It's About Character (pun intended)

I fell in love with puppet theatre when I was a kid, and the fascination about it has never stopped entrancing me. There is something magical about the transference that occurs from puppeteer to puppet and vice versa, as the puppet character takes not only a life of it's own but starts controlling the life of the puppeteer!

As Ricky Syers, creator of Stix says in this video "I'm not really sure where Stix is going...but I am willing to go along for the ride".  This experience holds true for all of us who work in this or other forms of storytelling. We see our characters take a life of their own and have to be very careful not to intervene but simply clear the way to let them express themselves.

Like Gustave Baumann, a maker of marionettes and creator of The Puppet Wranglers said in his comment about the work of master Bill Dwiggins; "These animated pieces of wood, properly jointed, take on a life of their own, move about in ways you never dreamed of, and rewrite your script without bothering to ask permission."

William Addison Dwiggins (1880-1956) by the way, was a type designer (characters, get it?), calligrapher, typographer, illustrator and writer, one of the foremost contributors to the printing arts, but my admiration for him comes from the world he created through his Experimental Theatre, where some truly extraordinary characters came to life, in a meticulous carved environment where every element of design, wether visible to the audience or not, was made with the exacting precision of his great font designs, widely used in the book publishing industry, and carried today in digital form by Linotype.

Dwiggins is also credited with coining the term 'graphic designer' in 1922*


*Livingston, Alan and Isabella., 'Dictionary of graphic design and designers'. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992

What the Font?

Times New Roman. Arial. Helvetica. Comic Sans. Baskerville.

Serifs. Sans Serifs. Bolded. Italicized. 

Fonts are all over the place. Literally. There are thousands of fonts out there. Some are loved, others are hated by the masses *cough* Comic Sans *cough*

I have always been a huge supporter of custom and lesser-known fonts. They make everything from titles to lower thirds stand out. Sites like DaFont and FontSquirrel are fantastic resources to discover rad fonts.

My personal favorite font to use in my projects is Goodfish. I don't know why I like it so much, but it has kind of become my go-to lower third look. It's pretty casual, yet still looks professional enough for what I'm trying to accomplish.

That's something I love about fonts: there is one for every occasion. If you need a goofy, comic-like one for your quirky film then there's a font for that. If you need a slanty, old-fashioned style font for your historical film then there's a font for that. All you need to do is do a little digging and discovering. I personally have spent over an hour on DaFont, downloading a hundred fonts and adding them to my computer. The only thing one needs to watch out for is that some of the authors of the fonts have strict rules on when to use them. A few ask that you do not alter them, or even make a profit from them (i.e. don't use them in your film if you want to submit it to contests or festivals).

Imagine if Comic Sans was the only font in the world. Terrifying, isn't it?

Lots of people look right past it, but fonts can make or break a project. Take a look at the movie poster for some your favorite films. They all have unique and different titles that tell you a bit about the film before you even see it. Make an impression with a cool font!