How important is type as an ingredient in filmmaking? We asked CHIPS, SPIN and Quentin Coulombier

As a craft, filmmaking is akin to conducting an orchestra. To bring a director’s vision for a film to life, in exacting detail, requires a symphony of sorts – numerous discrete, complex elements of light, sound, and motion need to fall into place, and come together to create an immersive world. Often argued to be one of the greatest art forms, it is a truly collaborative craft, which requires a careful braiding of different strands of creativity. Typography, albeit an often-overlooked element of a film, is a crucial slice of the big picture that adds to the intricate worldbuilding, subtly elevating the cinematic experience. To understand how nuanced decisions of type, both on and off screen, can add to the atmosphere of a film, we spoke to three designers – CHIPS’ Co-founder Teddy Blanks, SPIN’s Creative Director Tony Brook, and Paris-based graphic and type designer Quentin Coulombier – who’ve all been there, done that. For anyone who stuck around for the main-on-end sequence of Midsommar, Ari Aster’s unsettling horror film about a Swedish cult, there was a special treat tucked in the end. As the names of the cast and crew appear on screen, forget-me-nots, sweet peas and butter cups appear within the folds of the glyphs, often replacing an ‘O’ or an ‘I.’ The addition of the quivering blooms – which both nods to the now-iconic last shot of Florence Pugh wearing a dress and crown made of flowers, and also softens the stark form of the serif typeface – was an idea that sparked quite suddenly. Imagined by the New York-based design studio CHIPS, who also crafted the titles for Aster’s Hereditary and Beau Is Afraid – is a classic example of how a title sequence can help a motif or a theme of a film linger visually, as the credits roll. “Ari leans toward simple, elegant titles, but also wants them to have an impact,” says Co-founder Teddy Blanks. “To design the title for Midsommar, which takes place on a Swedish commune, I went to Thomas J. Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and looked at books about runes and rural life in Sweden, and Swedish typography,” he recalls, adding that some of this research led to ideas that were striking, but felt a bit ‘too much.’ Ultimately, CHIPS chose Berling, a handsome serif designed by Karl Erik Forsberg. “There is nothing inherently Swedish-looking about the font, but these associations can come through to an audience subconsciously – maybe that’s a little out there, but I believe it,” he notes. For most of the post-production process, the titles were just all-caps white text, set in the centre of a black screen. “The movie was very special, but the titles were… Well, they were nice looking, but also pretty boring,” admits Blanks. “Even though he seemed happy with them, I felt like I had somehow let Ari and his movie down.”