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Typecasting: The Use and Misuse of Period Typography in Movies (2001)

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Re: Typecasting: The Use and Misuse of Period Typography in Movies (2001)

#31

Post by PDoyle »

bitwize wrote: post #3

One thing I noticed: People are starting to forget what old computer screens looked like. It could be because there's a shortage of actual, functional CRT monitors. But these days when an old computer is called for you are likely to see perfectly smooth, green text in Consolas or similar composited onto a prop screen, rather than actual glowing pixels. It's jarring and saddening, and it's happened in two films that I…

--minor spoilers--

But John Wick Chapter 2 is not a period piece. The VIC-20 is not meant to be a modern computer there. As I recall, they have women dressed as 1940s switchboard operators with prominent tattoos using VIC-20 keyboards connected to modern monitors to take orders for assassination of assassins -- tell me again which part of this seems out of place?

Re: Typecasting: The Use and Misuse of Period Typography in Movies (2001)

#32

Post by wst_ »

kccqzy wrote: post #5

I really admire the author for being able to identify so many types with just a few letterforms. I've had a passing interest in types so I can identify basic Microsoft/Apple free fonts as well as a few common Adobe ones like Minion Pro and Myriad Pro. I think I can identify perhaps at most thirty different typefaces. Anyone wants to chime in on how you are able to be familiar with so many more?

I believe he just has an experience. Some people can identify fonts, others programming languages. Even if you aren't a pro, just search for "guess font from image."

Re: Typecasting: The Use and Misuse of Period Typography in Movies (2001)

#35

Post by bitwize »

PDoyle wrote: post #31
bitwize wrote: post #3

One thing I noticed: People are starting to forget what old computer screens looked like. It could be because there's a shortage of actual, functional CRT monitors. But these days when an old computer is called for you are likely to see perfectly smooth, green text in Consolas or similar composited onto a prop screen, rather than actual glowing pixels. It's jarring and saddening, and it's happened in two films that I…

--minor spoilers-- But John Wick Chapter 2 is not a period piece. The VIC-20 is not meant to be a modern computer there. As I recall, they have women dressed as 1940s switchboard operators with prominent tattoos using VIC-20 keyboards connected to modern monitors to take orders for assassination of assassins -- tell me again which part of this seems out of place?

They were deliberately using old technology, presumably to avoid being traced by the police. I don't ask that realistic VIC-20 displays be used, I only ask that if they're going to employ this conceit, the displays be plausibly "old" and not have nice graphics.

Re: Typecasting: The Use and Misuse of Period Typography in Movies (2001)

#36

Post by ch4s3 »

rbanffy wrote: post #33

I abandoned TLC's Halt and Catch Fire when the IBM 3033 started up with a black on white CGA font on a 3278. And, of course, booting into PC-DOS. I made https://github.com/rbanffy/3270font for a reason.

So a time period error in one scene put you off of the whole show? I mean, there are a number of errors in any kind of period show, there's just too much to keep track of on a tv budget.

It's a pretty good show, and worth watching. I'd recommend skipping that episode if it bothers you and giving it a try.

Re: Typecasting: The Use and Misuse of Period Typography in Movies (2001)

#39

Post by earthbeing »

vidarh wrote: post #26
earthbeing wrote: post #21

Dude, get a life! I mean, does it really matter? Movies are flawed with much deeper issues that no one will ever care about types. When we correct the story and scientific reasoning behind the sci-fi movies, then we can think about use/misuse of types.

He wrote an article 16 years ago about a subject related to his career, and it is still drawing attention to his site and his work 16 years later. Seems like a good investment to write that article to me.

So you're basically saying that "how many people are attracted to your idea" is a good measure for value of that idea?

If only all those people in history thought like that, we'd still be living in caves.

Re: Typecasting: The Use and Misuse of Period Typography in Movies (2001)

#40

Post by mortenjorck »

vacri wrote: post #15
Jaruzel wrote: post #14

Being devil's advocate here for a moment... Surely ensuring that the text shown on screen is easily readable for the audience (especially so for exposition props such as newspapers), outweighs the need to be temporally correct with the typeface?

If you want to get that level of pedantic with films as the article does, then few will survive. 'Suspension of disbelief' is a thing for a reason; a movie maker is after immersion, not strict accuracy. It only needs to be historically accurate if they're claiming to be some sort of documentary.

Suspension of disbelief is always a continuum. A drama set in a hospital might have some very reasonable efforts at realism, enough to seem believable to an informed layperson, while a particular procedural oversight might completely ruin the immersion for a medical doctor in the audience.

As a designer, I might see Futura used in a sign in a period piece set two decades before Paul Renner designed the font, but not really care because the grotesks and early geometrics that preceded Futura bear a lot of similarities. But if I see Futura in a period piece set two centuries before the font was in use, that completely destroys the believability of the film's production design.

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