font recommendations for video/film

can anyone direct me to a site, or some info, that gives good tips for creating readable fonts on DV destined for the TV? I'm subtitling a small project.

Thanks!

Mac Pro 2.66/30" Cinema/2GB/2x500GB/MacBook Pro 2.16, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Jun 1, 2007 10:09 PM

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12 replies

Jun 1, 2007 11:34 PM in response to worldwidestudios

Wasn't sure if the type of font for example mattered. ie. TTF's are better than non-TTF's (whatever that may be - PS? System?) etc. due to how the font was made or designed. Not so much type, I know what feel I am after. I've also seen people border-ize / outline the font somehow, though I don't have any fonts that look as such (eg. a slight black border around each letter (white)).

Thanks

Jun 10, 2007 5:26 PM in response to worldwidestudios

What do you define as "readable"? I mean, there are
likely some suggestions out there, but it's really a
matter of personal situation. You should have an
external monitor to do tests.


I have never used an external NTSC monitor to view my stuff along the way, but it would be useful. I think I still have an old Amiga 1080 monitor (they were NTSC and in college I used my Amiga monitor as a TV by routing through my VCR) - would this work? Could I hook this up somehow to my Mac and view projects on there, or do I have to dump to tape, and hook up my camera to it, etc. to view.

Thanks!

Jun 10, 2007 5:43 PM in response to Mike Meyer1

All great suggestions and if you can get away with white and a black drop shadow that's best.

Not all font will be white, but it is easily the most readable in most circumstances.

Now that is not to say that I've never used colored font, but it's almost always in a tacky car commercial in which some announcer is screaming bloody murder about the newest and greatest deals. In other words...deliberately tacky.

Jun 12, 2007 12:07 PM in response to Mike Meyer1

I've used Strayhorn Bold (from fonts.com) for years, and I still love it. It's a clean, sans serif font that is slightly condensed (giving you more characters per line), and it has more character than, say, Helvetica. It is clean at smaller point sizes and also looks very good on DVD sleeve labels. My absolute favorite font of all that I've used.

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font recommendations for video/film

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