Working with Fonts

    Personally I never anticipated that the subject of fonts would be a place of research in my project. I assumed I would just quickly pick a typeface for the necessary titles and be done with it. Oddly enough this was not the case. During the past few days I've been editing non stop in response to the looming deadlines. As a part of the editing I had to decide on typefaces for the typed words used in my film. I started by choosing the typeface for my opening credits. I tested several combinations of typeface and color and found that none of them felt fitting. Generally this would be a minor issue yet in a project where I am almost always without total control due to the collaborative aspect, I feel the need to be very precise with what I do control.
     This issue started with me having no knowledge as to how one goes about picking a font that feels fitting. I was merely trying each and deciding whether or not I liked it in the given context. This was an inefficient method, luckily I happen to know someone who does understand why typefaces do or don't work. My father, Bryan Bates, runs a web design and branding company called AWP. Now he himself does not work as a designer but he often plays a role in the process and interacts often with AWP's designer James McDonough. As a result he had plenty of information to pass onto me.
      He first divided typefaces into the two broad groups of Serif and Sans Serif, the difference being that Serif fonts have small strokes that extend beyond the ends of characters whereas Sans Serif do not. For this reason it's generally considered that Sans Serif fonts should be used when the text is large as the letters are more difficult to read. He also said that it's important to either use only one font or at least choose from the same family of font.
       My father then directed me to an article by Dan Mayer that you can find here. In this article Mayer separates fonts into five groups Geometric Sans, Humanist Sans, Old Style, Transitional and Modern, and Slab Serif. Geometric is both clear and modern yet can be boring as it lacks a lot of character. I decided this wasn't ideal. Humanist fonts are meant to derive from human handwriting. They're more detailed than geometric. The pros are that they are both human and clear, but they also can seem wishy washy and fake. In describing a font the use of fake and wishy washy confuses me yet these fonts also did not seem fitting. I continued to read on but found myself only looking at the font samples provided and not the descriptions that seemed to just be a place in which one can act pretentious. It's also entirely possible that I just don't understand design well enough to benefit from what he's saying.
          Nevertheless I ended up moving on to a different piece that was mentioned by James to my father. What I looked at can be found here. All it is a flow chart designed to help you pick a typeface. This seemed much more straightforward to me so I used it. Although I did not find that any of the fonts shown were the one I was looking for, it did give me a much better idea of how to select the desired typeface. Overall I found this piece more helpful.
         You may be wondering why you've had to just read through the research of fonts on a blog about film making. I will tell you why, when I wrote the script for this film I wrote it with the idea of a very distinct mood and feel being applied to the film. Unfortunately I have found that I am not equipped as a director to coordinate scenes in a way that creates this mood. As a result I've made the decision to give the film what distinction I can through my editing. This means that I am putting a lot of thought into my cuts, angles, pace and in this case font. I only wish to produce the best version of what I have full control over, even if that means spending an absurd amount of time on fonts.