Wednesday 30 October 2013

Font analysis of films

Over years and years of producing horrors the font presenting the name of the film has changed considerable; from the use of colour of the font to the font type used. Having these changes allows the audience of the film or trailer to often predict the genre of the film as you will see from this piece of analysis.

Horror fonts
 Firstly the film, 'Nightmare on Elm Street' produced in 1984, used a red bold bubble writing font with Helvetica rounded font in the middle of it. The red colouring of the bubble font, suggest the presents of blood and gore being spilled throughout the film, which implies the genre of the film being a horror. The red colour also stands out from the background colour of black, which means the font contrasts, causing it to stand out. The use of the white for the 'on Elm Street' part of the title, is placed on the red font, which again allows the white font to contrast to stand out. Having the white font small and inside the the 'Nightmare' suggest that it is affecting the street known as 'Elm Street' and that it is a big problem due to the excessively big font of the word 'Nightmare'. The font type use for the white font suggest normality and that the 'Nightmare' is affecting the normality of the day for everyday people. The hugeness of the red font implies the film is a horror as the word nightmare' relates to peoples fears and horrors. However the font used for this film, creates a sense of tackiness as stereotypically the colour red is associated with blood and the use of the bold bubble writing, generally makes the title seem childish compared to the titles used in modern and new released horrors (see comparison further in analysis).
 The first film of Scream was produced in 1996 and used a white bold font to portray the film. the use of white for the font suggest a ghostly aspect, which can be associated with the antagonist of the white mask scream face. The white colouring also contrasts with the background, as white on black, enhances the title of the film to stand out. The font type also used acts as an onomatopoeia because it symbolises what the word 'scream' would look like as the sharp corners and straight lines suggest the shock and fear the film may contain. This font shows the development of the horror fonts as although the use of red font was still used for horror movies in the 1990's, the use of white font became a popular use for horrors as it creates many effects of paranormal, ghosts, etc.
Insidious one of most profiting horror movies recently created, uses a cross between white and red font, with a fairly formal font type. The use of the mixed of colours suggests that there elements of blood but the white suggest a more spooky, horror aspect to the film. This title also uses the use of a black background which to help contrast the colours used for the fonts but also suggest the the films is full of things which happen in the dark and implies bad things happen in the film , which follows the conventions of a horror film. The use of the simple formal font type does not give anything away about the film and due to the simplicity it creates a vibe of the film being scary, to a certain extent. The placement of the the colour red on the 'si' of the title makes the audience pronounce that 's' sound with more emphasis ,(sibliance).
The conjuring is one horror which does not use a black background, as you can see in its picture, instead they use black font on a white creamy background. This suggests that it is a serious but horrific film as it font can be associated with writing on paper. This use of formal font and colouring emphasises that the film is based on true events, as it is very formal, but having a little worn effect on the lettering suggests it may be an old true event or set in older times, which implies it is going to be scary.
The final horror font I will be analysing is the film 'you're next', which uses a white child-like handwriting font. This white font allows it to stand out from the background and adds more of a horror effect to the childish handwriting. the use of the childish handwriting, suggests that maybe children are involved or an aspect of children is included. Also this font type creates a horror feel as children are not usually associated with horrors, so having jaunty untidy child-like writing creeps out the audience. Also the jauntiness of the handwriting implies it is a horror.
Overall if my project was going to be a horror, I would consider having a black background as it would allow almost all colours stand out, also follows the conventions of a horror film involving a black background, but usually implies bad things are going to happen, which would be present in any horror film. The font I would consider would be using a simply font type like the film 'Insidious' , as the simplicity makes it work, or I would use 'You're next' font as the child-like handwriting adds to the aspect of scare factor, which would be ideal for a horror. The colour I would also use would probably be white as it would contrast perfectly with the background and implies spooky events occurring in the film.

Action
As you can see, the film 'Hot Fuzz',  featuring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, uses bold silver font for the action film. The use of the colour silver and the emblem of a police logo, suggest that it involves crime and the fight against society, which follows aspects of an action film. The use of the bold font with underlined effect, makes the font stand out from the darker background but also suggest urgency due to the underlining.
The film source code uses red font to suggest urgency and attracts the attention of the audience. The font type is also bold which emphasises the urgency and having an explosive background suggests that explosions and destruction is involved in the film, which consists of an action film.
Finally the film ' House at the end of the street', featuring Jennifer Lawerence, uses the use of a black background with yellow font. Having a black background suggest there may be a horror or scary parts to the film as this kind of background is usually used for a horror film. The use of the yellow allows it to stand out and the use of the font type acts as if it is smudged, which gives a sense of mystery.

Romance
P.S I love you is a perfect example of a romance film. The font style used is in the form of handwriting, which suggests that someone has written it themselves to someone, which shows how much this individual loves them. Also the use of red for the font colouring suggest love and romance and is traditionally used for romantic films. The white background is white to make the font stand out but also suggests that someone has just written it down on paper, which makes it even more romantic.
The 'Notebook', one of the best romance around. The use of font used in this film title is very formal with a white background, which suggest it has also been written, for example in a note book.

Overall the even though the title is very minor part of the opening two minutes, it should associate and link to the film you are producing. When it comes to my project, I will have to consider the use of font, colouring and size, to ensure that the title suits my film.

No comments:

Post a Comment