Brief
To produce content for a TikTok account surrounding Marvel movie poster design and promoting strong female characters targeted at Gen Z. Later to measure how this affected viewers' media consumption outside of TikTok.
Aims
To research how Gen Z interacts and uses TikTok.
To create content based around strong female characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Gain insights into how social media affects what users consume outside of social media such as TV shows or movies.
Insights
Having an already established TikTok account surrounding digital art with a few posts from the MCU, I already had some insights on what generation was viewing my content, the reach my profile had and what I needed to target to get more growth. During the first lockdown during COVID-19, I designated an Instagram page to my digital art and drawings, mostly focused around the BBC show Gentleman Jack, but have since expanded it into other shows and movies. Also experimenting with different art styles such as block colours, sketches and line drawings. I currently have 600+ followers and great insights, which is a good foundation for this project. The two social media pages (TikTok and Instagram) are linked so followers can easily find each page from the platforms.
Time Management
For this project, I used a Gantt chart to keep track of my progress and the tasks I needed to complete. This also made sure that I was spending sufficient type on each task and would complete everything by the deadline. These methods were both useful as they aided me in completing my project successfully and on time.
Throughout the project, I used my iPad to write down ideas, research and to gain inspiration. I would also make notes during Teams meetings for references and notes to later go back to. I relied heavily on my iPad for a majority of the project as I was creating digital art using Procreate and Noteability for quick ideas and while researching on the web.
Initial Ideas
My initial idea was to create digital movie posters that were in the design on handwritten scripts, making an image that is recognisable to the viewer. I have past experience completing a project like this. Typing out the transcript of the first episode of Apple TV+ show, Dickinson, and handwriting it in Procreate on iPad using different colours to create a silhouette of Hailee Steinfeld, who portrays Emily Dickinson in the show. Creating the outline by formatting the text using Adobe InDesign to create gaps in the text.
Inspiration
My main inspiration for this project was Ben Stanley and his script posters. I also enjoy drawing my favourite characters from TV shows and movies, and sharing them with others who also like the same media. Having created my own script posters before this project I knew the man hours needed to create each piece. After speaking with my lecturer, I decided to focus on drawing the main characters and using notable quotes from them in the background. I have done a similar thing before when I first launched my Instagram page and they went down well. However, I decided to tailor the style to the character/movie its from, rather than handwriting them.
Research
Generation Z
Generation Z is the main user base for TikTok and social media in general. However, older generations use social platforms such as Facebook. For this project, I will be posting my content on TikTok and Instagram using Reels. I will however be promoting my account and artwork on X (Twitter) and Threads. I have also created a LinkTree for my social platforms, which also links to my website portfolio. The link will be in the bio across all of my platforms and I will promote it in some posts too. My LinkTree will also help if I decide to sell some prints of my artwork or create other social platforms, such as posting on YouTube.
Movie Posters
Having studied movie posters throughout my undergraduate degree, I have a good understanding of how they are designed, the techniques used and how they portray a movie or TV show. I decided to focus on characters for my movie posters, either from official movie posters or stills from the movies. I also incorporated notable quotes into the designs, making the posters more personal. For example, ‘Thank you for your co-operation’ was used twice by Natasha Romanoff in the MCU. When interrogating Loki in Avengers Assemble and in Black Window when interrogating Dreykov. The quote has been noted to show how powerful Romanoff is, even though she has no superpowers. It shows how she can manipulate those into revealing their intentions, hinting back to her days as an assassin and spy.
Content Creators
Having personal interest in this type of design, I already followed content creators that make similar designs. Such as Ben Stanley and Mike Matola on TikTok and Joey on Instagram. Both Ben and Mike write script posters, however they use different methods to create them. They both handwrite their posters, but Ben only uses an iPad to create his script poster digitally and Mike uses a pen and paper and creates prints by scanning them. Joey creates outline artwork, predominantly focusing on female characters from TV shows. She hand draws them using pen and paper and later imports them to her iPad to digitally enhance them.
