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Typography of “Alien” (2014)
- Pxtl 10y agoFor moon, it's no wonder there's so much similarity - they heydey of space travel was he '80s, so Moon goes for a deliberately '70s and '80s vibe. You see this again in The Martian, where somehow by coincidence his only entertainment is Disco and Zork.
- vegabook 10y agoThis is a brilliant angle on an defining movie, the fairly flippant (and genuinely amusing) tone of the article belying very serious and in depth research. Indeed as a hobbyist font nut, I'm inspired to whip out Illustrator to try and recreate some of the designs so well detailed here. The self-destruct keyboard alone is a gem, the graphics on which are a perfect example of the transition period from 70s to 80s design themes. Bravo for bringing a 37-year old movie so effectively back to life from such an original perspective. Wish I had seen this in 2014.
- DanBC 10y agoThe self destruct instruction panel seems to contain an ESD warning label: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ESD+warning+sticker&iax=1&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ESD+warning+sticker&iax=1&ia=image...
- vermontdevil 10y agoBe sure to read the blade runner version on that site. It's great as well!
- argaldo 10y agoFor the lazy web: https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/ https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/
- timmytokyo 10y agoHere's the video of the title sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUtk96wURLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUtk96wURLE
- ghostDancer 10y agohttp://www.artofthetitle.com/title/alien/ http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/alien/
- msane 10y agoAnother great aspect of the first two Alien movies is that the musical score is very sparse and subtle. Those films don't need to use constant music to tell the viewer what to think or feel or notice, which is an amazing effect on it's own.
- lobster_johnson 10y agoThe story about the soundtrack is interesting in itself. Jerry Goldsmith originally composed a score which Scott rejected for being too classical (it had what I believe Goldsmith called a romantic musical theme), and cut major portions of, borrowing an earlier Goldsmith soundtrack is the process (which I believe they had used as a temp track during editing). Goldsmith didn't like it at all. There is also an interview clip on YouTube where he talks about it; the way he speaks of the incident, he is obviously bitter and considers it a terrible (and inexplicable) judgement on Scott's part. The rejected portions of the score (which is available as part of the soundtrack album) are beautiful, but the film score is also obviously superior. Edit: Here's the interview. https://youtu.be/U8bv0QDLI7M?t=481 https://youtu.be/U8bv0QDLI7M?t=481
- msane 10y agoI've heard this too and thought it was brilliant. So James Cameron even repeated this and added constraints on the music with the second movie James Horner thought he’d have six weeks to write the musical score. Instead, he had three weeks, and had to write some parts overnight. The movie was behind schedule, not even finished being filmed (let alone edited) when Horner arrived in England. What’s more, the recording studio he’d been provided with was outmoded, not equipped to handle the synthesizers he wanted to use. Horner called the experience a “nightmare,” and ended up writing the climactic musical cue overnight. Coming away with the impression that a James Cameron film was too stressful and rushed, he figured he’d never work with the director again. And he didn’t ... until Cameron approached him for Titanic. (That rushed Aliens score earned Horner an Oscar nomination, by the way.) It seems like there's a Machiavellian lesson there. There's a lot of great "making of" material on Aliens, which shows James Cameron being a genius on other aspects too.
- izacus 10y agoIf you want to admire more of the typography and great aestetic of Alien, the 2014 game Alien: Isolation is perfect for that. It pretty much encourages you to explore it's decomissioned (and of course Alien infested) Sevastopol station, which is lovingly built to mirror the original movie aestetic and it's full of terminals and other lore pieces :)
- mastry 10y agoAnother game that leans heavily on the typography and general atmosphere of Alien is Duskers[0]. Most of the reviews I read before playing the game made direct comparisons to the movie. [0] http://duskers.misfits-attic.com/ http://duskers.misfits-attic.com/
- radiorental 10y agoI came here to mention the game. Currently dipping in and out of it on PS4. They nailed the atmosphere.
- brohee 10y agoAs much as I loved the art direction, which I can only qualify as terrific, I greatly disliked the "running from closet to closet" gameplay...
- mikestew 10y agoI have probably a couple of hours into that game, before I got bored and gave up. In those few hours I have not seen a single alien. It's as if the game studio forgot the title of the game.
- brohee 10y agoOh AFAIK there is only one and you get to see quite too much of it considering you cannot really fight it, and the running from hiding place to hiding place...
- ZanyProgrammer 10y agoSometimes I feel like I'm the only programmer who doesn't have an interest in typography.
- chrisseaton 10y agoWhen I read articles about typography I feel like I'm reading pseudo science. They change something to do with kerning or whatever and then say it's better. Why is it better? It's not a falsifiable claim! When I write an article saying I'm doing something better in code I need to demonstrate it empirically. Maybe that's not a reasonable way to read a design article though.
- drittich 10y agoJust as with coding, there are both scientific and aesthetic aspects to it. Why choose?
- hasslein 10y agoPrecisely where does this blog post make any claim about kerning? Or province any argument or statement towards which font in the movie is "better?"
