Papyrus!? Really!?
Submitted by adam on Wed, 12/16/2009 - 15:31:14
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James Cameron's new movie Avatar might have the largest budget in the history of movie making that includes $150 million for marketing alone.
So what font did they choose to represent their vision and set the tone of the film? Papyrus.
Wow. That's. just. awful.
It's all over the trailer too:
**UPDATE**
It looks like the font used in the movie is actually a hand-drawn custom font that just happens to look EXACTLY like Papyrus.
(that's Papyrus in red on top of the movie font)
I think this is actually worse than using Papyrus itself. With $150 million dollars, they came up with that.
It doesn't only look exactly like Papyrus, it's clearly based on it too. Look at this close up of the 'V'. The awful jagged edges of Papyrus follow the contours of the movie font perfectly.
Absolutely indefensible.
I think what happened here
I think what happened here (don't ask me how or why) is that the design team took Papyrus and "customized" it from there, like the cut-away bits in the A and R. Everything else is just far too similar.
C'mon, you really are gonna
C'mon, you really are gonna get upset about AVATAR being set in Papyrus? This is a result of paradigm conflict, not poor design. Movie titling is designed to be as approachable and agreeable to as many persons as possible, not to serve creativity first and foremost. I'm surprised it wasn't by default set in Trajan.
It's Papyrus. Papyrus. One
It's Papyrus.
Papyrus.
One more time.
Papyrus.
How do you NOT get upset when you see it's Papyrus is the question? Movie titling is a little more than just being agreeable and approachable. I threw my face into my palm when i read that. If it was agreeable then maybe Papyrus is appropriate, the script was kinda mac'n cheese afterall. Who knows. You know Comic Sans might be getting it's hopes up for the big screen now.
Stop being over dramatic.
Stop being over dramatic. Hell, it's just a font, they made a poor choice, we're all laughing. Get over yourself and watch the movie, 'cause cheesy font or not, it's a work of art.
The movie is awesome and
The movie is awesome and wonderfully enjoyable.
Not a work of art.
It's NOT Papyrus. NOT
It's NOT Papyrus.
NOT Papyrus.
One more time.
NOT Papyrus.
Look at the papyrus T.
not the same.
Indeed; print that on some
Indeed; print that on some vellum and it looks like a suburban wedding invitation. What's really indefensible here are James Cameron's self-proclamations of Godlike status and his Academy Awards.
It seems as if they
It seems as if they stretched, skewed, cut and pasted parts of the typeface to get this abomination. Notice the divits in the A's, they become bigger and more pronounced compared to Papyrus. I can almost look past the title, since I only have to see it once.
But then the subtitles...
And then the vertically stretched "AVATAR" across the whole screen at the end....
$300 mill and he uses a FREE font? Unforgivable.
http://www.wsp35.com/avatarco
http://www.wsp35.com/avatarcomicsans.jpg
Can I be a graphic designer for James Cameron now?
That ain't a "hand-drawn
That ain't a "hand-drawn custom font," that's starting with Papyrus, outlining it, and tweaking it ever-so-slightly in Illustrator. Big difference.
I spent some time working for
I spent some time working for a great man who took great care of crafting identity for film. Tim Girvin. He has an interesting post about how when he previewed an early treatment of the film, he tried to get in touch with Cameron's team regarding the project. Sadly, it appears they went the way of the Recession and just "tweaked" Papyrus.
See: http://www.girvin.com/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=3570 or http://www.girvin.com/blog/?p=3570 for more
Wow, do you all write in
Wow, do you all write in indecipherable scrawl so you can be unique? I paid my money, saw a great movie, and was completely unfazed by the font. In point of fact outside of the subtitles being easy to read the font had zero effect on my movie viewing pleasure. You act hurt because a "super human" created a work of art that failed to meet your standards. Do you also criticize flowers because their petals don't curl just so? Try to see things as a whole and don't miss the wonders by burying yourselves in minutia.
I was really, really hoping
I was really, really hoping for Helvetica.
By not using it he has ruined his chances for an Academy Award. Helvetica patrons will not forgive the slight.
Seriously: look up the movie documentary "Helvetica." It is available on NetFlix. I was amazed that there were people who actually like that font!
Other notable
Other notable sightings:
Aaron Weyenberg did a much better job than me comparing the Avatar title letters to the Papyrus font.
And The Font Feed has chimed in with their two cents in their latest issue of ScreenFonts. They weren't very critical.
Okay gotta ask - what IS all
Okay gotta ask - what IS all the vitriol about a font about? I don't get it? People might not like a particular font, but that's just a matter of taste. Why is there so much going on and peole being mad and upset over the use of Papyrus? It's all over the internet, not just here.
That's the point...it's
That's the point...it's everywhere. Hell, even the paper company in your local mall named Papyrus uses it. For a film like this, which is big, epic, etc., it should have been something custom that is unique and captures the essence of the film. Basically, something with a little more thought.
BUT, I will speak up for my fellow designer (whoever is responsible for the logo), it's usually not their final say. It's usually some office type who doesn't know a thing about design that has the final approval...which I've been in the unfortunate position more times than I would have liked. So, more likely than not, the designer on this is probably justa as frustrated (if not more so) than we are.
James
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