Birdman poster and opening credits
The opening credits of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) are all about the the jazz percussions of Antonio Sánchez and an equally rhythmic play with its typography. It makes use of Bell Gothic Black in all caps, with some characters modified. The spur on ‘G’ is removed. ‘I’ lost its serifs and gained a dot. ‘J’ received a dot, too. The leg of ‘R’ is curved.
An article in The New Yorker unveils the whys and wherefores of the sequenced lettering:
The biggest surprise of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s new film, “Birdman,” is its opening credits: the typography (as seen in the trailer) is borrowed from that of Jean-Luc Godard’s color films of the mid-sixties, and Iñárritu’s credits are animated—with letters filling in onscreen in alphabetical order—exactly as Godard’s were in “Pierrot le Fou” (1965).
2 Comments on “Birdman poster and opening credits”
On the occasion of Godard’s 80th birthday in 2010, Atelier Carvalho Bernau together with Bernd Volmer created Jean-Luc, a typeface that is based on the title sequence lettering in Godard’s movies “Made in U.S.A.” and “2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle”.
The Godard-influenced type is a custom typeface. Not sure who did it.
That 'R’ is truly odd and unique.
Don’t know why they didn’t use Jean-Luc. It’s more even and well-executed.