use Adapt to create the other sizes from your master design. Adapting is not the same as cropping. Each size gets its own arrangement, and you should check every one:

• Portrait to 9:16. Usually the easiest. Watch the top and bottom, where platform interface elements sit.
• Portrait to 16:9. The hardest. The image often needs to move to one side with the title beside it rather than on top.
• Square. The credit block usually has to go. Keep the title, one image and one line.

When every size is right, press ⌘⌥E for Export All Aspects. You get the whole set in one pass, from one source, which is what keeps the red the same red.

For moving picture, the equivalent step is reframing the trailer itself. Reframing horizontal video to 9:16 covers subject tracking and where to keep the title safe.

Keep the identity consistent through the release

A kit only works if people keep using it. A few habits help:

• One owner. One person approves changes to the kit. Everyone else applies it.
• Version the kit file. Keep dated copies of the .momentumbrand file when the identity changes, for example after a festival premiere adds laurels.
• Re-export rather than retouch. When something changes, change the master design and run Export All Aspects again rather than editing an exported PNG.
• Check against the film. Every few weeks, put the latest key art next to a frame from the film. If they have drifted apart, the art is usually the one that moved.

FAQ

What should a film brand kit include?

At minimum: the title lock-up and a simplified version, one or two typefaces, a small palette pulled from the film, approved frames, and fixed elements such as logos and the credit block. Add rules about safe margins so adapted sizes stay readable.

Can I share a cinemaOS brand kit with someone else?

Yes. Kits are .momentumbrand files, so you can send the file to the person cutting the trailer or the socials. cinemaOS does not have shared cloud projects, so the file itself is how the kit travels.

Do I need a separate design app for the poster?

Not for this workflow. Atelier's Layout room handles the poster and its sizes, and the same kit drives the trailer titles in the Sequencer. If your designer prefers another tool, the style sheet you wrote at the start still applies.

Try it on your next release

If your poster, trailer and socials are currently three separate projects, try building one kit and exporting every aspect from it. cinemaOS runs on Apple silicon Macs and comes with a 60-day free trial, no card required. Start with the title lock-up and one approved frame. The rest follows from there.