Typography of Title Cards

In my first post I admitted to being a self-confessed movie fanatic and a student of graphic design. As a result, I find myself intrigued by the presence of typography in movies, particularly in title cards. In this post I have cumulated my favourite examples from the bold domineering san serif of Killing Eve to the chaotic scrawl of Ten Things I Hate About You.

I am fascinated by the way that title cards inform the audience about what they are about to see. When combined with music, they can set the mood of the film whilst linking the craft of film making to graphic design. From research I have found that the history of title cards/sequences stems back to silent films where title cards provided context to the films which was essential due to the absence of dialogue. They were the product of collaboration between screenwriters, lettering artists and directors. The main title itself was more a result of legality, copyright and marketing information and therefore the choice of typeface was always based on clarity. This was until the 1950s when typefaces became more expressive to reflect the content of the film. This was significantly developed through artists such as Saul Bass who began to experiment with montages and paper cut animation. Nowadays, title sequences are used to evoke a mood, set the scene, introduce actors and overall work as the primary impression that the audience have of a film. Bearing this in mind here are some of my personal favourites: