Evolution of Fonts in Hollywood Movie Titles

EVOLUTION OF FONTS IN HOLLYWOOD MOVIE TITLES THE SILENT ERA Griffith Seriffith The silent era was the infancy of the film era when artists preferred mono-stroke letter forms and D. W. GRIFFITH Presents Intolerance characters with subtle serifs mainly due to the ease of production and clarity. Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages In a prologue and two acts COPYRIGHT 191 WARK PRODUCING CORP DAVID WARK GRIFFITH 1916 NOSFERATU The font, Berthold Herold Reklameschrift BQ was created by German typesetter Heinz Hoffman in 1904. It was used in Nosferatu's movie title. FW.MURNAU awaGNER. GHALL PheRLIN·LtVErzow.ITRISM Der neue Groffilm der PRANA-FILM G.m.b.H. 1922 Introduction of sound (1927) to films was a major evolution of the time, heralding the beginning of the 'classical period' of cinema. THE COLDEN AGE KING KONG The 1930's are considered the Golden Age of Hollywood and titles alike. The titles of the time may not look sophisticated but keep in mind they were all handmade! 1933 ABIA Many of the titles were inspired by existing fonts. In Casablanca, the title design was based on the typeface Brush Script developed by Robert E. CASABEINCA NGA Smith in 1942. 1942 HOPE The arrival of color opened new doors of creativity for title makers. 1948 POST-WAR ERA Hollywood studios were making record profits during the 1950's and the need for innovative title design was increasingly rising. In this era, the fonts used were simple, but creatively used, interacting with the environment of the movie. The opening title sequence of this 1959 crime drama is a classic piece of graphic design. It gives the movie a timeless identity that continues to inspire filmmakers. SUNSET BLVD. 1950 NARRATIVE TITLE SEQUENCES It would be impossible to discuss this period of history without mentioning the name Saul Bass (1920-1996), who is considered by many to be the father of modern film title sequence design. ANATOMY PSYCHO OFA MURDER 1959 1960 The opening title sequence of this 1959 crime drama is a classic piece of graphic design. Giving the movie a timeless identity that still inspires filmmakers to this day. His design of the title sequence for Psycho is the mos yet, chilling of them all. The typeface used was News Gothic Bold, vertically scaled. basic CONTEMPORARY TITLES Computers allowed manipulation of typography to become dimensional and move in ways that was realistically impossible. Yet, only a handful of original titles were created for films. Computers allowed manipulation of typography to be dimensional and move in ways that are physically impossible. A HIGH ANXIETY 1977 Some movie title fonts became STAR WARS legendary in pop culture and are instantly recognizable world-wide. Episode VI RETURN OF THE JEDI 1983 Use of digitized fonts increased in the 1990's but title custom creativity took a backseat as title makers focused on minimalist techniques and mass production. GOOD WILL EYES WIDE SHUT HUNTING 1997 1999 Pablo Ferro's title sequence for Good Will Hunting using Copperplate Gothic was one of the few inspirations of the time. Stanley Kubrick's favorite typeface Futura Extra Bold brought new energy to title designs in the film industry. DICITAL ACE Within the last few years, we have noticed that the use of custom fonts in film titles is slowly regaining popularity within a minimalism dominant era. The typography work done for the movie was heavily inspired by Tolkien's personal designs Jube RETURN of the King for the books. 2004 JUNG Wiggle Type is a hand-drawn, animated typography created for the movie Juno by Gareth Smith and Jenny Lee. 2007 DisNEy Jeremy Chinn's design for the title of Frozen, using stylized typography suits the movie's theme perfectly. FROŻEN 2014 Created By 5000022360000 LOGO DESIGN GURU SOURCES SMASHINGMAGAZINE.COM SMITHLEEDESIGN.COM IDSGN.ORG WHAT-WHEN-HOW.COM TYPOGRAPHICA.ORG ARTOFTHETITLE.COM FLAVORWIRE.COM ANNYAS.COM