Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Fonts to use in Horror Movies!

Poltergeist Regular
This font is effective because it looks a little bit distorted, like it's glitching out on a screen, like something is going wrong, it also looks like somebody has written this title in blood and then crossed through it with something, which suggests that there might be some kind of anger or tension between certain characters. The font also looks almost holographic which could mean that there is some kind of distraction that a murderer has possibly set to throw the police off their trail or mental illness projecting something that isn't really there. Another idea could be that because it's so distorted, it could represent a phantom, poltergeist or even a demon, terrorizing the living and playing with their minds, as parts of the lettersvare scattered, like parts of souls are scatted across worlds. The letters are also all in capitals indicating that something dangerous happens in the film and the audience is being warned, the font is big, indicating that there is something big that happens in the story line and that this big event is important. The letters are also in black, connoting death or corruption.

Horror Regular
This font is effective because the words look as if they've been painted. This font would be good for a slasher. If the title was in red, it would be more effective because it would look like the letters had been painted in blood, which suggests that there is most likely a murder involved. As this title is actually in black, this could also indicate that there has been a death and also that when blood dries out, it goes darker, so maybe there is some kind of killing spree that has just started going wrong as the un-sub has lost patience or grown tired or an unsolved murder which also relates to the colour as black connotes to the 'unknown'. It also suggest that the characters or the film it's self has a darker side to it, maybe there is a twisted story line in there somewhere.
CRM American Horror
This font is effective because it looks tribal (E.g; Native-American Indians) this may relate to the paranormal/supernatural sub-genre of horror as Native-American Indians are very spiritual and protective over their land. Indian burial grounds are very dangerous places to build on and many unhappy spirits could dwell there causing trouble for the living as they try to scare them off. This font is also in black, but this may refer to the black paint that Native-American Indians paint themselves with before a celebration or when they go to hunt. This would also work if the font was red as, not only would it relate to blood, but the tribal societies also wear red when they go out to hunt as shown is this picture;

Again, the black could connote to darkness and no way out. The idea of darkness and tribal with this type of font could show that the film is something to do with monsters- More specifically, werewolves as they are referred to along with vampires as the 'creatures of the night' as they supposedly come out in the full moonlight and hunt in the dark. Werewolves are also 'beasts' and are said to loose their humanity when in their beast form. They live by animal instinct, meaning that when they're hungry, THEY WILL KILL!
This could relate to how the antagonist will not stop once they have set their sights on their next victim, so there is no escape from them and they will get you.

These fonts effect the audience in different ways. for example;

  • The first font may make the audience feel unsettled due to the phantom-like style of the letters, as they would be if there was actually some eery, strange feeling entity like that in their house, playing with their minds.
  • The second font may make the audience feel unsafe, like there's a stone cold killer waiting around the corner.