Immediately following the successful release of M3GAN and They/Them, Blumhouse and Miramax partnered with Peacock to produce and distribute Sick – a Peacock Original film. The appeal of this horror/slasher came down to timing and premise: “While quarantining at her family’s lake house during the pandemic, Parker and her best friend are threatened by an unexpected visitor”.
Similar to They/Them, I worked with LA to Art Direct the design of the key-art, Buddha Jones to design trailer GFX, and ICP/Blackspot to version out deliverables across all placements. Although it was an original, this title had also completed production prior to the development of a marketing strategy, so we were limited unit photography and stills for key-art. Blumhouse and Miramax provided feedback and signed off on final creative.
Skills Involved
Motion Art Direction, Static Design, Studio Branding, Versioning
Agencies / Studios
LA, Buddha Jones, ICP, Blackspot, Blumhouse, Miramax
When
November 2022 – January 2023
Hero Trailer
Working with Buddha Jones, the edit does a good job resurfacing traumatic moments of the 2020 pandemic, and combining that with real fear from an unknown visitor. Because this was not a very well known title, we leveraged positive reviews to draw audiences in. I Art Directed internal GFX cards and the design of the Main Title, which carried over to the final key art.
Key Art
Working with LA, there were many rounds of revisions and feedback. Because we didn’t have a shoot with talent, most concepts involved some form of ominous individual in a Covid mask. Across all campaigns, when it comes to versioning the art, often times we can’t show a weapons (such as a knife). There was a lot of back and forth that lead to the more illustrative style which appeared to be more forgiving with media partners.
HERO VERTICAL
HERO HORIZONTAL
Title
Sick – :15 Spot
Tools
After Effects
Summary
Around this time we were starting to design a branded “peacock original” top tag, which is used in this spot. By placing it over footage it allowed editors more time to form a narrative – although this design choice has been challenged over the years when comparing it to the streaming landscape. The comedic stinger is a nice touch on top of an otherwise dramatic thriller film.