Font for Title and Opening Credits
I spent a long time experimenting with different fonts and effects for the Title and Opening Credits. I wanted them to be easy to read and eye catching so that people don’t miss them. And I wanted them to look professional.
Outline or No Outline?
I didn’t want to just put a black outline around it, since I have been noticing that a lot of student films do that. I had noticed that actually a lot of professional films do not have a black outline, even though at first thought it might be an obvious way to ensure words are easy to read by differentiating them from the background.
For instance, in the opening to Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz (2007), here are some examples of text without black outlines.
What you can see on these examples from Hot Fuzz (2007) is that rather than out a black outline, Edgar Wright has chosen to put a shadow on the words, so that they are still differentiated from the background, making them easier to read. If he had just left them white then, because some of the parts of the image that they are over are very light, parts of the words would probably have blended into the background image making them harder for the audience to read. And the whole point of the words being there is for the audience to read. I like the idea of a shadow on my words, because my backgrounds images at the start have a range of tones including some light ones which could blend in with plain white words.
Even in his more recent film, Baby Driver (2017), I noticed that Edgar Wright still keeps away from black edged words. In this example below, he has chosen a font that is interesting and stands out, and he has been able to keep the words white with no outline or shadow because the background of the underground garage is significantly darker than the words.
A bit further on in the opening credits, it might look like he added a black outline, because the backgrounds are now varying tonally a lot more than in the underground garage. But when I looked more carefully, I saw that he again adds a shadow, which does make it easier to see against the varying tones outside in the sunlight.
He has also added a striped effect too, which the lettering in the garage doesn’t have. This helps to make them readable too.
I could see from the photos below that the shadow on the letters make it very readable, and readable quickly even over a lighter background, because there is a lot of other things also going on in the shot that the director also wants the audience to see, so the audience needs to not struggle to read the words (unless the words are being revealed gradually for deliberately intriguing effect like in Alien (1979))
I could also see that the names of the other actors were on occasions over lighter backgrounds, especially Jon Hamm, yet they are all easy to read.
My opening sequence has light parts as well as dark parts, and I also have the words appear in slightly unexpected places, such as being revealed from under a shoe as feet walk past, or lying on top of a fallen tree trunk for example. So, I wanted the audience to be able to read them, and I liked how the shadow effect made Edgar Wright’s words more readable. I decided to use that effect rather than a black outline, for a professional appearance.
Choice of Font
Having made my decision about using a shadow, I knew that I would need a simple straightforward font, rather than a flowery type of font, or the shadow effect would get lost. The font in Hot Fuzz is a simple easily readable font. I described the font in Baby Driver as “Interesting”, which it is. I found out that it is caked “Gunplay”, which is a fitting name, and it was designed by Typodermic Fonts, inspired by the Steve McQueen/Ali McGraw film The Getaway (1972). However, the outline of the font is still straightforward and easy to recognise the letters.
I wanted a simple font, but not quite so chunky. The one that I liked and felt worked best in the various places that I wanted to put it is “Microsoft New Tai Lue”.
Even on a simple background, that is light but not overly light, you can see the difference that adding shadow makes. I had wondered if a lighter colour shadow would work, but I think that the darker shadow makes it more readable. So this is what I replicated in Adobe Premiere Pro.
End Credits
These is an example from the Hot Fuzz (2007) End Credits. They are simple and on a black background.
Here is an example of the end credits from Baby Driver (2017). They are also simple and on a black background.
There are many different ways to do End Credits. Sometimes they appear over some action, sometimes simple like shown above, sometimes there are little blooper windows by the sides, the list is endless. I like the simplicity of how Edgar Wright has done his end credits.
