Editing: Credits and Title

    At the beginning of many films, both old and modern, there will usually be credits displayed on the screen to give recognition to the cast and crew who worked to create them, which are often in the form of small text in the margins of the screen, rather than being front and center. This is a must for the opening in our Cambridge Portfolio Projects, and my primary goal is to make the names and words fit the aesthetic and style of the film opening so that they do not distract from the actual visuals of the film. 

    When looking for fonts, I searched for one that could capture the mood of a sad, serious fantasy epic, I needed a typography that felt heavy, ancient, and weathered. I wanted to balance the epic scale of the world with the weight of the tragedy. 

    I explored multiple Gothic Blackletter fonts, defined by high contrast and fractured lines. Unlike modern fonts that use smooth curves, Blackletter uses sharp, diagonal strokes. The tall, narrow letters are reminiscent of medieval gothic architecture. This creates a sense of fanciness and formality that fits the serious tone of the film opening. Because the strokes are so thick, a word in Blackletter looks dark in design, and feels more somber and intense. The broken lines suggest something that was once whole but has been shattered, which is a perfect visual metaphor for a tragic scene. 

Almendra

A "Blackletter-inspired" serif. It’s much more readable for long bodies of text but keeps the sharp, thorny edges of Gothic script. It's perfect for a tragic protagonist's internal monologue.

UnifrakturMaguntia

A very traditional, sharp Fraktur that looks official and oppressive.

Cloister Black

I would have to play around with these different fonts in editing to really see how they look and fit against the visuals of the scene, but all of them are perfect choices and likely contenders for the style of the title and credits.