Over the years I have noticed different "Lettering styles" used in the credits of movies...notice I didn't say "fonts".
It would seem there was an ongoing effort to creat something new every time a movie came out. Someone involved went out of their way to personalize their version of an existing "Lettering style" or even create a new one.
When something was altered or created in a consistant manner that lent "Integrity" and or "Continuity" to an alphabet us old geezers refered to it as a persons "Style".
I've also noticed that all that came to a screeching halt about 10 or so years back and all the "New" movies are just one repeat after repeat of "Fonts" that have been "forced", "distorted" or just plain "bastardized".
I really miss the "stylized" lettering of the old movies.
Anyone else notice this?
With the advent of the computer you would think there would be more creativity than ever before when it comes to lettering. Have we just become more complacent (me included)or has the ever lovin dollar gotten in the way.
What do you think?
Posted by George Perkins (Member # 156) on :
I agree with you 100% Monte, glad to know I'm not the only one studying credits either. My favorites were from the 40's and 50's, stuff like pirate movies with those super elaborate letter styles and wondering just how many hours went into producing those things. Nowadays it's just a bunch of S.O.S. I don't know if it's the dollar thing time or what, but the effort isn't put out because, well, why bother when little or no effort will do just fine.
Posted by cheryl nordby (Member # 1100) on :
Yep! But there still are some (not many) clever title letterstyles. And I also miss the cartoons they used to play before the movie. Now it is 20 minutes worth of preview and advertisements. sheesh.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
the old westerns, epics like the 10 commandments, spartcus. the old horror movies...up to the B movies of the 60's(ed woods) all had great letter styles....how many ways can you make letters "bleed"!!!!! i wonder sometimes if there is not a book or someplace on the net you can get those letter styles.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
[ October 27, 2002, 03:19 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :
My nephew/apprentice used to work in the Movie Industry(prop/scenic artist)always being told of the need to be PERFECT in all realms of the work! This being dictated by the person above him,and HIS idea of perfection. The "letter style" acceptance must be the SAME way The problem being the so called VISUAL ARTIST having the authority to give the final OK on these lack of stylish letter styles used. I have my doubts that these people with the say so are qualified for such feat. Much like the sign industry...these non-discript headings are the FIRST things the consumer has to make a judgement on the contents/story line of the rest of the movie. Seems a sad state of affairs to me,and YET ANOTHER reason sign people should be used in all concerns of the ARTS. Posted by Richard Bustamante (Member # 370) on :
I think it is *because* of computers that you don't see these specialized fonts. I've worked in the movie industry for about 5 or 6 years. In this time, I found that the *budget* has been tightly squeezed to the point of effecting the out`come of the entire movie.
The producers have opted for Special FXs, Stars, and Stunts to make their movies. When they spend 50 thousand or 100 thousand per/minute(production), the producers, start to cut the budget in "post production".
"It doesn't take much to type out those credits." (thus cheeper)
The problem with most of the new movie "titles" is egos!!!!! Seems 5that EVERYONE has to be listed, and the stars INSIT that nothing is bigger than their name! Thus....a whole big bunch of condensed type! It is only when the movie is bigger than the stars, that you get a nicely , and sometimes interesting, layout and letterstyle Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
I also like those old movie titles. I have heard about signshops where they hand painted the posters in front of the theaters,changing them every time the movie changed. I always wondered if the studio sent the rendering for that or whether they were on their own. My Grandfather did a few of these but that was WAY before my time and I never saw any pictures of them. These weren't printed posters, but HAND PAINTED.Does anyone have, or know of any source for seeing some of those?
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
I can understand the use of regular fonts in the movie credits.. have you ever sat through movie credits lately? I wouldn't want to sit there and hand letter names and positions for 5 minutes worth of scrolling text either! Shoot, typing all that junk out is tedious enough!
I've actually noticed a good deal of Dover fonts/Sign DNA fonts being used in movies and TV.
Of course, when I go to a movie I'm going there to be entertained, not to read!
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