Art of designing movie titles - A History
Era of Silent Movies ( 1900-1927 )
Artists are enjoyed by everyone but ironically are considered to be a career line which is full of struggle and deprivation. Look at Vincent Van Gogh, Robin Williams and many more, all of these were artists, some successful during their lifetime or posthumously.
There weren't many sources of entertainment during the late 20s or 30s. People sang, danced and watched animals or people fight, these were probably only some activities that people were interested in.
On December 23 1895, Lumiere Brothers created the very first motion picture called ' Arrival Of A Train At A Station ' which showed nothing but a small clipping of a moving train and people ducked down because they thought that it would come out of the screen. That was the time when people never much focused on design as much as it is done now since the discovery of it all was itself something else.
Movie making became a big business in the 1910s which was a growing industry at the time offering cheap means of entertainment to the masses. " With movie theatres being a hub of social and cultural life, audiences became so boisterous that during movies etiquette announcements were displayed as part of the opening film title sequences. Film titles were a very utilitarian affair delivering key information to audiences, such as the movie studio’s name and logo, director, movie title, main characters and actors. They were hand-illustrated by lettering artists and typesetters and then photographed and incorporated into the movie. "
Done with the purpose of Easy Reading
Just for the sake of easy reading, not much thought was put into designs and titles were mainly presented in white or black, illustrators using mono-stroke letterforms or characters with small serifs.
For example, This film title card for The Avenging Conscience (1914) is typical of the era with a black background and white lettering with small serifs. A simple line border frames all the necessary information. or the title art of It's a Wonderful Life ( 1946 ) by Frank Capra, Sabrina ( 1954 ) by Billy Wilder, all these pictures had a black and white background and the lettering was simply done.
Reflection of Art and Design Movements
It is a well-known fact that everything affects everything. So, various design movements were taking places such as Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Expressionism. This clearly left an impact on designs that were incorporated in movie titles. They were no longer just clearly spaced and had simple lettering but many different fonts were used and even flowy, curvy lines of Art Nouveau popular between the 1890s and 1910s were seen. For example, the title card of Our Hospitality ( 1923 ) had sinuous, curvey lines surrounding the title.
Genres and Subject Matter evoked in the film
Many designers tried evoking spooky styles which complimented the movie like Psycho ( 1960 ) by Alfred Hitchcock or The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1923) followed a deranged hypnotist who uses a troubled sleepwalker to commit a series of murders. For the German version of the film, sharp, angular typography is used evoke the disturbing subject matter, also echoing the work of German Expressionist illustrator Josef Fenner.
Golden Age of Cinema ( 1927-1940s )
This was the time when movies were not only a source of entertainment but also an escape for the people who did not like the reality. Yes, it was the time of the great depression. As many have stated that, great art can come through an artist being in a state of depression. This is exactly what happened during those times and hence, came to be called the Golden Age Of Cinema.
How Modernism influenced Cinema
The films were first influenced by Art Nouveau and Expressionism in the 1910s and early 1920s, film title cards of this era reflected modernist design with geometric forms, lines and angles and an overall modern look.
For example, these film titles for King Kong (1933) and Metropolis (1927) use diagonal lines, angular shapes and gradients that play on Art Deco forms associated with modern industry and cosmopolitan cities.
Effects of Lettering
With the different fonts being used to present the title, people added photos and symbols in the background which were important aspects of the movie. This is how advancement took place. At first, people were only concerned with how the movie is presented and not much with the titles whereas now, people started exploring the new ways in which they could make the audience feel even more displaced.
Both the Annie Oakley (1935) and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) film titles use a variety of these effects with decorative lettering, italics and two-tones. Additionally, each has a character silhouette in the background – Annie Oakley with her gun and Sherlock Holmes with his iconic pipe.
How lettering conveys the tone of the movie
For example, Letters laid out on irregular angles and on a diagonal across the screen is intended to convey almost foolish humour of the classic slapstick Horse Feathers (1932), featuring the Marx brothers.
All these are classic examples of how even little details help the audience to get more lost in the art that is film making. Even the people who choose not to notice such minor details and turn a blind eye towards this will somewhere notice these. They try to create a hypnotic effect like Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock or make sure that you feel you are in a different world by just seeing the opening titles of a movie like Call me by your name by Luca Guadinino. These are the elements which are on the foot front during the making of a film and are not at all overlooked. These have created such recognition that if someone wants to make a movie that instils a feeling of old cinema, you can easily write simple titles and right away, people would know it a movie relating to the old times. This is what La La Land by Damien Chazzelle did with its opening title.
