Typography is an essential element in the visual identity of brands and products of all kinds, categories and industries. And in the cinema, where each and every one of the resources used helps to build a story, takes on special relevance. The director Sean Baker, recent winner of Oscar Award In the best direction, it seems to be aware of it and has turned the source Script etc.fin in an intrinsic component of your cinematographic style.
Baker has converted the typography, created by designers Alejandro Paul and Ángel Koziupa of Argentine study Southpesin practically a firm. And it has used it Since 2015 in the credits and posters of all filmsthat is, in the posters of “Tangerine”, “The Florida Project”, “Red Rocket”, and “Anora”, winner of the Oscar for Best Film. In this way, the one used in four of the nine films that make up its filmography.
Sean Baker is not the only case of a film director co -trained by a specific typography. There are other recent cases that show that the use of a source can become a fundamental part of the artistic personality of a filmmaker. It is worth mentioning, in this sense, the use of the source Albertus by John Carpenter in movie credits such as “Starman” or “Survive”; And the taste of Stanley Kubrick and Wes Anderson For typography Future In its different versions.
Baker follows the steps of Woody Allen that has turned the typography Windsor in a unifying element of his work, especially throughout the last two decades. The source, designed by Eleisha Pechey in 1905 for the Stephenson Blake smelting, is chosen by the director for credit titles since in 1977 he premiered “Annie Hall”; And since 2009, when he presented “if the thing works”, he has also starred in the promotional posters of his tapes.
Moreover, as Baker moved in an interview for the MUBI platform, he acknowledges that the use of the same typography is not an original idea. “I was inspired by John Carpenter and Woody Allen, sincerely”, Explained the director last October. “Now, when you see those sources, you think of those filmmakers and their films”
The cases of Allen and Baker are paradigmatic, and in the case of the second, remarkable since their last four films, which use the same typography, have been distributed by three different companies. However, both Magnolia and A24 and Neon have respected the director’s preference for the source, perhaps understanding the role that the visual element plays in the construction of your universe.
The Southtype studio describes script etchofine as “Gracile, but not too informal” and “artistic, but not too imposing“, which allows”A very daring writing” According to Baker, the choice of this typography was based on the search for something that was “stylistically interesting“For the initial title scene of” Tangerine “, which only represented the letters with a yellow table in the background.
I also sought the contrast. “I think it was a choice that was also made due to the subject, which I suppose is considered ‘rough’, based on reality, very street level“, Comet Baker regarding the source.”I wanted to go in the opposite direction and work with a typography that added elegance, that evoked a feeling of sophistication or whim”
After this he realized that if he continued to use the source in the rest of his films, which also address issues related to social reality, he would achieve An identification between the public and its cinema. “I like that there is coherence between my advertising material and the real credits”Baker points out, who says he works next to the design equipment of the distributors to incorporate the source into the promotion.
Sean Baker, in addition, advanced that he will continue to bet on etching script in his next films. With the use of the same source, the director not only challenges the spectator not to judge the story for his appearance, but gives this visual element the same importance as others that make up his work. He makes it the flag of his style.
