Deconstruction of typography in posters

• The font is bold like teen urban dramas
• The colours aren't opaque and have a faded effect so you can see the brick wall behind
• Billings block is below the title of the film
• Consistent colour scheme - white and a faded brown
• Main actors/actress' at the top; Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts
• No tagline

• The title is yellow and bold to make it eye catching
• The tagline is below the title in white and a smaller font 'we are infinite'
• 2 colours - yellow and white
• The O is filled in unlike other posters
• Main actors/actress' names at the top of the poster

• Just like the above posters, basic colour scheme with blue and black
• Main actor/actress' names at the top of the poster
• Title of the film is placed in the middle, with some words bigger than others
• Billings block is below the film name in a colour which doesn't stand out so it doesn't draw attention
• Billings block is smaller, in non capitals, unlike The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Font Research for Billings Block

To fit the conventions of a teaser trailer, our film should have a billings block in its end screen. We would like to create our own billings block using Photoshop to use as our end screen and I therefore researched fonts online. When I searched online for fonts used in film billings block, it led me to a thread where people posted suggestions which matched the font in the posted image.

The exact font which matched the displayed billings block was called 'Bee Too' which was on font site myfonts.com. The font did fit the appearance of that in a billings block but it cost £23.20 to use. I therefore looked at the 'similar suggested fonts'.

 

On the suggested fonts I found two similar fonts. The first was on fonts2u.com and was perfect for creating a billings block due to the simple concept of using lower case letter keys as accreditation shortcuts. For example, if I typed lower case a, the entire symbol of 'WRITTEN BY' appears on screen as one character. If I typed upper case A, the letter A will appear on the screen as usual.

 This font on dafont.com, a website I am familiar with, was similar to the one above in the fact it has accreditations as single characters. I will download this font and start to create a billings block for eighteen using inspiration from existing billings blocks online.

Evaluation

• Both fonts I found were unavailable to download on the Mac I was using so I had to free space on my computer to download the fonts there
• The fonts with symbols assigned to credits were easy to use rather than typing each credit individually and aligning and altering the size of the font for each word

Typography in film websites

The perks of being a wallflower:
The official website for this film shows very simple typography throughout the webpage. The
homepage shows the same typography as the film poster and although it is verbs simplistic it is very effective as the word 'wallflower' can have multiple definitions, the first describing a plant that grows in southern Europe, shown from the fuzzy typography effect and also to describe someone who is shy or excluded, which represents the main character in the film.

The Selfish Giant:
The selfish giant official website shows the use of very bold and typography thats stand out. The pink titles contrast with the light coloured background, the same hot pink colour font is used throughout the page which gives the website its identity. The typography uses 'Sons-Serif' and this is commonly used on film official website's becuase it stand outs, is simplistic and makes the website more professional.

Project X:
Again in project X it uses the same 'Sons-Serif' type of style, this is because it's more appealing to younger audiences as 'Serif' is more old fashioned and the target audience is teenagers to young adults. The titles use colours such as red and black which usually connotes that there isn't a happy ending. The title 'Project X' stands out as it has the largest size font and the white contrasts with the black background.

Typography Conventions in Social Realism Films

Deconstruction of the Typography used in Social Realism Films

Social realism film posters follow conventions within the genre. I will be deconstructing the use of typography in the posters i.e. colour, size and position.

Fish Tank

• The majority of the typography is an electric blue colour. Although, due to the use of a baby pink colour in the photograph used on the poster, there are also uses of the same pink colour within the typography.
• The colours work well together, the title and reviews stand out, due to being bigger than the other parts of text. The star reviews also stand out, as they are the only pink writing on the poster.
• The less important text, i.e. the actors (given that these are not the selling point of the film) and the billings block are in smaller black text, which do not stand out as much, and therefore not drawing the audience’s attention
• All of the typography is within the left two thirds of the poster, with the main character filling the right third of the poster. This conforms to the golden rule as there is nothing in the centre of the poster, instead the title is slightly to the left, drawing the audience’s attention around the poster.
• All of the typography is the same font. All text is in capitals. This font is commonly used for social realism films. There is no special element to the text, it is quite basic and blocky. Instead, the typography is incorporated in the image, with peeling wallpaper effects being used.

