Acknowledgement of Country

Right Angle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land and pay our respects to the Elders past and present.

Lorne Theatre: Branding & Positioning

  • Client

    Owned and operated by Right Angle

  • Year

    2023

  • Location

    Lorne, Victoria

  • Scope

    Full-service

A timeless interpretation.

Reopening a locally-beloved venue like Lorne Theatre is a privilege for any creative team, especially one stacked with cinephiles. Even with key project collaborators scattered between Victoria’s Surf Coast, Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart, Right Angle’s Creative Department was keenly aware of the importance in maintaining the local sensibility as we approached Lorne Theatre’s brand identity as an evolution of Golden Age Cinema.

That’s why retaining the original name was key to our strategy, as well as the prominence of the tessellating “LT” monogram for the cinema’s evolved logo. This site-specific brand suite helps articulate that Golden Age Cinema & Bar and Lorne Theatre function as sibling venues, rather than feel like a franchise for which each location is a facsimile of the last. What makes a Golden Age venue unique is how it responds to its locale. Like the original Surry Hills venue, Lorne Theatre has succeeded in feeling endemic in everything from its communications and design to its seasonal programming.

The built environment at Lorne Theatre an ongoing process that’s being undertaken in collaboration with Heritage Victoria, with Right Angle’s in-house architect Keith Little coordinating the light-touch fit-out. Decades of DIY renovations have been stripped back to let the building’s original form and materiality shine once again. Faded pastels have been restored to their formerly rich tones, while the joinery and lighting echo with the Modernist optimism that gave way to the golden ages of both film and architecture. Finally, the candy bar is loudly inspired by the pasticceria – Italian pastry shops that let their technicolour wares do most of the talking.

Bringing the evolved Golden Age brand into and throughout Lorne Theatre is done most clearly space through the light-touch signage and wayfinding strategy. The simplicity of these designs allows the art direction to pull focus. Large-format stills, captured by Right Angle collaborator Annika Kafcaloudis, celebrate the venue’s lived-in materiality and are curated throughout the building.

The Right Angle and Golden Age teams spend a lot of time thinking about the cinema-going experience and the atmosphere we create. This goes well beyond the film. It’s the auditorium playlist as patrons shuffle in, the ambient messaging that's projected on screen and the custom Worktone’s merchandise adorned on staff uniforms. These brand touchpoints have become the Golden Age signature and signal to each and every visitor that, yes, the good old days are now.

Photography by Jack Younger