Sustainability
Throughout this project, I have tried to remain sustainable by making and keeping notes on my iPad, and also sketching on my iPad, reducing my paper use and waste. I have also avoided printing unnecessarily throughout the project, again to reduce paper waste and ink usage. Sustainability Goal 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls was the focus of this project, trying to promote the strong and powerful women of the MCU, giving young girls role models to look up to. I also created drawings around characters such as Iron Man and Spider-Man, however, there are female versions or prodigies such as Gwen from ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ and Ironheart from ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.
Questionnaire
At the beginning of this project, I released a questionnaire in the hope of understanding how people interact with different social media platforms and if they are familiar with my art type. These results were useful and proved to help me with my creation later in the project.
Competition
Direct - @howyouveben - Ben Stanley
Ben Stanley creates similar artwork to my own and creates a lot of MCU artwork from the latest Spider-Man to Captain America: Civil War. He is also my main inspiration for this project along with my own old artwork created during the first lock down of COVID-19 in 2020.
Secondary - @joeybeegeeillustrations - Joey
I have followed Joey for a long time. She watches a lot of the same shows as me, such as Gentleman Jack, Killing Eve and Dickinson. Her art style is also similar to my own with simple silhouettes and block colours. She also includes quotes in her drawings from the scene or notable quotes from the character.
Personas
For personas, I created the backbone of the profiles, such as their name, age, location and their hobbies. I then put these into Chat GPT, asking it to write a summary. Personas helped me aim my social media platforms to my ideal target audience and to those that may be interested in my artwork but not within my target audience. Later when looking at my social media insights for TikTok and Instagram, my personas were very similar to the audiences my profiles were reaching.
Final Posters
Idea Development
After speaking with Tina about refining my aims and objectives for this project, we decided that the best course of action would be for me to create drawings with a notable or inspirational quotes from powerful and strong women from the MCU.
I then researched different female MCU characters and others from the Marvel Universe like X-Men. I tried to incorporate new and older characters like Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow and Mystique, but then also new characters such like Kate Bishop from Hawkeye and Kamala Khan from Ms. Marvel. Mixing the new and old characters will hopefully reach a wider audience.
I managed to find most of the quotes from Screen Rant using different sources. Screen Rant being a reputable and trusted source for movie and TV show information, I thought this was the best place to go.
Quotes
Iron Man - Pepper Potts - You can rest now.
Avengers: Age of Ultron - Wanda Maximoff - I Can’t Control Their Fear, Only My Own.
Black Panther - Shuri - Just Because Something Works, Doesn’t Mean It Can’t Be Improved.
Captain Marvel - Carol Denvers - I Have Nothing To Prove To You.
Dr strange: The Multiverse of Madness - Scarlet Witch - I Don't Need You To Tell Me Who I Am.
Shang-Chi - Xu Xialing - If My Dad Wasn't Going To Let Me Into His Empire, I Was Going To Build My Own.
Hawkeye - Kate Bishop - When I Put This Suit On I Thought 'This Is It. This Is The Moment I Become Who I'm Supposed To Be’.
Black Panther 2 - Okoye - For Wakanda? Without Question.
Guardians of the galaxy 3 - Nebula - You Can Change.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix - Jean Grey - My emotions make me strong.
Black Widow - Yelena Belova - I Was The Chore, The Job, You Didn't Want To Do. To Me, You Were Everything.
Wandavision - Monica Rambeau - I Can't Control This Pain Anymore. And I Don't Think I Want To, Because It's My Truth.
Wandavision - Wanda - I can't feel you.
Captain America: The First Avenger - Peggy Carter - All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over.
X-Men: Days of Future Past - Mystique - Mutant and proud.
Iron Man 2 - Natasha Romanoff - Thank You For Your Cooperation.
Ms Marvel - Kamala Khan - Cosmic.
