Typeface Development: Title + Credits

This blog post contains research on a bunch of typefaces and title ideas for our movie opening scene project. This blog post was done by my team member, Kristine, however I slightly changed her words into my own.

Examples I liked₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ

1. [⏺REC]

I liked this idea because the font and style of the text looks slightly different from other found footage titles, making it unique and special. The red dot and bracket basically gives the reader an impression that the movie is like a recording, so the audience knows it is a found footage film. In the second version, the blood splatters gives the audience an idea that the movie is going to involve sensitive topics such as murder, death, or gore. However, this title card was shown at the end because the filmmaker wanted to keep it realistic while still adding the title.

2. The Blair Witch Project

The opening scene was very short because the title card appeared before the movie started. In found footage films, an opening scene is not always necessary in order to keep it realistic. I like how the title was really simple (like a normal text) but it had strong reasons behind it. Using a small title makes the audience feel like they are watching raw, unedited footage, which helps keep the film immersive.

3. Grave Encounters

In my opinion, this was a clever way to add a title card because it didn’t really feel like one. What's particularly good about it is its font, because it stands out from other found footage movies. This is due to its distorted look, which gives off an uneasy feeling, such as paranoia or hallucination.

4. Cloverfield

This title card is really interesting because they purposely made it look like it came straight out of a camera (the timestamp and font). We could use this as an inspiration to help make our film feel more realistic. I like how the editor used different tech-style fonts to give the reader an impression that they're watching a video recording from a camera. 

5. Spree

This is actually similar to Grave Encounters, where the title card was hidden in the scene to keep it realistic. I think this opening scene is really cool and smooth because of how the transition was done (the app's name that was featured in the movie is also the movie's title). This serves as an inspiration to us because we could use the book’s title as our title card. I also like the simple, clean font with a red title, which gives off an eerie feeling, as the color red symbolizes danger.

Credit/names˖ . ݁✶⋆.˚

Starring:

1. Drew: Panji Wiradharma

2. Carrie: Kellie Collins

3. Lyla: Lamiya Zara

Editor:

1. Maisie Halomoan

Director:

1. Kristine Lambert

Why we might NOT add credits:

In a lot of cases, found footage films don't usually have opening credits in order to keep them realistic. Since we wanted the same style, we decided not to include any credits at the start. Adding them would break the immersive feeling towards the audience and make it feel less realistic.

10 typeface choices˚ ❀˚ ༘♡

Discussing connotations✿⋆𓆉︎⚘°

1. VCR

The picture above is an example of how it'll look like if put in our project. I like this font because it's basically the font that a lot of found footage movies use, hence it is very commonly seen. It keeps the found footage style authentic. However, what I don't like about this font is how the font looks too old for a modern found footage film, so it doesn’t match the 2019 setting that we decided on. On its own, the font looks weird and might need vintage filters to make it feel more realistic. Without them, it could break the film’s uniqueness as a found footage. 

2. Punktype

 

The picture above is how it'll look like if added into our video. The font looks glitchy and spooky, like a broken or haunted message. This makes it great for horror because it creates a feeling of fear and mystery. What I like about this font is that it looks handwritten, which is common in found footage horror. It makes it feel like it was really "found," making the movie more realistic. What I don’t like is that it looks too old for a modern setting like 2019. It doesn’t match the time and might look strange without vintage filters. The title card makes the movie feel real, like a police report or warning before something scary happens. Since it has no pictures or fancy effects, it looks unedited, like a real tape someone found. This makes the horror feel even more real and creepy.

Experiment☾𖤓

Title ideas

Opening text ideas

Reflectionʚɞ˚

Making this blog was really simple because I only had to add a little info to Kristine's work. This was an easy task because found footage doesn't really require much fonts and effects because that would destroy the illusion of realism. But this was challenging because not much found footage films have title cards or opening scenes. Luckily, as media evolved, more found footage films have been subverting this convention. Finding and choosing the fonts was easy for me because there was a feature in the dafont web where they had specific fonts for horror / typewriter.

 

Screen Test: Audience Feedback

This post explains how we showed a rough draft of our film opening to some members of our target audience in order to receive helpful feedback. This blog was made by me (Mai).

The purpose of a screen test is to gain audience feedback about our work and see if there are any improvements that can be made. We decided to use Google Forms to create a survey to share with our audience because it is very quick and easy to use for both me and the respondents. 

Questions✿˖˚ ༘𐙚

1. What do you like about the video?

2. What improvements can be made?

3. What do you think of the effects so far? (sound, lighting, coloring, etc.)

4. If you rate it low, how do you think we can improve?

5. Mention 3 words to describe the cursed book.

6. Mention 3 words to describe Drew (the boy).

7. Would you watch the rest of the movie?

8. Which title is better?

Evaluation❀༄

We specifically chose these questions because we want to make sure that all of the elements and techniques we chose to implement into our opening scene successfully reaches and affects the audience correctly. At the same time, we are also making room for improvements by directly giving the respondents the freedom to express their opinions and thoughts. Furthermore, we chose these questions to further understand the extent of how immersed our respondents feel while watching the video, as it is one of our main goals (to make the audience feel like they're a part of the events).

We showed the clip to three members of our target audience to ensure that the feedback we receive is appropriate. Finding people for the screen test was easy, because we used social media (Instagram story) to spread the word and ask for volunteers. Thankfully, due to how quick social media connects us with other people, we got three different volunteers to help us out in no time. 

Draft₊˚ʚ ᗢ

Results𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼

Conclusion❀ஐ〰

From the feedback, we learned that our opening scene needs to have more prolonged suspense to make the events more intense and unpredictable. However, we also learned that we have successfully conveyed some of our messages to our audience. For instance, we've succeeded in making the cursed book seem creepy and unsettling. We can tell from the words our respondents selected when asked to describe them. 

Since this is only a draft, there are many things missing in this opening scene. We are going to change some of the edits, because a respondent suggested to add more quick cuts involving black/blank screens. We will also change the coloring of the whole video, as it has been our plan from the start to make the opening scene seem more eerie. Lastly, as suggested by one of our respondents, we will also add more background music to help increase the thrill and suspense. 

This screen test was a useful part of our process because it helps open our minds towards broader aspects that can help us improve our project. Opinions from different people are really important because it helps us think of things that we couldn't think of ourselves. By being open to feedback, we are exposed to constructive criticism and advices that will help us better our project.

Reflection✿⊰𖡼𖥧𖤣

As the editor of the group, this screen test made editing so much easier for me because all the extra steps are already laid out on this blog. All I have to do is just treat it like a to do list and complete all of the added tasks that our respondents advised us to do. This screen test also expanded our knowledge on which media codes (like hermaneutic codes) that can be further implemented in our project to improve the elements of horror. This is because we had a senior who also takes media studies as one of our respondents. As someone who is more experienced, she was able to provide us with feedbacks using media terms/language.