It's an understatement to say the movie Titanic was a success. To be equally successful in releasing the home video internationally, Hollywood, CA-based 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment had a lot of factors to consider. Fox needed to print the packages in several languages and follow numerous codes regarding home videos in various countries. Possibly most important, Fox wanted to make the video package as special as the movie.
"We really wanted this to be something that took video packaging to the next level," says Ann Murphy, vice president of international creative services at Fox. "We wanted something that would help people make the decision to purchase rather than to rent the video. And we wanted something that was upscale and elegant."
Fox and Paramount Pictures released Titanic as a joint business venture, with Paramount maintaining North American distribution and Fox handling all of the international distribution. Fox wanted to create the same excitement internationally as the movie has generated in North America. To achieve this tall order, Fox turned to AGI, Inc. (Melrose Park, IL) to produce packaging in three varities: the Limited edition package, the Widescreen Deluxe Package for more than 20 countries and the "everyman" package for Latin American countries.
Fox had CBO Designs (Hollywood, CA) develop the style guide for the entire packaging, advertising and collateral campaign. "The style guide shows the international territory exactly where to place type, logos, images, etcetera," says Murphy. "We also call out colors and printing technique directions. Each country will then go to an agency and customize for local language and local sizing issues." By having this style sheet for the international release, the various converters in countries other than Latin America were able to keep all of the materials consistent in look and image.
