Specific Genre Font Research

 

 

Specific Genre Font Research

As research for our film, we looked at a number of different style fonts, in the hope to give us inspiration for our own. After looking through hundreds of different types of typography, we came to the conclusion we wanted to narrow our searches to a more simplistic, classy but not unnoticeable type of font. We decided with our film having elements of the crime, action, thriller genre, it would be best to gage both information and inspiration from titles of these genres. Here are just a few examples of titles we have looked at.

From this, we have learnt that titles do not need to be overly showy or flamboyant to stand out and look effective. Although all of these titles are from our particular genres, there and some we like and some we don’t for certain reasons. The film GONE is only four letters, making it inevitable that the spacing is as large as it is for the title to fit, however in our opinion, we think the typography and spacing is better suited to the horror genre as it makes it look less sophisticated and slightly amateurish – a look we want to avoid. Although disliking the font and spacing, the colouring and effects used are quite successful and fit well with the background, helping to make the film suit the genre and look slightly mysterious. The film SIDE EFFECTS is effective as it stands out against the background and is very clear, however the font is slightly too harsh and plain for our film, but we think it works well for its particular plot. It gives the impression not a lot of thought has gone into it as it is so simple, and we want ours to look well thought out and fitting for our film.

As a group, we had different opinions on the titling for PRISONERS. Having seen the film myself, I really like the font and think it is well suited to the film, and I also think the emblem/symbol in the O is a very clever element, added to fit with the plot and to create enigmas for the audience before they have even seen the film. I think the font stands out effectively and catches your attention without being too showy, however the other two members of my group – Charlotte and Laura are not so keen. They think the font is a bit too much and slightly unnecessary. We all liked the font for WASTELAND and thought it was clever how it fitted with the background and faded out in certain areas, an effect we may experiment with for ours, however we do think it is slightly too thick. This could be beneficial as it certainly draws the audience’s attention to it, however we believe it would have too much attention and slightly take over the full image which is behind it.

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY was the font we all agreed we liked the most. Although it is still very plain, it is very effective and stands out against the background well, catching the audience’s attention. It gives the film a sophisticated and classy look, fitting well with both the genre and the plot, as well as attracting its target audience – the older, middle/upper class. We particularly like the way the font subtly grows in size, putting more emphasis on the last 2 words. This is certainly an effect we are going to take into consideration, however we are unsure if it would be as effectively as we haven’t yet decided on a name, and don’t know if it would be as successful with a shorter title. This title also inspired us to use more than one type of font in our title, something which we have already experimented with, and we believe it works well having different fonts and sizes in a title, as long as they are not too over the top and complement each other rather than making the film look childish and unprofessional.

INUMBER NUMBER is the first title we have come across in these genres where the lettering is in different cases. Having not seen the film and as we are unaware of the plot, we are unsure if this fits well with the film, however we all agree it gives it a more futuristic/sci-fi feel, which is something we do not want. We want our film to be as realistic and believable as possible, so from our research we have come to the conclusion that different cases are something to avoid, and think we will just stick with all upper case as lower case would make it childish and easily dismissible. Despite the different cases, we like the font style, and think the colour scheme used for the background and title has both benefits and weak points. The similar colouring used makes it slightly difficult to read as it doesn’t stand out very clearly against the background making it less eye catching, however this could be done purposely as it may fit with the genre and plot, making it more mysterious and secretive, creating enigmas for the audience. Initially, TAKEN was the film we were basing our plot around as it was such a successful film and a similar genre to ours. The titling used in TAKEN is very iconic to both the film and the action genre, which is something we are going to try and avoid as our film is not solely action so we don’t want to advertise it misleadingly. Despite not thinking the font is appropriate for us, we think it works very effectively in displaying the genre, and stands out, catching the audience’s attention which is something we aim to do.