Typeface Ideas 2

We chose 'Seedy Motel' as the font to use on our trailer, website and poster. It was an eroded looking font which is a convention of horror fonts and the stripes that run across it reminded me of the blinds found inside the Factory or bars which could signify being 'trapped'. 


After deciding on using the font 'Seedy Motel', I designed different ways in which the text would sit on the screen.

These 'Text Screens' will be shown inbetween certain clips. Shots like this can be seen in many films such as in 'Chernobyl Dairies for example:

I added blood splats to the title screen to add a more 'gore' to the appearance. This style is meant to appear as if the writing has been printed on one of the 'scratched' and 'damaged' walls inside the factory. The blood therefore shows that 'danger' is inside.

Shots like this will be shown in a montage in-between the clips to briefly divert the audience's attention otherwise too longer edit of clips may become repetitive. It also gives extra info on the film.

All of these images were edited in the same way before using photo software to create the 'old' and 'scratched' effect on the wall:

                                   

I also tried experimenting with different textures. Instead of having the font appearing as if its on a wall, I used an image of chequered steel plating to make it appear as if its on 'cold', 'sharp' metal. The 'sharp' and 'harsh' look of the metal conveys 'pain' and 'discomfort' to the audience:

These were also editied using the same software but instead of using plain colours for the background, an image of steel plating was used in its place:

Typeface Ideas 1

I created a basic image of the possible typefaces that we could use in our trailer, poster etc. I applied different effects and used conventions from other films (eroded colours and lettering) and applied them to the fonts.

'Plane Crash'

'MasterPlan'

'Old Press'

'Skyfall'

'Scorched Earth'

'Seedy Motel'

The Typeoface will appear on the Website, poster and trailer and therefore needs to relate to the conventions of a horror film and/or any conventions that are specific to our film.

To gain a perspective on how the typography will sit on the poster or in the trailer, I created a basic image of the word 'Klinger' in a variety of different fonts:

e.g:

I then inserted each of the images into a photo editor (Great PhotoPro; Everimaging Ltd.) and applied a number of different effects to create an 'eroded' and 'weathered' texture to make it appear it was printed on the side of one of the walls inside the factory:

By gradually applying the effects, I am rendering the image and adding tone to it. 

I can change the order of the effects or the effects themselves to create different colour variations and different depths of weathering and erosion.

The Basics of Typography making

Here, I look at the basics of how to use typography effectively and what type of fonts would be best for our poster/website.

Serif

This font is mostly used for body copy in print documents as well as for body text and headlines online in news articles. There are a number of sub type fonts including Times New Roman. This is the most traditional type of font and wouldn't really link well with the message/theme of our trailer.

Sans-Serif

This font is a more modern version of serif created in the 18th century and tend to appear more in magazines and in some posters. They have a much plainer appearance compared to serif. This font was used in "The Pact" in bold and spaced apart and shows that you can use a very simple font like this and still make it look effective. You also see humanist fonts within this section and are the most popular when it comes to the body of a text paragraph in websites - this is because they're more calligraphic compared to other fonts and hence look more legible to read.

Script

Scripts are based upon handwriting and are common for very elegant and elevated designs. They are unsuitable for a bulk of text and don't tend to be used in titles for posters as they are not the most legible font.

Display

Display fonts tend to have the biggest amount of fonts available and also include the most variation. The main characteristic is that they're unsuitable for a bulk of text and are best used for headlines or other short pieces of text that needs attention drawn to it. They can show any type of mood which would be great for our film. This is the type of font we will use for our poster/website as the title & font would be one of the first points that the audience would look at and hence is really important to quickly show the mood of the film within a second.

Mood
The mood of a font is an important part of how it should be used. Commonly used moods include formal vs informal, modern vs classic/traditional and light vs dramatic. Some fonts have very distinct moods e.g. Times New Roman is always going to be a traditional font; hence why it's so commonly used for business. This is compared to other fonts which can convey almost any mood based on the content & other fonts they may be combined with.

Typography: Horror Deconstructions

The genre within our trailer is horror and so hence our typography must be related to the conventions of the genre and also link in with the message of our film. Below are examples of different typographies in different horror posters.

Orphan

The title of the film "orphan" looks like it is written in chalk and written like a child. You can relate chalk to teachers asking children to write with it in class and also the writing of the title doesn't look like a convention font, it looks written. You also see the writing of "orphan" being very jagged with part of the title being in lowercase letters and the other half  in capital letters - this could show how there is something mentally wrong with the child and we see this within the film.We see the colour white used within the poster, this could show the convention of purity and angelic. Normally this a convention of a child but the poster wants to confuse the audience and in the film end up showing that Esther subverts this stereotype. 

The Amityville Horror

In this typography, we see the colour red used within the poster - this is a classic colour used within horror films. Although this is a simple font used and is very doable, there is a very big emphasis on the Y within the title and shows it is a big symbol. We see the end of the Y is like blood dripping down the title onto the next message of "based on the true story" which shows the clash between good and evil. This typography shows that a simple font can be used but with an emphasis on one of the little things within the title can be very effective and can be one of the first things the audience sees when looking at the poster.

The Pact

In this typography we see all the letters spread apart, this is effective as it gives more of a shadow effect. Again a simple font is used but the word "PACT" is in bold. This shows how it may link towards the message of the film and also links to the picture in the poster. When doing our typography, we should always link our font to our plot but again not give away too much. The colours used in the poster is white/beige. White is a convention colour used in horror films but beige is not normally a colour you would associate with the genre of horror - this could link in with the plot of the film. 

Barricade
In this poster we see here how the typography very much links towards the story of the film and only really effective in this sort of film which means its original. The font used in the poster is written onto a window and is realistic because people do that in real life. The colours used within the film shows very clinical and modern colours of the genre of horror. This poster is a really good example of how to make your typography really look original and link towards the story of the film. Yet realistically, this typography would be quite difficult to make and as it isn't a very big aspect of our poster, we're better off using a simple font but emphasising it in a way to make it still look effective. 



The Thing
In this poster, we see the main aspect of the poster being the typography. Here we see a simple font which takes up the majority of the poster but it is also a font we would not normally see on a horror film (more for adventure). The colour used is white but what makes this typography original is that there is a picture inside the typography. This is a excellent way to show the concept of the film and also show how it makes the poster really effective. Again, it could be doable but whether or not the poster overall could look exciting enough is another question to answer, maybe we are better off sticking to a separate typography and picture. 

Typography: Examples

Typography is the use of words in an artistic way and is an important part visually. It will show the name & possibly the tagline and this will either be linked towards the film/the genre.

Normally, typography is used within a poster to set the theme and mood. They tend to be linked in with pictures to show "the bigger picture". The picture on the left shows the Tower of London with different colours and different fonts shown and are shown very visibly to get a message across. This is good effect which would be interesting to make for our poster.

Here we see one big word with little words inside it. This is effective as the title to our trailer can be shown and then within the title, we can have ambiguous words linked to our trailer inside to make the audience more curious and look at our poster for longer than normal.

This poster is also a good example of where the words link to the image in the poster. This again links towards the message of the poster and is an easy way to convey the message without over complicating it. Also the colours of the typography stand out which means the audience will attracted to that poster first compared to a normal black and white one. Although this typography may look difficult to do, the technique used was actually quite easy and very doable as the program photoshop was used to make the effect of the candy within the lettering and also the outline.