Sketches
For this project, I tried to reduce my paper usage and tried to not to use my sketchbook. I only used a notebook during meetings and for my website write up. However, I tried to create sketches using my iPad for some of the drawings and then tracing over it for a final draft. I preferred this method as it meant I was able to edit things quickly if needed, and I didn't have to import my sketches from paper. Doing this also meant that I had more of my development recorded when posting on social media, allowing for more transparency with my audience.
Development
Using Procreate, the development process was recorded throughout the design process. This was a great as it meant that I automatically had content to use for uploads so my audience could see my drawings come to life from start to finish. This also reduced the amount of editing I needed to do for uploads as it is automatically exported as a time-lapse. In future, I will try to include more of my development process such as BTS shots and possibly a voice-over to communicate and connect with my followers. This would hopefully add to the engagement on my posts.
Final Posters
I really like how my final drawings turned out. Towards the end I tried to incorporate different styles such as drawing iconic symbols for characters and including the quote in the caption. I used drawing of Wanda's headpiece when she turns into the Scarlet Witch in WandVision and incorporated Visions Mind Stone. The Infinity Stone connects the two characters as it gave them both their powers. I used the quote 'I can't feel you.' which is from a very emotional scene from the TV show WandaVision, when Wanda sees Vision's dismantled body. I also drew Iron Man and Spider-Man's mask conjoined into one image. Including the quote 'I just wanted to be like you... And I wanted you to be better.' from Spider-Man: Homecoming. With Spider-Man meaning to becoming Iron Mans replacement and prodigy or the next Tony Stark. I like both styles posted during this project and will carry on designing both styles after this project is completed. I will also carry on designing script poster, focusing on the MCU.
Posting
I found that posting around midday during weekdays on TikTok made my posts have the most exposure and engagement. I also found that posting every other day made my posts have more reach, rather than posting everyday.
I ended up posting on multiple social media platforms. However, Instagram and TikTok were the main platforms. I also posted on X (Twitter), Threads. I also created a LinkTree account, which I added to the bios of my social media profiles. Creating a LinkTree account would allow for my followers to find my other platforms easier, I was also able to track how many hits each link had using the apps analytics. This would also be a great platform to share my shop if I create one for my prints.
Insights
Reviewing the insights from my Instagram page, my posts do have a good reach. However, over the course of the project I did lose followers. As I started this page focusing around the TV show Gentleman Jack, my existing followers are very specific. I think that if I were to post a similar design but from a period piece of media such as Bridgerton, I would get more engagement. There was no interaction or engagement on Threads - however, Threads as a social platform is still new and still in the early stage of development and usage.
On my TikTok page, I gained many followers and received a lot of views on a majority of my content, sometimes reaching over 900+ views. However, likes and comments were minimal. The most likes received for Yelena at 61 likes (at the time of writing). Exporting the TikTok videos to other platforms ensured that I had a watermark on my content across all platforms and that the same audio was used consistently.
One thing I am please to see is engagement on my LinkTree, as it is so new. I will continue to build on this and promote it more. One feature I did not like about Link Tree is having to pay for 'Pro' insights. I only used the free trail of 7 days near to the submission date to receive as much data as possible. As I do not have much engagement or revenue from Link Tree at this time, I will not continue to pay for it and will use the free version.
I am happy to see high levels of exposure on all platforms - other than Threads - and hope the trends continue this way as I post more content onto each platform. I will continue to use audio tracks that have a high number of views. As well as hashtags such as #fyp to maximise reach and audience.
Reflection
On reflection, I am happy with the content I created throughout this project. However, I would have liked to have posted more. I was unable to do this due to family events, changes to my circumstances and lack of time management. I like the designs I created and will carry on designing and creating them after this project has finished. I am also happy with how much exposure my TikTok account received with views, and will try to increase the engagement of likes and comments on the posts. I will also carry on designing script posters from movies and TV shows I enjoy. I will also research more into selling my designs, either through TikTok or Etsy. I enjoy posting on social media, and sharing my designs. I aim to improve my time management in my new position at work where I design for and manage the social media platforms.