PROJECT OVERVIEW

For this personal project, I reimagined the marketing campaign for Shaun of the Dead with a modern take. My goal was to maintain the film’s signature blend of humor and horror while presenting it through a fresh, minimal, and atmospheric lens inspired by studios like A24. I imagined what the campaign might look like if the film were released today targeting an audience that gravitates toward elevated genre films, subtle storytelling, and conceptual visuals. This includes younger Millennial and Gen Z viewers who discover cult-classic content through social media and value design-forward, narrative-rich marketing. I developed a full key art concept, trailer elements, and promotional graphics to accompany social and out-of-home advertising.

goals

My main goal was to modernize Shaun of the Dead for a 2020s audience. Rather than just promoting the film as-is, I wanted to reimagine how the campaign might look if it were released today, using world-building marketing. I aimed to center the campaign on Shaun’s daily routine, showing how mundanity masks growing chaos, a theme that’s still relevant, especially for audiences stuck in routine or digital fatigue.

challenges

A key challenge was bridging the gap between a film released in 2004 and today's social and technological landscape. With social media now a central tool for marketing, I had to reframe the film’s themes like emotional detachment and repetition to align with how people now interact and consume media. Reimagining a story that had no smartphones or TikTok through today’s lens required a balance of authenticity and creativity.

RESEARCH

Looking at the original Shaun of the Dead campaign I knew it leaned more into an action style kind of movie and I wanted to go in a different direction of focusing on the mundane parts.

To begin the campaign, I analyzed marketing trends in both zombie films and A24-style indie horror. I noticed that many zombie posters used red heavily, not just as a nod to blood and violence, but as a thematic anchor. From the A24 side, I drew inspiration from their minimal, moody compositions and typographic restraint, which resonated with the quieter tension I wanted in the campaign. In The Lobster, TUSK and Death of a Unicorn all the posters are very minimal and focus on the concept of the movie and have a lot of restraint.

PROCESS

I started by sketching ideas based on my research. Some focused on Shaun’s face, but those concepts felt too similar to the existing subway campaign. Noticing that modern posters often move away from character focused imagery, I pivoted toward more symbolic designs.

I ultimately chose to feature Shaun’s work uniform, a white shirt, red tie, and a subtle red stain as the centerpiece. His uniform represents the monotony of his life, while the red stain hints at the chaos ahead.

As I developed alternate posters, I revisited the key art and added a horde of zombies hidden within his tie to encourage closer inspection. I knew that the tie was one of the focuses in the poster because I limited the use of red to certain areas. Having it be in the center and the largest amount of red I wanted to add something to it to showcase it better.

I also created a version with Shaun’s face to maintain consistency across the series. While I did like both of the posters, I thought that one could be a teaser and final release where the teaser shows hints at the chaos while the final is the ending with the larger text framing Shaun’s face and the inclusion of zombies in the background.

It was definitely a challenge trying to balance the comedy and horror elements. Trying to figure out how much to edit myself when it came to adding ideas or elements to the poster and adjusting the lighting and atmosphere until it matched the goal that I had for the key art.

TRAILER PROCESS

Part of this campaign included creating a trailer that was a challenge since editing is not my primary focus. I began by brainstorming the story I wanted to tell Shaun’s ordinary life unraveling into a zombie outbreak filled with comedic moments.

I scrubbed through the film to compile scenes that captured both the mundane and chaotic tones. Drawing inspiration from modern trailers, I incorporated transition cards to guide the narrative. The transition cards progressively fill with blood and handprints, symbolizing the spread of chaos, and I matched their design to the key art to maintain visual cohesion. I drafted a storyboard scene and arranged the clips together and made alterations the storyboard along the way to make the story make sense.

SOCIAL / COLLATERAL

To extend the campaign, I mocked up concepts and graphics inspired by modern marketing techniques. These included fake news reports of zombie sightings and virus reports on news to create an immersive experience for TV, TikTok and YouTube. Most of the younger audience go on social media and on the web for their news sources. YouTube is one that I find myself seeing headlines of recent news and I think it to saturate the advertising in YouTube with influencers, news reports, and the trailer would be an easy way to bring attention.

I also designed billboard concepts aimed at generating public buzz, playing with the idea of zombies blending into daily life, posing the question: if zombies appeared during commutes or at work, would anyone even notice?