Maybe emulate the eye when scanning/reading. Very quick jumps from fixation to fixation, and moving between wide-angle views of the texture and very high zooms of ~3 glyphs at a time.

hhp

Well, do you want it to be clean (digital data) or realistic/"haptic" (filming a printed sample); immersive or conceptual; dynamic or meditative; informative or exciting…? I'd say how to "film" a font depends on a multitude of variables. Consider the type of font, the font itself, the concept of the video, the target audience, target resolution/compression/platform, run time, and audio.
Sorry I don't know of any examples. But it might help to compile a list of adjectives or a description of what the finished video should "feel" like, & then dive into film/video theory if necessary and figure out a way to achieve the desired result from there.

Thanks all for the input!
Let me put more info then:
I want to film several typafaces of all type (sans, serif, cursive, bold, etc…)
The concept of the video is to show/teach (to studantes or type designer aspirants) the development of the typeface. The options taken by the designer, etc…
I will have a clean (digital data) presentation and also a realistic approach (filming the typaface in use- like a book ou poster);
The quality will be DVD.

António

"The concept of the video is to show/teach (to studantes or type designer aspirants) the development of the typeface. The options taken by the designer, etc…"
Interesting. So more of a documentary/educational type thing than a flashy promo piece.
I like your idea of combining digital data with actually filming printed pieces. After all that's the abstract-to-material process that all people using a font will go through.

When filming the printed stuff, make sure the image quality really shows off the pieces. Avoid sacrificing quality before going to DVD. Shallow depth of field tends to look aesthetic to people in macro (which is probably because it makes sense when compared with our own visual apparatus). Do you have a good camera at your disposal, with a macro lens? Even better, do you have a good cinematographer at your disposal? And an editor?
Also, select the samples very carefully, as even the texture of the paper might be quite visible. Think about focus and blur, and about still or moving camera (and be aware that doing moving camera well – especially if this is going to be macro shots – will require some equipment (besides training and/or lots of luck), at the very least a really good video tripod). Also, be prepared to spend a lot of thought and time on lighting.
(Sorry if I'm obnoxious, and/or stating the obvious. I've been doing a bit of video work, and I'm not aware of how much experience you have with all of this.)

Anyway: So are you just going to show the fonts and nothing else? It might be way cool to actually interview the respective designers (or maybe just one or two). Maybe you can get them to talk about one or two individual glyphs in depth, and juxtapose/overlay that footage with the actual glyph "coming together"? Or maybe even show them showing/explaining some sketches!
This may be way beyond your budget or options. But, consider that connecting / getting captured is easier with human faces than typefaces for most people. And if you can't actually travel and meet the designers, talk to them on the phone or have them record a few musings on tape (assuming they're alive today), and play that while you show off the glyphs.

Hi altaira

Thanks for all input

>>So more of a documentary/educational type thing than a flashy promo piece.
I call it documentary...

>>Shallow depth of field
Yes! that a good point...Thanks

>>I’ve been doing a bit of video work
Me too. All the image, sound, etc is covered...

>>texture of the paper might be quite visible
Hmm...this may be a problem, since my original ideia is to use samples of the printed material...I cant change the texture of the paper. But thanks for point that.

>>interview the respective designers
Yes...thats the ideia, and also the reason for the other post.

>>This may be way beyond your budget or options
This is in pré-production. No budget studies yet, but It will not be a huge production and the designers live close:-)

António

"I cant change the texture of the paper"
Obviously not, but you can pay attention to it (which samples you use, how you light them, how close you go). I've sometimes taken macro shots of stuff I printed out myself on my cheap laser just because I was infatuated with the font used. Then at second glance the print quality (or lack thereof) and cheap paper really ruined those shots…

"thats the ideia, and also the reason for the other post"
:-) My brain sometimes isn't networking all that much.
Nice!

I'd been meaning to get back to this, if only because I like the
sound of the project, although I don't have any great ideas...
How is this moving along?

hhp

hrant

We are in pre-production...get in deep investigation about the object of our Documentary (don't want to get in details now...) gathering stuff, reading, etc...

I just got my copy of "Adrian Frutiger, the man of black and white" to get more good ideias about how to film a typeface and a typeface designer by the way...

António