Title Font Designing

So as you already know I have chosen my Short Film title to be Θάνατος which is the Greek word for death, linking in with my storyline. I have been trying to chose and come up with the font for my title however, have been struggling as only a elect few actually word with the Greek word due to the settings and origin of my computer (UK) as it isn't set in Greek. I attempt to sort this however, it did not solve anything so I decided to try and make my own phone or try to edit an already existing one as I didn't want a standard Microsoft one that would not be effective in setting the atmosphere for both the opening credits and poster.

So to begin with I sketched/wrote out the word Θάνατος to see if there was a way I could draw it out and then trace it digitally through photoshop and as I was doing this I began very neat and straight forward but then started to think about all of the symbols that would be surrounding the Ouija board and thought why not try something in the style of that. slightly more messy which is what ended up being the one at the bottom but then the way that it was messy I felt represented scratches almost which then got me thinking about maybe giving the title the effect as though it has been scratched into the poster or the opening shot which I did try to do at the bottom (in the picture) but it didn't work very well so I switched over to my computer to see what I would do on the internet/photoshop. However, I found that when I tried to write the wrote using the pencil and brush tools it wouldn't have the write effected and honestly looked really bad so I decided that instead of crying to create it from scratch perhaps I could edit a close english lettered version (Oavatoc) into looking like Θάνατος so I then decided to look up fonts with a scratchy look.



I used a website called DaFont to search for the font because I personally feel it is the best website to use as it has a giant variety of different font styles and the download files are 100% trusted and free. The font I ended up finding and using is xxii_scratch, I chose this font because it's very loose and messy which almost connotes at the person who wrote it's rush and careless behaviour as though they don't care how it looked it's just more important that they wrote this particular word. Also, to do this I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 which allows me to work with a transparent background so I will be able to save the text as a .PNG so when I go to place it onto my ancillary tasks I will have no problems with having to fit the background as it can then go onto any or overlay anything as it won't interfere with it.

I used the brush tool to create the first O into the Greek version Θ which was very simple as it was just a line but I had to alter it slightly to make it fit in with the rest of the font's theme. For the T and C it was a case of trail and error as I tried the same method as the O but it didn't seem to fit so instead I used the lasso tool to copy certain parts of other letters to join and add them onto the others to turn the T into τ and the C into ς and I was actually surprised by how well it worked out. The only thing I'm slightly wary of is the A's as the font automatically capitalises the letters with means the I can't make the A's matched the greek like the others or even add the accent onto the first A as it just looks out of place however, I do think that is looks okay without it and could work.

To place it onto my blog I had to change the fonts colour to white which I discovered makes it looks even messier then before for some reason and almost more chaotic which I'm not actually sure if I like or not. However, I think that effect could also be due to the drop shadow I put onto the font to make it stand out slightly on my blogs background which is something I intend not to use on the real thing as that is not something that would actually appear if someone wrote it/scratched it onto something, so I want to keep and add to the realism and the creepiness of the word and font. I really like this style and font but I do feel like I need to make some improvements and adjustments to do, to make it fit with the rest of the fonts I will be using but also if It looks better in black or white or maybe in red as though it was written in blood to give it a sinister and creepy look. Initially I wanted to include a shadow under it spelling out the word death however, I still want to do this but very subtle and in more of reflection, the colour of it depends on the final colour scheme of the poster and title sequence but I believe that a definition is needed for the audience because it adds to the intensity of everything as a whole but also, it could seem very confusing which would draw some people in but also be very off putting for an audience.