It always seems strange to me that movie poster credits (or the billing block, as it’s known in the business) appear in those extremely condensed, skinny typefaces that are so hard to read. The reason for this has to do with film industry guidelines and a typographic technicality determined by the logo of the film on the poster. Type (or font) height is measured in units called points (this text you’re reading right now is 11 points, for example). Type width is not actually numerically measured at all, but is classified by “weight”—light, bold, extra bold, heavy, etc.
So, by most Hollywood labor union standards, the point size of the billing block has to be at least 25 to 35 percent of the point size of the title of the movie. Using an ultracondensed typeface allows the height of the characters to meet contractual obligations while still providing enough horizontal space to include all the required text.
And render it nearly indecipherable.
The image on the next page was scanned in at actual size from an ad in the New York Times, and in addition to the fact that the printing is terrible (see “CMYK”), the most important incidental information seems to be that it will be released on September 12 and is rated R. I think the creators should be better credited.
And by the way—as someone who sets type all the time for a living, I can tell you that using a smaller point size with a heavier width for billing blocks would be much easier to read and fit the space just fine. Like this.
First impression: Who made it?