Practical Task: Typography

For this practical task, I researched different fonts and typography designs commonly used for the title of a horror movie. I then used the information found to create my own movie title. Additionally, it was imperative that I create a suitable name for our chosen genre of horror. For this reason, I decided on the name 'The Calling' for the purposes of this task. I chose this as it could represent both supernatural slasher horror as the term can be defined as "a strong urge towards a particular way of life or career; a vocation", which relates well to the genres stated; for example, a calling to kill or a supernatural calling.

Research:

The image attached below shows an example of a font in terms of typography used in many horror films. As the image shows, it is extremely common to used the dripping effect on the text, as though the title was written with a liquid that has run such as blood. This combined with the red colour represents the genre well, particularly slasher horror where blood and gore is key, and creates and overall scary and unsettling effect. 

Chopping Mall Title

Practical Task: 

The font that I chose for this task was called 'October Crow', taken from the Dafont.com website. I imported the image of the text into Photoshop and removed the back ground. To do this, I used the Lasso tool, circling the white background which was not desired, evident in the above screenshot. I then deleted these highlighted areas, leaving just the black title on a blank background, depicted as white and grey pixel squares, pictured below. 

Title on a Blank Background

Using a red colour, to signify blood as commonly shown in horror films, and the Re-Colour tool in Photoshop, I added a red outline to the text, evident in the image attached above. This added further dimension to the text and emphasised the 'dripping' effect of the letters; this adding to the eerie, unsettling effect created for audience when they see it, which corresponds well with the genre.

I then added a soft red glow to the title, using the layer style pop up from the right hand side of the screen. This glow further defined the harsh lines used in the font itself, and emphasised the red colour used as the outline to create a more gruesome effect to coincide with the slasher horror and blood sub-genre of horror.

Using the same pop-up, I also added a drop shadow to the text. This gave the title a 3D effect of sorts, making the name itself more defined and thus, stand out more. A Shadow also implies harsh lighting, potentially from a bright light in a dark room, which is a common representation in the horror genre.

Attached above shows the finished title in the Photoshop software. The colours used, red, black and white, are the most common colours associated with the horror genre, which proves that I adhered to the task set. Overall, the title looks extremely effective and represents the genre of the potential film opening genre successfully.

Below is the final title image which could be used for the film opening once I exported the file and saved it as a JPEG image ready for use:

Evaluation:

• The colours used are the typical colours used in the typical horror film, showing that I adhered to the brief set.
• The font itself is both creepy and eerie to coincide with both the slasher horror and supernatural horror sub-genres.
• Although difficult to work out at first, I feel that I used Photoshop well to my advantage in order to produce successful typography.
• The final product shows similar traits to my research, emphasising how well the typography is suited to the chosen genre.
• To improve, I could experiment with a wider range of colours or effects in order to explore another aspect of the horror genre.

Overall, I think the typography of the title created was both successful and has the potential to be used in the actual film opening, including the title that I chose to use.