Behind the scenes- Fonts

Within thrillers a variety of font types, shapes and sizes can be included. However, a chosen font can determine the genre of thriller but also individualize the thriller from others available.An awful font can ruin the movies onset, so getting the font style right is key in order to accomplish the desired effect of the thriller. The style of font can enhance the film hugely by making it easily recognizable before the thriller has even begun. For example, the genre of romance fonts are often small, italic and soft at the edges to adding a feminine approach, appealing to a more feminine audience. Fonts often follow the stereotypes to appeal to selected and targeted audiences, instantly labeling the conventions.A font can define the genre instantly. For instance, in 2015, 'Furious 7' was released having a large and sharp edged font, from the font it is instantly recognizable that the film is an action-thriller, but with some curved edges to parts of the font creates a feminine quality, appealing to all genders, especially on the S's as well as, the O's and R's taking a dominant let.

Below I have looked at a range of fonts incorporated in thrillers, in order to use as inspiration when we chose our own thriller.This will also give us a general idea of what fonts are mainly targeted in thrillers, appealing to stereotypes and convention but what also fits comfortably within the film. 

Most  of the lettering that I have looked into are very bold and define in shape, however,'what lies beneath' is very soft and feminine which  may have been used to link the font to the idea of the main role being a female character.In contrast,  when researching I found fonts that were bold,  having male dominant characters rather than female characters and vise-visa with soft and italic fonts. The fonts that I have looked are express more action-thrillers which are powering and bold, often having guns, violence and fast cars in them. Although, those films which surround psychological themes replicate curved fonts with medium sized text. In relation, to the colours of the fonts, most fonts show a chrome vibe of black and white, either way round. For example, 'The woman in black' font colours are black and white to replicate the depth of death and darkness in the black, but the white for the slight hope he has to be reunited with his wife, who died in labour. The black creates the whole atmosphere and what the film is about which is ghost haunting the village.

In contrast, the font in which I would like to use the style of is 'what lies beneath' as we have used this film as inspiration of our bath scene, its a very simplistic look that makes the film seem innocent, but the hand within the picture, giving the film a slight suspicion of what the story-line is. The font is subtle and simple, but effective in creating the lack of plot or giving to much away. With the help of Dafont.com I came up with a selection of fonts that I feel could work as the title of our movie, each displaying strengths and weaknesses although each font being unique in its own right. 

Fonts

1. DK face your fears- 

This font in my view replicates paint-like brush stroke marks, with a range of dark and light patching depending on how much paint was on the brush when paining each part. The lines create a roughness which I like, but I feel that the style is very cliche to horrors that were created in the 70's like Frankenstein , which the text reminds me of. However, I want a more modern and fresh vibe rather than a dated look. I feel that the D's dominate the text and the I, fading out more.I would use this in more of a spoof feeling thriller rather than a modern and fresh vibe in which we are looking to achieve. 

2. Coldnightforalligators- 

This font shows a splattered effect with the splashes showing blood-like motions, although, I like the idea around this font, i fell that it is more of a horror that is intense with blood and gore surrounding the story-line. The lettering itself is short and compact but has been spaced evenly. The heavy patches of black indicate bullet marks. I think that this font is a little over the top of what we want to produce and doesn't fit with what we are trying to create. Overall, this font is very dramatic and complex , where as we need something that is simple and easy as our story-line is complex; therefore using this would make our thriller too much rather than being minimal. By having a complex story line and simple font they would balance evenly against each other.  

3. Hacked-

This font shows exactly what it shows within the name, hacked. The font displays a glitch feel, relating to computers and hacking, rather than emotions in a thriller for which is what we want to achieve. I do like this font in the way each letter is sharp at the points that the lines meet but also the glitch happens towards the bottom half of the lettering, therefore, implying that in the end half of the film, the twist and turning point happens. A great way to show a subtle touch with a big twist towards the end that the audience may not notice but it's a subtle indication to those who do.This font shows a modern and computerized feel, which would be great for films like Hackers or Tron. To conclude, this font is too computerized to transfer the ideas that we are trying to show in our thriller.  

4. Corona 4 typewriter- 

This font would be great for what we want to achieve as it is simple and easy to read, but I would prefer the text to be longer, having each letter all of the same size, creating unity within all of the letters. I like the fact that the text creates the lettering of a typewriter. This would be great for 50's and 60's based dramas.This text would not overpower the story-line but I feel still wouldn't be enough to remember the font or name of the film. The spaces between each letter shows the font very clear. However, with the lettering having no spaces would enclose the main character and make her feel claustrophobic, showing and indicating the emotions of feeling trapped and making her feel alone, for which is what we want to create. Overall, this style font is similar to what I would use but is not exact.