research and development on text in documentaries

This is my research and development on text in documentaries which is written and researched by me (Sharon).

How a best friend's betrayal led to a concrete grave. True Crime Documentary. - 2024 (youtube)

This is an example of text in the documentary, the text here was very thin, bolder, more un proportional. Bold is used to show and highlight the importance, they also use red text in this crime documentary as they connotes as dangerous and important. Other then that thin is used to make it seem more unsettling which creates the illusion of more dramatic and artistic which matches the theme of the documentary which is crime. This will make the audience feel the danger and unsettling feeling from the typography.

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez | Official Trailer | Netflix - (2020)

The text found in this documentary trailer is formal, neat and bold. Bold is simple but very straightforward and clear which reflects on the documentary being serious. They bold the name as the most important part but it made it consistent as to look cohesive and more professional showing the orderliness of the documentary, audience will assume that this is a serious documentary.  

This is our documentary's text. We choose Times New Romans for our first try, this is as it is a mix of formal but thin. Formality is used to show the seriousness of the situation, but also with a mix of thin font as it is used to make the audience feel unsettling 

However since we want to try more fonts for our documentary, I tried some on canva to see which matched our crime documentary more. 

Times New Romans is very bold and neat which creates the feeling of seriousness that can be used for our crime documentary. As Times New Romans are used among formal newspapers, documents, ect then using this in a crime documentary will show sense of authority and professionalism esp when the crime documentary is historical which is why our documentary tried using Times New Romans to convey all these into the audience. 

NewLetter font is similar to Times New Roman. However, they show difference in boldness and formalness from the NewLetter font more thin and long in the edge which shows more informal but not too informal aswell. The reason I was interested in NewLetter is because they are more informal which gives the audience more connection by being more less authoritative.

NewsCycle is very thin, yet they are more formal and clean. I was also interested in that as-well as they are very minimalistic and neutral yet professional which makes it easier for audience to digest information from the crime documentary.  

Tallow Sans Pen is more personalized as the font gives off handwritten look. This can build personal connection between the crime documentary and audience and can give the natural narrative feel to the audience. However since our documentary is filled with interviews from student, investgator then it is already in the formal category.

Jeepers and Charu Chandan Blood Drip is very toward the informal and uneasy type of font. This is as the font creates discomfort from unusual shapes and blood drip, which is more toward the horror type. However, since our documentary is not very vulgar with murder and blood then it does not suit our category even if other crime documentaries use this type of fonts. 

Shadows Into Light Two is a very thin font that I was experimenting with. The font is very light, informal but not unprofessional, subtle. However it is too thin which makes it feel too informal for the audience.

Our final text used for the edits in the crime documentary:

after experimenting with fonts, the font decided to be used isn't in any of the text above as it doesn't click as much with our documentary. However, we used the font Helvetica as it is also widely known and used.  Helvetica is a font which shows formalness, cleanliness and modern feeling to the audience. This is as it looks professional which makes the audience trust the crime documentary more due to the text being straightforward, clean, and easily digestible for the audience to read to make sure audience focus on the crime documentary's narrative