I was originally going to do the same, simple End Credits on a black background, because I am having a Post End Credits scene, where we see Sam, wearing the multicoloured hat that was dropped by him, suddenly appear back on the bench, implying that he has time travelled. So I sort of want to lull the audience into a “false sense of security” with simple End Credits, to give them a bigger jolt when we cut back to the bench and see Sam appear. When I was planning my shot list, I considered having a long (duration) shot of the bench with the end credits over that, then Sam appearing back on it, but I quickly rejected that idea because I felt like such a long (duration) shot with nothing happening in it would look like I hadn’t made a deliberate decision. Whereas light coloured End Credits on a black background is following in the tradition of many films, including all of Edgar Wrights films, also Legend (2015), Groundhog Day (1993) (which starts with a clouds background then switches to black) and the more recent Palm Springs (2020).
Also, I want the contrast of the black screen going back to the bench for more “unexpected” value. I think that if I had kept the bench on the screen then it wouldn’t be such a surprise. I know I am putting something like “keep watching…” which will give a hint, but hopefully my audience still won’t know what to expect, so they will then see the calm scene of the bench back on screen then suddenly Sam will appear to “jump” back in out of nowhere, giving them a surprise.
But rather than keeping the background of the End Credits totally black, I have another idea.
My idea at the start is that this short film is part of a series, like the BBC 2 series Inside no. 9 (2014), which I wrote about in my Ideas section. I had planned to also create a short opening sequence that would be played at the start of each episode to link them together, like the Series 2 Blackadder Opening sequence, where the opening credits for all episodes start the same way, with a snake, but end with a shot of the item that the episode is named after, for example, Potato.
I was going to use my vast collection of trilby hats, which would be the link between each of the episodes that I have filmed one of, and would end with a shot of the particular hat or hats contained in the particular episode, like the Blackadder intro always has a relevant item added in.
However, as I have developed my opening title sequence for this film, I have realised that the kind of series opening that I had planned won’t work, it would be too different to the start of this film. The Blackadder opening works because each of the episode within a series s is set in the same environment. But mine isn’t. I looked back at Inside No. 9 (2014), and they open with a simple shot of the “9” for that episode, so the house number or the sleeping compartment number for example. I felt this simple type of idea would work best.
But I still don’t want to add the “linking shots” at the start, because I have been getting such positive feedback to my opening title sequence with Sam walking through the woods, that I don’t want to distract from that by putting something else before it.
I have decided to put my “Link” at the end instead. What I am doing is 2 things.
Firstly
I had originally intended to have the End Credits rolling over a black backdrop, like in all Edgar Wright’s movies and many others. Howver, instead of a plain black background I am using image that I created of trilby hats (since all the hats in this series would be trilby hats) on a black background. I made the hats translucent so that they do not overpower the End Credits, they are more “hinted” at. I made a variety of different versions, shown below, then asked a number of people for their preference. Nick (tutor) expressed a preference for the 3 hats in a vertical row not overlapping. In the end I decided on the random hats on screen not overlapping
Secondly
Each episode will have a Post Credits scene with one of the characters doing something appropriate and relevant (but a twist) while wearing the key trilby hat for that episode. So in the episode that I filmed, Sam re-appears on the bench, wearing the multicoloured trilby, which is the most important trilby of the episode. The final scene before the End Credits had shown Sam looking at the multicoloured trilby but not actually putting it on, deliberately leaving it open ended as to whether he put it on and went time travelling, or not.
Because a “Sam” wearing the same clothes as him, wearing the multicoloured hat, reappears on the bench after the End Credits, it suggests to the audience that he did put the hat on and went time travelling. But given that the Sam who tried to stop him from getting a splinter was dressed the same as him but just with the addition of the multicoloured hat, it could also be that Sam. I want to make a suggestion to the audience, but also keep that extra layer of “wait… which Sam IS it?” so they still don’t know for sure if the main Sam went time travelling or not, but it is hinted that he might have done.
I like the idea of this twist at the end, and so I have decided that each episode would have a similar twist, to make the audience go “Wait… wait a minute!”. The trilby hats background for the End Credits will remind the audience of the importance of the Trilby hats in this series, then the Post Credits scene will reinforce this.
I am pleased with these Graphics choices, and I feel they add to what I as director want to direct the audience towards thinking.