- chrisseaton 10y agoI didn't say anything about this article. Someone said they don't like reading about typography in general. I seconded and explained why.
- jfoutz 10y agoOff the top of my head, there are a couple of examples that might change your mind. Freeway road signs. They need to communicate what lane to be in to a broad range of drivers, in stressful situations, very quickly. You should never notice a good interchange sign. a quick glance is enough to know you need to be in the second or third lane. A bad sign leads to bad driving, or a missed exit, depending on the aggression of the driver. Airport signage is another pretty good example. I always look for the little man/woman symbols with an arrow pointing to the restrooms. I've missed signs that actually say "Restrooms ->" because there's so much visual clutter in airports. And i'm usually tired and a bit stressed out about making my connection. Perhaps it is pseudoscience. In this context, I'd be willing to agree it's all just learned conventions. I'd argue, studying those conventions, and exploiting them is more than nothing though. You should never remember a good sign. it's noticed, used and forgotten. You will always remember a bad sign.
- tgb 10y agoI found the typography of Interstellar interesting, if only because it may be the first time humanity has ever seen serifs in space.
- brute 10y agoFrom the Alien article: > This is most unusual, if only for being a serif (rather than sans-serif) on-screen computer font in a sci-fi movie.
- lowbloodsugar 10y agoIs there a word to describe the kind of person who gets a hard-on when reading this kind of stuff? I'm asking for a friend.
- panic 10y agoGreat article, but I have to laugh at the "hamburger" menu which slides the entire screen over just to show two links.
- rsync 10y agoSigh. I thought (before I saw the "2014") that this was finally a new typesetinthefuture post. I would love to see new entries there.
- eudox 10y agoThis month: https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/ https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/
- rsync 10y agoAwesome - thank you!
- tamana 10y agoIs he making an off joke when he claims that all the replicants are animatronic, not played by human actors? Or were there animatronic heads used in the movie?
- eudox 10y agoThat comment puzzled me as well. I don't know what the author meant.
- combatentropy 10y agoI'm hoping it's his dry sense of humor. He's also pointing out how the replicants have a problem with red-eye: "it's unfortunate that the producers couldn't find a way to work around such a simple photographic bugbear." In fact the filmmakers took great pains to add this golden glow to the replicants. It's no accident at all. In the Final Cut DVD, they talk about how they did it. I'm sure that Dave Addey watched this bonus feature, as analytical as he is. He mentions Harrison Ford's eyes catch this glow at one point, saying, "How strange! I'm sure it won't turn out to be significant." This must be more dry humor, because there's also the fan theory that Deckard is a replicant after all.
- ionwake 10y agoIt is oddly comforting to read this blog post, and compels me to post that, this is because a selection of the images, specifically the typographically focused ones, have been my default image posts on some boards for the passed couple of months. If it is a coincidence, one can see why, it is a beautiful film.
- amasad 10y agoReminds me of a similarly awesome blog deconstructing user interfaces in scifi: http://www.scifiinterfaces.com/ http://www.scifiinterfaces.com/
- rdtsc 10y agoI really like these kinds of articles. I would have never noticed most of these details. Enjoyed the carefully thought out icon design: https://typesetinthefuture.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/alien_semiotic_01_full.jpg https://typesetinthefuture.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/alien... Cryogenic vault -- the blue triangle pointing down to a stick figure. Photonic system -- has the letter F shaped by what looks like fiber optic channels. Radiation hazard is great too -- a stick figure dead on the ground, with the sickly bright orange color filling the top of the square. Then not all details could be consistent of course. And the whole self-destuct French vs English instruction bit was funny. Then the completely off the wall stuff-- 70s psychadelics creeped into the keyboard design, that was fascinating. What else would you put on a self-destruct computer console than "SHAKTI EXCESS", "PADME" and reference to a phychadelic trip?
- yolesaber 10y agoIf you are into industrial and globalized signage / semiotics, do yourself a favor and check out the Symbol Sourcebook -- https://www.amazon.com/Symbol-Sourcebook-Authoritative-International-Graphic/dp/0471288721 https://www.amazon.com/Symbol-Sourcebook-Authoritative-Inter... Some of the symbolism they use for computer operations are fascinating
- Khrisfame 10y agoNice
- Khrisfame 10y agoTop 5 Social Media Scams to Avoid http://www.gisttrace.com/2016/06/top-5-social-media-scams-to-avoid.html http://www.gisttrace.com/2016/06/top-5-social-media-scams-to...
- rdtsc 10y agoThe dissection of another classic -- Blade Runner on the same site: https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/ https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/
- jetcata 10y agoI also noticed the grammatical mistake on MU/TH/UR's screen after interrogation: it should have been 'Ensure', not 'Insure'!
- privong 10y ago> I also noticed the grammatical mistake on MU/TH/UR's screen after interrogation: it should have been 'Ensure', not 'Insure'! "Ensure" and "insure" are both valid words/spellings for this. The use of "insure" is far less common, for this meaning, though. Both include "to make (something) sure, certain, or safe" in their definitions: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ensure http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ensure http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insure http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insure