How Many Shitty Meetings Did They Have About Those Quantum Of Solace Fonts?
If you've seen Quantum of Solace, then you remember how each location that James Bond traveled to was introduced by its own uniquely fonted title card. What was up with that? Don't get me wrong, the movie was great, and at least they didn't use typewriter sound effects, but still. I know that James Bond travels a lot for business and that it's important for understanding the narrative to actually know where he is, but all those fonts just seemed to be trying a little too hard, no? I feel like within five years those graphics will already look horribly outdated.
Even worse, you know that they must have had a dozen production meetings to discuss the fonts and make sure each one was just right and really EVOKED the location. You can almost imagine someone writing marketing-style "buzzwords" up on a white erase board to compile and send to the graphic designer for "inspiration."
FOR EXAMPLE...
SIESTA, GRAFFITI, RUM, CARNITAS, DILAPIDATED
RAIN, CEMENT, GRAY, COLD, BUSINESS, HEADQUARTERS
CIGARS, LEATHER, COCAINE, MUSCADET, PONTOON PLANES
ROMANCE, RENAISSANCE, PUCCINI, OLIVES, CHURCH, MAFIA
MODERN, METAL, HOLOCAUST, FASCISM, KAFKA (sic)
GEORGE CLOONEY, MORE LEATHER, PIZZA, PINKIE RINGS, SPORTS CARS
VODKA, COLD WAR, SNOW, COMMUNISM, VODKA, VODKA, THE '80S, GORBACHEV
Nailed it every time.
(images via GoldenFiddle)
Posted by Gabe at 2:00 PM in Behind The Scenes
Tags: James Bond | Quantum Of Solace
they didn't go to san francisco? pity. that font was banned from *all* my english classes back in the day.
Score = 0
Ha! Yes! This was distracting the crap out of me during the movie. I had a similar, but less hilarious, thought about the font meetings.
Score = 0
I felt the exact opposite and I'm a graphic designer so I win! I think those fonts are classy enough to age pretty gracefully.
Score = 0
I too am a designer, and I agree. Not distracting at all, and actually very nicely designed. I was, instead, distracted by the movie not being anything near as good as Casino Royale. Conversely, my associate said the only way the type wouldn't have bothered him, is if he was watching Quantum of Solace, directed by Wes Anderson, which now I need to see. Score by Mark Mothersbaugh, villains played by Bill Murray and Owen Wilson, how can it fail?
Score = 5
I couldn't agree less with the two graphic designers. This is like day 1 of graphic design school right? If you notice the graphic design then it is distracting. They fail because everyone is talking about them. They are obtrusive BECAUSE they were noticed. It's a James Bond movie, so at no point should people being noticing the fonts. If it were a movie about fonts that try too hard (Pixar meets that Halvetica movie), on the other hand, THEN they wouldn't have seem so out of place. What is it about designers forgetting that form follows function. Always? it's like that scene in Mad Men season 1 when Sal imagines opening his own shop where "content follows the art work" (or whatever). When I saw that scene I was like, "Oh, well....hope Sal is good with failing a lot." There's a big difference between art and design.
Score = 1
As a designer I cringed when you misspelled Helvetica. Also don't trash that font, Helvetica Neuve is quite simple and stunning.
As for these James Bond fonts, I'm sorry Gabe but they were the best parts of the movie. I missed 1/3 of it because my brain was all "you've seen this before, I didn't care for the Bourne Movies either body. Go into sleep mode pls."
Score = 0
Yep. My spelling sucks. That's why I'm not a professional speller. Or punctuation person. Did you notice my "?" boner ? I bring shame to my family. Anyway, I just read my comment again and I don't see where I trashed Helvetica. I rather like it and employ it often.
Score = 0
interestingly MK12 did the motion graphics for the movie and they are fuckin' amazing. The typefaces look like they were done at the last second or by an intern, though
Score = 0
Really, you're bitching about fonts? No, David Blaine.
Can we instead focus on that annoying rollover ad that's on every page?
Score = 3
Couldn't agree more.
Score = 0
yes, please. that ad is terrible and annoying and just plain awful.
Score = 1
whats funny is i work in advertising and this is EXACTLY the kind of bullshit we deal with from clients. probably the most spot on and hilarious post of the year. thanks.
Score = 0
i thought those were pretty cool. nice tough
Score = 0
Fonts MAKE ME SO MAD TOO. It wasn't the nonexistent narrative, the incoherent action scenes, the junior high-level concept of said action scenes (air, water, fire, earth, and MY DICK), the inexplicable exploding hotel, or the fact that this movie reverted to Roger Moore-era Bond and got everything wrong that Casino Royale got right - no, it was THE FONTS.
Score = -1
Excuse me, but they absolutely explained the exploding hotel. It was the power cells. They seemed very unstable.
Score = 2
i just laughed so loud at that comment, Gabe.
Score = 0
I enjoyed the fresh-seeming titles.
Score = -1
Obviously renewable energies are very unstable. If that was a coal powered hotel there would not have been a problem.
I'm a scientist. I know these things.
Score = 1
Sweet Baby Moses! It was so distracting. I do a lot of design for my high school newspaper, which makes me like 2 percent qualified to comment on aesthetics, but, seriously, I wanted to scream every time I saw it. It was honestly the worst part of the movie for me.
Score = 2
I haven't seen this movie but I will say that the fonts in Into the Wild were seriously THE WORST. I knew the movie was going to suck halfway through the opening credits. And I was right.
Score = 1
Seriously, the dude who directed "Quantum of Solace" also directed "Stranger Than Fiction" and if you've seen that film, you know the guy has a serious hard-on for crazy graphic design. I'm surprised Daniel Craig's dialogue didn't jump out of his mouth in crazy animated word bubbles.
Score = 3
The Siena font evokes A Room With A View!
Score = 0
"I know that James Bond travels a lot for business " is now my favourite understatement.
Quantum of Solace sucked, but I love that the villain wore a red Kabbalah string.
Score = 0
Calliwell, I think you meant Helvetica *Neue*, not Neuve. Just to be accurate.
Score = 2
It just got real real in here!
Score = 1
I actually loved the first Italian city font. The rest were too distracting.
Score = 0
I hated the fonts AND the opening credits (sooo AfterEffects for Beginners). I assumed that thing and the fonts were done by the same people with terrible, tacky taste.
Score = 0
I just saw the movie, and here's the weird thing: One of those screengrabs is wrong. I don't know if they changed the fonts for the US version or what, but in the print I just saw, Port Au Prince didn't have that bad '80s reggae album-cover font -- it's rendered in large block capitals in an scratched-up, old-fashioned ornate font. (I can't name the font -- I'm no graphic designer -- but if I had to sum it up in three words, it would be "Faded Circus Poster".)
Score = 0
Who cares if you're a designer or not. So am I and the titles and opening sequences sucked. Period. Designers don't have some sort of corner on the market on what is good just because they're designers. Hello London Olympics logo?!! The fact is, while I appreciate the team responsible for these were trying to push the boundaries of what we associate as familiar elements in 007 movies, these were distracting and in my personal opinion just tacky.
Score = 1
I liked them - but yes if we are talking about something like this they might have wanted to dial it back a bit.
Score = 0