Film TitlesHere is a PowerPoint I have made on films and their titles, looking at their use of typography in different genres; focusing on font, colour and other details.

RomanceThe first thing I have noticed of these chosen titles, is the colours for Pretty Woman and P.S. I Love You, are very stereotypical romance fitting colours, due to the connotations of love and the idea that the colours are more appealing to woman, and as the films are of the romance genre, the target audience for these films are more likely going to be women.

It also shows that the title, is of course, all dependent on the context. For example, P.S. I Love You’s font has been made to look as if it has been handwritten which fits the context that the film is based on letters that a man had written before his death. Where as behind and coming off of the Ghost title there is a shining effect, which fits the idea of Ghosts and that they are mysterious and sometimes portrayed in bright lighting.

HorrorLike before, the first thing I notice in all of these titles is the colour and how the all use simplistic colours, red, black and, with the exception of Mirrors, white. Black and white are good contrasts to each other, with the black possibly being used to connote darkness and death, with the contrast of white and it’s connotations of purity and innocence. While red is a very typical for horrors to use due to the connotations with blood, the devil and hell.

The typeface on The Last House on the Left looks almost smeared which could suggest blood.

The other thing that I thought was really effective was of the title of mirrors and how the second R is reversed to heighten the idea of ‘mirrors’.

Social Realism

For these titles I focused more on the style of the typeface and how they all look handmade. By this I mean that This Is England looks as if it was printed and has a more of a graffiti effect while Juno and Half Nelson look as if they have been hand-drawn. This gives the titles more of an indie effect.

As always, the title must always depend on the context of the film; which is shown for This Is England which is in the colours of the British flag, while Half Nelson is set in a school so the title is written on a blackboard.

DramaFor the drama genre the titles tend to be more simplistic and sophisticated. I also feel that many titles of the drama genre would be more traditional font types, which you may find everyday which is shown through the title of Forrest Gump and Notting Hill. I feel like they are fonts that are seen more commonly in everyday life reflecting the fact that the genre is all about peoples lives. As well as the simplistic fonts, I feel that the colours chosen are also fairly simplistic.

Like This Is England, Notting Hill is set in England which could be part of the reason as to why red, white and blue has been used in the title.

Action

These action titles all have very similar colours; black, sliver and blue, as well as having very similar, traditional fonts. Another clear similarity is that they are all one worded, which makes them more memorable and adds more of a simple effect, which I think if better for the action genres as if they were too complicated you wouldn’t be as drawn to them as I feel that more complicated themes would fit a thriller/mystery genre better.

Final Views• The titles fit the genre carefully and

sometimes heighten stereotypes • Context has a very important impact on the

titles; determining fonts, colours and background effects.

• Most titles tend be in capitals except social realism and dramas (with the occasional exception such as i,robot) which is important when designing my own title