Importance of fonts

On today's session we have learned the importance of fonts, especially on opening title sequences. We must carefully think about the font we will be using in our movie. But it is not only the font, the size also matters! (...and I wonder why ladies prefer bigger...:))

I will introduce you to some basic fonts, and I will talk about what fonts have different films used.

Sans sefir font

Two basic types of fonts are: Sefir font [right] and Sans sefir font [left].  Both of them are very popular and easy to read, that's why most people use them. Even me right now.

The difference between sans sefir and sefir are the "sharp edges". "Sans" in French means "without", so the idea is that sans sefir has no edges and is more straight forward. It is also easier to create one by hand, and actually it seems to be easier-to-read. But it is only my opinion, some people are choosing sefir because it looks more stylish.

Serif font

Serif fonts are for example: "Times new Roman" or "Courier", and these are generally more traditional and more formal.

An example of sans sefir fonts are "Ariel" or "Comic Sans"", and those are more informal and modern.

In my last post I've written about the film that has a fantastic title sequence. I was really impressed by a way they've attached the titles to the film and objects. I think that the best moment was when I had to read the title from the mirror. It's funny how simple things can look hilarious.

Earlier on lesson we were watching few openings, e.g: "Se7en" and "Stronger than fiction". I will give some quotes and my comments about them.

"Se7en": This film has a really impressing discrete title sequences, and these absolutely create the moon of the film. The font is sefir and the unusual thing is the size of them, because it is tiny comparing to anything else. However, the letters are moving, changing sizes and colours but using only dark ones. I think that the font might've been written by a hand and transferred to PC, because I haven't seen that good font yet. Overall the idea and total title sequence is great and I probably will try to convince my partners to use them in our film. Huge applause to "Kyle Cooper, who's done wonderful things with title sequences."!

"Stranger than fiction":  Well, this idea was extremely successful! The combination of mornings routine activities, the narrator, 3-d type titles and the stupidity was amazing and made me very interested into the film right now. And I think it was suppose to make me want to see the movie! "Absolutely amazing, utterly innovative - Michael Ronstenbach moves the film title sequence into a whole other space."; I have to fully agree on this comment and say that the title sequence is million light years ahead any other. Great job!
The fact is that he used simple safir font, but everything looks clean and nice. This is very important not to confuse audience!

I am always trying to use Arial or Times new roman font, and some actors and directors are also using only one type of font in each film, which is interesting. Woody Allen always uses "Windsor", Weg Anderson: "Futura Extra Bold" and Kurbrick: "Futura Extra black". I don't think this is a good idea to have only one type of fonts and use them. The technology and ideas are moving on, we have to make use of it!

"Fonts convey an emotion without actually having to say the words."