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    Artistic Typography in Metropolis

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    Callie Leuck
    1) The font used for intertitles in the silent film Metropolis was stylized with thick and thin strokes, and artistic serifs to complement the film's goal of being an art film rather than science fiction. 2) This font carried over to numbers, labels, and the single example of handwritten text shown, showing consistency across visual elements. 3) Though futuristic in setting, the artistic font aligned with Metropolis being an art film and helped engage audiences by making the essential intertitle text pleasant to read amidst dramatic visuals and story.

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    Artistic Typography in Metropolis

    Uploaded by

    Callie Leuck
    3K views2 pages
    1) The font used for intertitles in the silent film Metropolis was stylized with thick and thin strokes, and artistic serifs to complement the film's goal of being an art film rather than science fiction. 2) This font carried over to numbers, labels, and the single example of handwritten text shown, showing consistency across visual elements. 3) Though futuristic in setting, the artistic font aligned with Metropolis being an art film and helped engage audiences by making the essential intertitle text pleasant to read amidst dramatic visuals and story.

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    A look at the use of typography in Fritz Lang's 1927 black and white silent film Metropolis.

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    1) The font used for intertitles in the silent film Metropolis was stylized with thick and thin strokes, and artistic serifs to complement the film's goal of being an art film rather than science fiction. 2) This font carried over to numbers, labels, and the single example of handwritten text shown, showing consistency across visual elements. 3) Though futuristic in setting, the artistic font aligned with Metropolis being an art film and helped engage audiences by making the essential intertitle text pleasant to read amidst dramatic visuals and story.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    3K views2 pages

    Artistic Typography in Metropolis

    Uploaded by

    Callie Leuck
    1) The font used for intertitles in the silent film Metropolis was stylized with thick and thin strokes, and artistic serifs to complement the film's goal of being an art film rather than science fiction. 2) This font carried over to numbers, labels, and the single example of handwritten text shown, showing consistency across visual elements. 3) Though futuristic in setting, the artistic font aligned with Metropolis being an art film and helped engage audiences by making the essential intertitle text pleasant to read amidst dramatic visuals and story.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Artistic Typography in Metropolis

    By Callie Leuck
    If Metropolis was meant to be an art film, it thin transitions that are especially apparent in the
    would be a shame to overlook using font and following letters:
    typography artistically. Since Fritz Lang’s 1927
    film Metropolis was a silent film, the written word
    played a large role in story comprehension.
    This article will investigate the use of font and Figure 2: Letters from intertitles

    typography in Metropolis, specifically artistic The thick/thin transitions and the stylized
    use. It will specifically focus on the design of serifs give the font an artistic feel. Intertitles are
    the intertitles used for dialogue and narration important in silent film—Metropolis particularly
    throughout the film but will also briefly touch would be very difficult to understand without
    upon in-story writing such as notes, numbers, and the on-screen narration and dialogue. Therefore,
    labels. it becomes necessary to give the audience
    Intertitles are the black screens with white text information through text, and that text should be
    that display dialogue or narration in silent films. both appealing and readable.
    Because the technology to attach sound to film had It is somewhat curious that the font chosen for
    not been developed in 1927, film was very different the Metropolis intertitles is so artistically stylized,
    than it is today. given that the storyline is about a futuristic city,
    Actors used more extreme gestures and facial and not a more straight-lined, austere font;
    expressions than in movies today. Necessary however, Metropolis was not created as a science
    information was conveyed to the audience through fiction film, which is a genre it inspired, but as an
    means of the intertitles. As a result, the font and art film, so it makes sense to use the intertitles
    typography could play a large role in the film. artistically as well.
    It is not only the intertitles that are in an artistic
    style: numbers and text in the film’s city use the
    same—or at least a very similar—stylized font.

    Figure 1: An intertitle from Metropolis with inverted colors


    and lines added by the author to indicate the baseline, x-height,
    and ascender line
    Figure 3: The workers’ clock
    The font that was chosen or developed for Figure 3 shows highly stylized numbers on
    Metropolis has an x-height that is only slightly the clock depicting the 10-hour workday. These
    larger than half the height of the ascenders. The numbers are indicative of the style used in numbers
    font has serifs and the strokes have obvious thick/ throughout Metropolis.
    Figure 6 shows Josaphat’s address on a note
    written by Freder. This may be the only instance of
    handwriting shown in the film, and it is apparent
    that it contains the similar typographic elements
    as are used in the film’s intertitles.
    The same name is used in an intertitle that can be
    used to compare the typography of the two fonts.
    Figure 4: The inscription on the bust of Hel If the name “Josaphat” in the note (Figure 6) is
    Figure 4 shows part of the inscription on the bust compared to the name “Josaphat” in the intertitle
    of Hel. This font is in all capitals, so it is difficult (Figure 7) it is true that they are not the same. The
    to immediately compare to the font used in the “J” in the note is nearly as wide as it is tall, while
    intertitles. The font used for the title “HEL” is the “J” in the intertitle is perhaps four times as tall
    blockier with 90-degree angles and smaller, more as it is wide.
    stylized serifs than the Metropolis intertitle font. However, the thin/thick transitions are similar
    in the note and in the intertitles. The note looks to
    be written in calligraphy, so it is possible that the
    thick/thin transitions in the intertitle font were
    inspired by calligraphy. As the film was intended
    Figure 5: An intertitle in all capitals to be an art film, it would be sensible to use a
    To see the difference between the text font on the font inspired by a form of writing that is often
    inscription on the bust of Hel and the Metropolis considered to be a beautiful art form.
    intertitle font, look specifically at the letters “R” The typography used in Metropolis intertitles
    and “D” (Figures 4 and 5). Compared to the creates an artistic yet readable effect that is
    intertitle font, the bust text font has less sharp pleasant to look at while not frustrating audiences
    angles. The loop of the “R” and the “D” is not as who must read it in order to be able to follow the
    equal as in the intertitle font—it slopes differently storyline. The font exhibits stylized serifs, thick/
    on the descent. The bust text font is slightly tilted thin transitions, and an x-height that is only
    to the right, possibly italicized, while the intertitle slightly larger than half the height of the ascenders.
    font is very vertically straight. It jives with and adds to the overall feel of the film
    as a piece of art because the font itself is art.

    References
    Metropolis. Dir. Fritz Lang. Writ. Thea Von Harbou. Perfs.
    Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Helm. Purdue Convocations & The
    Long Center Theatre Organ Society, Sept. 18, 2009.

    TheTark. “I have put the entire 1927 silent Science Fiction


    film to the music of Pink Floyd. Watch all the parts to enjoy
    Figure 6: A note Freder wrote the whole movie.” 14 December 2008. Online video clip.
    YouTube. Accessed on 23 September 2009. <http://www.
    youtube.com/profile?user=TheTark&view=videos&query=
    metropolis>

    Chisholm, Brad. “Reading Intertitles.” Journal of Popular


    Figure 7: “Josaphat” in an intertitle Film and Television. 15:3 (1987:Fall) p.137.

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