Typophile

(x) "Robin Hood" title sequences - custom by Prologue Films, various suggestions {Henry, Mike Y, Mike F}

smithcraft

Does anyone recognize the typeface used in the titles for the new Robin Hood? While I know that designers of titles and credits for the movies will often create their own, I'm quite sure I've seen this one before.

Only caps and small caps are used. One of the variant forms includes a capital R with an exceptionally long leg, which sometimes forces a smaller version of the letter following it; and inside the O is a dot, which to my eye looks diamond-shaped. So I thought of Adobe Jensen, which uses diamonds in its dotted punctuation marks, and the D and the H are similar, though in the titles the H looks taller, narrower. And there are no variations of the R or O that have those special features. In the closing credits, I also noticed a variant M, in which the three legs were roughly parallel but the tops were rounded, and sloped downward to the right -- a distinctly medieval form, though it wasn't used frequently in the credits.

There are illuminations in some of the bowls, though I assume this was done by hand rather than it being a regular feature of the font.

I've attached a screen grab of the title, but couldn't find any photos of the credits, where most of the variation took place. Does it look familiar to anyone?

AttachmentSize
robinhood.gif8.2 KB
smithcraft

Sorry to reply to my own post, but I've found a better screencap:

Michael Yanega

I have been spending some time searching antique serifs and found one font with center diamond-ish marks (Brogue), but almost nothing else about it seems even similar. The font 1592 GLC Garamond seems to have a similar overall feel, except for the diamonds. It seems the R could be made using one of the Q tails, but I think it's not too likely we will find the exact font, because I have a feeling that they mixed and matched from several fonts and then customized with noise, squooshing and antiquing tricks.

Usually when I get nowhere at the commercial sites, I check Dafont to see what the amateurs have done, and found a remarkable bargain (how can you beat free?) by Igino Marini called IM Fell Types, a 16-font family based on old English typeforms. There seems to be about 3 or 4 basic typefaces and at least one or two include SC versions. This ought to have enough variants to work with.

Bottom line: I don't think this is a single font that you'll be able to find, because I think it was cobbled together for this purpose. If you just want to make something that looks similar, that should be easy enough.

- Mike Yanega

Mike F

That brings immediately to my mind Tim Rolands' Odyssey family with the alternate R and O.

Michael Yanega

Good one Mike. I think that looks like the answer.

- Mike Yanega

Mike F

oh, I didn't present it as a match - it isn't - just that the "look" is the same.

Atwe

Or parts of the title could have come from this thing, with the N and H substituted from some other more conventional serif.

prologue_films

indeed the typeface is custom, very loosely based on bembo, a couple of characters from mason, then customised throughout with diamonds in the o's extending the r etc, in particular a custom ligature for every combination of letter involving an r. the typeface on screen was hand painted, then flourishes were added by hand.

Riccardo Sartori

That definitely close the case, I'd say!

Captured from web.archive.org on 11 Dec 2011. view this capture