Credits and Fonts

    Before adding the text to the video, I wanted to see which fonts would work best for the title and credits. I also want to see if I should also have a different font for the "denial" text.

    I looked around for websites that could help me find a perfect title font. After searching for a while, I realized there most likely is no set formula to how to find a font for your film. Everything depends on the genre, context, mood, and audience. However, I found a few useful tips from websites such as Action VFX and Drizy Studio.

• make sure everything is legible
• choose fonts from the same family, but varying in weight
• pair fonts - one that works for credits and one for the title
• get feedback from others

    So, I'll need to look for fonts after researching common fonts in coming of age films.

Titles

    For coming of age films, I noticed two common trends. Many films in that category use a very basic, easy-to-read font for their title. This is most likely the easiest way to attract the teenage audience and keep the title legible. Below are two posters for coming-of-age films that I've already researched, Eighth Grade and Mid90s. Although both films are centered around kids, they still contain a basic, legible font.

    Another common font I noticed were those that look handwritten. Handwritten fonts tend to look more informal and unserious. However, there are some of them that have more formal handwriting. In some cases, it makes it seem more sentimental. Below are the posters for two other coming-of-age films, Boyhood and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. They have very different plots, yet handwriting fonts both fit due to the specific context of the film.

More formal handwriting to show
maturity and a serious topic

Childish font used to emphasize
his adolescence

    I think a font that looks like handwriting would specifically fit for our film because the title is based off of Valerie's writing to Mara. If we were to do this, I would find a font that has more formal writing, to show how much Valerie has matured throughout the movie when she finally writes the letter back. A more basic text, however, could emphasize Mara's numb feelings and overall the feelings that come with grief. 

    I looked for both simple fonts and a handwriting font for the film so our group can choose. I found a website that shows fonts that are free for commercial use called FontSpace (found here). What I like about this website is that you can type anything for any font to see how it looks. Here are a few fonts that I felt fit well for our film:

Credits/Names

    After researching the usual order for credits in films, I created a list that would most likely work best for the film. Typically, the credits begin with the distribution and production company, title, and then the least to most important credits. In more high-budget, full feature films, the opening credits contain many more specific roles. However, as we have more basic roles, I listed the ones that we have with the typical order that most films use.

1. Distribution company
2. Production company
3. Actress for Bella - fake name
4. Actress for Mara - fake name
5. Actress for Valerie - fake name
6. Film title - Dear Mara
7. Sound editor - Lucia
8. Video editor - Alexandra
9. Cinematographer - Lucia
10. Producer - Alexandra
11. Writer - Andrea
12. Director - Lucia

    With every coming-of-age film I've seen, the credits are typically basic fonts. Using the tips from the websites I was reading, I want them all to be the same font, but the weight changes when it comes to the name. There are many films that use this, but unfortunately one of the only ones I could find on YouTube was one that I've already talked about, The Half of It. However, it is still a good example of using a very basic, legible font that varies in size depending on the role and name.

(The credits begin at 1:20)

Stages

    When it comes to showing chapters of the five stages of grief, I looked for the films that we originally took inspiration from.

    In La La Land, the story is split into seasons. When it shows the text for each season, it uses the same Hollywood style font as used in the title. This font is very simple and thin, so using the same font fits. With Everything Everywhere All At Once, however, the two fonts contrast heavily. The title for the film uses strong, bold letters, while the different "parts" use a more thin, formal font. I can't find any information about why, but it could be to make sure the entire film doesn't feel as intense as its title font.
    

    When it comes to our title font, it's also soft and legible, like the font used in La La Land. I believe if we use the same font for the title and the 5 stages, it would fit the mood of the overall movie. It also gave me the idea of using animation with that text. Since it's "handwriting", the text could come in as if someone was writing the text. I've always been into making cool effects like this in other videos.

    This is a topic that my group members and I agreed to all research so we can see what is best for our film and we can come to a final decision. I'll update on this soon!