What is the font used for the credits at the bottom of a movie poster?
The short answer:
There is no one particular font used for movie poster credits.
The long answer:
The credits at the bottom of a movie poster are known as a billing block or credit block. The credit block consists of the names and titles of many of the “above the line” talent, key crew members, and others involved in the production of a film.
The billing also includes logos for motion picture studios and other film related properties, including the MPAA rating — these logos are known as bugs.
The order of names appearing in the movie’s billing are tightly regulated (as many aspects of film production are) via contracts by the various actors, agents, producers, director, etc. For example, some directors invoke the infamous “a film by” above title credit in their film’s billing.
Once you factor in all these names and titles, space becomes a premium in the billing block. That’s where a condensed typeface comes into play. Most good ultra condensed typefaces (usually sans serif) will work in a billing block.
A few popular movie poster credit fonts include:
One more ‘good ultra condensed font’ perfectly suitable for setting a ‘credit block’.: ‘Ohrada‘, by František Štorm..
I was wondering where someone would get these bugs you were talking about? I am doing a school project (a dvd sleeve), and I was wondering where a professional would get the vector based logos for say “DVD Video”, “Regional Coding”, and also what font the MPAA Ratings are done in? Thank you in advance for any replies.
-Jon
For vector based logos try brandsoftheworld.com I think the ones you are looking for should be there Jon.
I always wondered why they always write credits in those stretched letters… The reason is simple, indeed. :-)
I have been searching for the longest time for movie ratings font. Can anyone help me?
Alex, like the above person said “brandsoftheworld.com” might have the mpaa ratings.
Most things that are used in widespread publications are vector based files with a “eps” file extension.
Your best bet would be to google search mpaa vector file or something like that. :)
What is a convenient way to quickly produce a billing block? Are there any programs specifically designed to do such a thing? It’s easy to make the first part of the billing block (just small caps) but once you get into the “Production Designer”, “Music Composed By,” etc., where two layers of text are laid on top of one another, it’s fairly time-consuming and difficult to get everything lined up correctly.
Anyone have any ideas? Just curious…
Try STEELTONGS available at http://www.dafont.com
hey thomas, check out dafonts.com, the font titled steeltongs(free for download) has all the answers to your problems it automatically makes certain keys designated to say certain titles for people in a smaller size, just please try it and tell me it’s not perfect! I was having the exact same problem figuring out how to do that. check it out!
Another good font is SF Movie Poster available also from dafonts.com
jeff – wow! thanks for that tip about steeltongs. that’s ridiculously cool.
Thanks for the Steeltongs suggestion — its *perfect*!
What is the reason for the credit block appearing at the bottom and centred on a film poster? Is it just an accepted convention of posters? Thanks
Thanks for the informative post about movie poster typefaces!
Just as a sidenote (since someone asked) I believe that the “DVD Video” logo and the MPAA ratings are all registered trademarks. They’re probably okay to use in a high school or other personal project, but any commercial use could subject one to civil liability.
Version 3 of the the billing block template has been released,
billing-block.com has more information on the movie poster credits block.
Thanks to posterwire for you support.