This is England

• The title of the film is in bold colours. This is different to the rest of the text on the poster. The red, white and blue used represents the Union Jack, a symbol of patriotism. This conforms to the title of the film, allowing the audience to relate the two.
• The rest of the typography on the poster is black, making it seem less important than the title. The black stands out well against the light blues used in the poster, making it easy for the audience to read in the short time they are looking at the poster.
• The title is the largest text on the poster which fills the whole width of the landscape poster. The other text is smaller, again making it less important. The direction is the second largest text, showing the main selling point of the film as the audience are likely to enjoy this film is they like the director’s past work.
• The ‘This is England’ is slightly above the centre of the poster. It is above the characters in the photography used. The awards and reviews are at the top of the page, drawing the audience’s attention all around the poster. This billing’s block is in the conventional place, but very small and white, making it barely noticeable against the grey floor in the image.
• The same font is used throughout, apart from the director. The text stating the director of the fil is ‘spray painted’ onto the fence the characters are standing against. This incorporates it into the image, making the typography standout against the other text.   
• The rest of the typography is in al capitals in a bold, blocky font, common for the social realism genre.
• The ‘This is England’, has an effect on it, which incorporates it into the image. It looks as though it is on the corrugated iron fence the characters are standing against.

The Selfish Giant

• The title of the film is a light red colour. This contrasts to the neutral coloured image used for the poster and the brown typography used for the reviews.
• The red font is continued for the director/writer of the film. This highlights that this is the main selling point of the film as it stands out against the other text.
• The title of the film is very large compared to the other typography. It fills up half of the height of the poster and two thirds of the width. The rest of the space, minus the image, is filled with reviews including bold stars. The stars allow the audience to quickly see the reviews of the film – the more stars, the better the review.
• The position of the title is slightly off centre, fulfilling the golden rule. It is slightly left and above the centre of the poster. There are reviews written above and to the right of the title, making effective use of the rest of the space available. There are ratings of the film (stars) below the title is rows, this allows the audience to see a summary of what different critics think of the film, without spending too long looking at the poster. The billing’s block is the conventional place.
•  The same font is used throughout. An all capitals, bold and blocky font, a common convention of social realism film posters. The title of the film has a slight gradient, with the colour being a dark red at the bottom of the three words. There is an image incorporated into the title – electricity pylons.

Titles and Typography

Bullet Boy
- The font is distorted which suggests that the narrative is going to be imperfect.
- 'Thousands of guns on our streets', suggests that that it is an urban drama located in working class rough areas.
-'This is the story of one' conveys that its a story about true events that happened across the country everyday.

This Is England
- The titles have a white outline which contrasts with the black background and makes it stand out.
- The titles also suggest that the trailer instead of  theatrical because it indicates the narrative of the film.
- The white outline is also distorted and has a effect which looks like its been ripped out of a newspaper.


Train Spotting
- The titles in this trailer are very basic and the font is different on every title.
- The red and white titles have the same house style as the film poster which makes the theme obvious and the audience are able to recognise it.
- The font style isn't very creative but uses reviews which is a common convention in film trailers.


Shank
- The titles are very bold and the black font contrasts with the vignette background.
- The title, 'The gangs have taken over', takes up most of the shot which suggests that the gangs play a huge part in the production and narrative and that they are the antagonists.
- The sons-serif font shows that the film is modern because a serif font would suggest that it is traditional
and old-fashioned.

Girlhood
- The font is the same throughout the trailer.
- The white font constants with the black background and black and white is a commonly used combination in film trailers.
- 'One of the best coming of age movies', clearly identifies the genre and the possible target audience.

