Font Analysis

All modern fonts can be divided into two groups.
These are Serif fonts, and Sans Serif fonts.

The difference between these two types of font, is the extra details added to the letters (as shown in the picture below). These details are called ‘Serifs’, so fonts with these added details are called Serif fonts/typefaces, and fonts without are called Sans Serif fonts, (as sans is French for without).

Serif fonts are generally more formal looking, and quite often look old-fashioned and traditional.
Sans Serif fonts are the opposite. They look informal, friendly, soft and also more modern.

The poster for the movie ‘Pearl Harbour’ uses an upper-case  Serif font, which looks very formal and serious. This also represents the military element of the film, as it looks like an ‘official’ font, and very regimented. Also, the letters are spaced quite far apart, and almost look like soldiers standing in a line. The colour white is also used, because it makes the title stand out from the darker background, and possibly out of respect to the many killed during the attack on Pearl Harbour in WW2.

The movie ‘Rocky’ uses a large, bold, Sans Serif font. The Sans Serif font (Franklin Gothic Heavy) makes the title look soft and friendly, whereas the bold capital letters make it look tough and strong. This represents the character Rocky in the movie, who is a gentle, kind and caring man, but also very tough, strong and stern.

This shows how much the type of font can reveal about a film just by looking at the poster or seeing the opening credits.