Silent Film Intertitle
サイレント映画の字幕カード / 1900s–1920s / Technique / Film Technology
Dialogue and description were cut into the film as separate cards of type. This is where cinema and typography first met.
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At a glance
Visual cues
- Text cards on black
- Ornamental frames
- Hand lettering
- Alternating rhythm with the action
Best used for
- Short films watched without sound that need dialogue on separate cards
- Chapter breaks and advertising borrowing the manner of the silent era
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Different faces for speech and narration, trimmed to fit one card
- Composition
- Center the text and keep even space on all four sides
- Material
- White out of black, with a faint film weave and gate flicker
- Caution
- Cards that explain too much stop the flow every time they appear, and the film turns into something to be read rather than watched.
- Further study
- The intertitle lettering artists / language-version replacements / the disappearance with sound
Related entries
- German Expressionist Film (ドイツ表現主義映画)Shared effects: Nostalgia.Compare Silent Film Intertitle and German Expressionist Film
- Saul Bass Title Design (ソール・バスのタイトルデザイン)Editorially linked for a useful contrast.Compare Silent Film Intertitle and Saul Bass Title Design
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Cite this entry
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- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/silent-intertitle
- Markdown
- [Silent Film Intertitle — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/silent-intertitle)
- HTML
- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/silent-intertitle">Silent Film Intertitle — IndexStyle</a>