Typography Experiment

Typography for Trailer  

I used www.1001fonts.com to look for fonts to use for the typography of our teaser trailer.

The titles that we plan to have is the title and tagline of the film:

Life is delicate. Life is disposable. Life is eighteen.

Below is an experiment into what type of font is best suited for our genre and plot.

Otto

This font is quite similar to a girls handwriting which, as our main character in the trailer is a teenage girl, is suitable for our trailer.

The font is quite cursive but still easy to read, which is essential to ensure that the target audience’s attention is kept.

As our trailer is only 60 seconds, the titles will need to be quick to ensure that we have the maximum amount of time to show the story of the film. This means that the font must be easy and quick to read, which would depend on the size that this font would be.

 

Mumsies

Again, this font is similar to a girls handwriting, which is suitable for our plot and genre.

This font is more spaced out than the one above, allowing it to be read easier, which is a benefit for the trailer.

The drawback of this font is that it could be seen as too messy for the eighteen year-old girl that we have in the trailer. It also has less of a handwritten effect as the edges are more rounded that Otto, which is quite ‘scratched’.

Santos Dumont

This is also a handwritten font. This is less like an eighteen year old handwriting as it could be seen as an ‘old English’ handwriting style, seen in historical dramas. I liked the font because it looks like it could have been written in a diary, which would be good if we had focused the plot of the film around the girl having a journal.

As our trailer is based more around social media, this font wouldn’t be appropriate for our trailer.

HandTIMES

This isn’t a handwritten font. I liked this font as it is simple and a commonly used and therefore recognisable and easy to read.

If the font is larger, it is easier to see that the font is actually coloured in, with the edges not being completely straight.

This makes the font slightly imperfect, a common convention used in teen dramas as it can be seen as relatable. It is appropriate for our trailer as the main character goes ‘off the rails’ which shows imperfection, which could also be shown through the font used. 

Deconstruction of Typography in Film Posters

Deconstruction of Typography in Film Posters

Paper Towns

• The title of the film is large and fills a quarter of the poster. It is an outlined, handwriting style font. The title of the film is in white, which contrasts to the use of yellow for the other words - the tagline, release date and selling point.
• All of the fonts used are a handwritten font, this is a common convention in teen dramas as it creates a feeling of imperfection, making the film more relatable, accessing the target audience.
• The main selling of the film is that it is written by the same author as The Fault in Our Stars. This is shown by the title of the film being in a large capitalised font at the top of the poster. 

We Are Your Friends

• The title of the film is in the bottom quarter of the poster. It is a simple, thin, white font. The main difference of this typography is that there is a letter in each of the words of the title of the film represented as a symbol. The W is a fast forward symbol, the A is an eject symbol, the O is a CD symbol and the I/E is a pause symbol. This hints at who the target audience for this film are, as it is obvious that this film is about music/technology - the main character is a DJ.
• It is obvious what the selling point of this film is as the name of the main actor Zac Efron is written in a large, pink typography at the top of the poster, taking up the whole width of the page. This is contrasted by the other actors names being in a smaller, darker typography on top of the name of the film.
• The tag line is in a different font to the rest of the poster. The typography is quite digitalised. The D's look like play buttons, again hinting at the plot of the film and highlighting the target audience.  

Project X

• The same, plain white font is used throughout the poster. This is effective for the poster as the colours used are quite lowly saturated and neutral, which contrast against the brightness of the white typography.
• The title of the film is quite unclear given that the tagline is in a larger size and in the centre of the poster. The title of the film is in the centre third of the width of the page, at the bottom of the page.
• The main selling point of the film is shown at the top of the poster, stating that it is from the same directors as The Hangover. The title of the film being bold and larger than the line above. This targets the correct audience, as if the audience like one film they are likely to enjoy the other.
• The tagline fills the width of the poster. The typography is slightly translucent, which makes it stand out against the party scene in the background.