The Final Girl Film Society

Deliverables: Logo, Posters, Zines, Movie Theater Packaging, Swag, Website, “Quiz”, Video Advertisement

Art Direction: Paul Kepple

In case it isn’t obvious or you haven’t seen my illustration work, let me say that I love horror movies. A lot. So when Senior Thesis came around, I knew I had to do something about it. Final Girl Film Society is a feminist horror movie club that promotes gender equality and acceptance through the celebration of a movie genre full of kick-ass women. The final girl trope has changed and progressed over the years into a symbol of power and resilience, and this club is made for those who want to take part in it. Though horror tends to be a man’s world, the Final Girl Film Society is open to anyone, gender or experience notwithstanding. I hope y’all love looking at this project as much as I loved making it!

As funny as the title Made By Bears is, the font helps mimic slasher films with it’s tilt and roughness. I used KingThings Typewriter as it made everything feel more DIY, like a real underground film club would use. I also included Gotham in places where I felt like a simple sans serif would help balance everything out.

Just like horror movies, the color scheme this club uses is loud and vibrant. I tried using colors I felt like are often used in screen printing, something I think this club would do often.

I’m also just a fan of super saturated colors that almost hurt your eyes. Check out my personal work page if you don’t believe me.

These posters are examples of how the club would promote certain events. I figured it would be fun to model them around themed movie marathons, and edited the imagery to fit. I feel like prom, sleepovers, and camping are common themes in the horror genre. Thus I also designed the type as if these were “real” movie posters, which just makes them that much more fun! Ideally these are made for easy risographing.

I based most of this project around the idea that this group would risograph zines as self-promotion and information for newbies. They can be handed out at events or conventions and each one includes a poster on the back if you unfold it. I designed their style to be risographed for 2 color printing and picked topics that I think are important but still fun to talk about. I think they would be useful for someone who may be new to the horror genre but also a riot for seasoned fans. I sure had a blast writing and making them!

In the real world, an underground film society wouldn’t have a lot of money. So they’d sell the usual movie snacks: popcorn and soda. They can’t do that unless they do it in style, so I came up with fun ways to showcase the thing being sold in the macabre style. If your popcorn had an eyeball looking back at you in it, would you eat it?

When coming up with swag, I essentially thought about the kinds of things I would love to buy from a horror movie society and went from there. If I was part of a club like this, I know I’d want to show it off on as many things as possible. Someday I’d like to make this shirt.

The website is fairly simple and mostly serves to keep members updated with upcoming events. I kept the photo and illustration style as wild as everything else but pared down so that users could still understand what’s going on. And, just for fun, I invented a “What Horror Movie Trope Are You?” quiz and a “Scream Queen Hall of Fame” so that people can learn and engage with the site.

This video sits on the homepage of the website but I also think that they could occasionally play it at events or meetings. I mean, it’s a movie club. It’s all about the videos. More specifically, it’s about the final girls. So I chose the most iconic ones and their best moments to showcase. It helps that there’s already a song about it! Song is “Final Girl” by Graveyardguy and Slayyyter.

Thesis was crazy fun (and just plain crazy) and I hope I can bring more people into the horror community!