What is the Black Swan Movie Font?
What is the Black Swan movie font?
How does a movie producer choose the right font and color for a movie title?
The art of making films is inseparably linked to graphic design.
Common sense tells us that the most suitable font is necessary to convey the essence of films(since the dawn of Hollywood).
The font describes the nature or the look of a movie via titles, posters, opening and ending credits.
Movie titles set the tone of the movie but also helps build the brand of the story.
The choice of typeface is incredibly important to the overall success of a movie.
Ever seen a cool-looking movie title and wondered what font they used so you could use the same?
In this article, we present to you the Black Swan movie font and how it helped to convey the story.
Table of Contents
The Movie Title Font
Let’s go now to the font used for the Black Swan’s movie title.
Designers had to pick a simple one that also indicates the dark, almost horror-like, sense of the movie.
They’ve decided that the best typeface for this movie is Trajan, designed in 1989 by Carol Twombly.
Twombly developed Trajan with the display in mind, not typed text.
The readability and visual impact instantly made it popular with film studios and book designers.
The font was used extensively on posters and covers in the 1990s and 2000s.
It’s an old-style typeface inspired by the writing at the base of Trajan’s Column.
This serif font was built around the Roman Square Capitals from the first century A.D.
The experts believe that the letters were first written with a brush, and then carved into the stone.
Since old Romans didn’t use lowercase letters, the font supports only uppercase characters.
The one who chose to use this font was Jeremy Dawson, a producer who specialized in visual effects.
His goal was to give the title a sense of strength, artistic devotion, and enthusiasm.
The font has several important OpenType features.
The features include kerning, alternates, additional numbers, and alternate cases.
It has language support for Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, including Turkish, Baltic, and Romanian.
You can use the Trajan font in two weights, regular and bold.
Trajan Font Trivia
Over time, many typeface designers and artists have taken an interest in Trajan’s column lettering.
Some of them have even created their interpretations of Trajan’s font style.
In 1926, Emil Rudolf Weiss created the font Weiss, in appreciation of the Trajan font.
While Frederic Goody released Hadriano and Goudy Trajan, all in tribute to the Roman letters.
British type designer Eric Gill used Trajan’s letterforms as an inspiration for the Gill Sans and Perpetua fonts.
However, Adobe’s digital version of Trajan has become the most widely used classic type design.
Trajan Pro was the first release of an OpenType font to include small caps in lowercase slots.
In 2012 the font was revised by Adobe’s chief font designer Robert Slimbach.
He added four additional weights to the Trajan font family and releasing Trajan Pro 3.
In addition to the existing weights: Trajan Pro Regular and Trajan Pro Bold font.
In 2014, Adobe released Trajan Sans, which offers a more modern and minimalist take on the original font.
Trajan’s classic proportions and readability ensured its long life and one of the most widely used fonts today.
However, some type designers have tried to create a more modern version of the old Roman font style.
Where Can You Use The Trajan Font?
This is an elegant font that will work perfectly in books, newspapers, magazines, posters, billboards, and ads.
You can also use it for gift cards, wedding invitations, business cards, quotes, and logos.
It has been used in movie posters, and album covers.
Movies like Minority Report, Facing the Giants, I am Legend, The Mummy Returns, and Quiz Show.
And more films like Rogue One, Legally Blonde, The Mask of Zorro, Titanic, and Scent of a Woman.
It was the main typeface on the album cover of Tina!
The compilation album of one of the best American singers Tina Turner.
This font was used in the covers of games, like Brothers in Arms Hell’s, Highway, and Star Wars Battlefront.
Turning Point USA uses Trajan Bold font on its logo.
Like any other history-inspired font, it is best for antique shop logos, art galleries, or museums.
Where Can You Get theTrajan Font?
Being pretty popular and useful, the Trajan font is not free.
If you want to use it for your projects, you need to buy a font license.
Its price depends on the number of people using it.
If it will have 1-5 users, it costs $35, for 6-10 users, it will be $66.50, and for 11-15 users, it will be $94.50.
For online transactions, you can use Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, or PayPal.
Are There Any Fonts Similar To Trajan?
You would like to use a Trajan-like font for your project, but don’t want it to look overused?
Maybe Trajan is too expensive for you, or you need something not that popular?
Don’t worry, there are plenty of fonts that pay tribute to the classically inspired Trajan font.
Below you will find the best alternatives to the Trajan font.
They offer fonts, with lowercase letters, modern alternate letters, or ligatures for a unique take of the Trajan font.
These 15 Trajan alternatives keep the elegant spirit, but also bring a fresh and original touch to your project.
1. Cinzel
This typeface is a great free counterpart to Trajan Pro with a few minor differences.
The font is a bit lighter, and condensed letters like E and G make it almost identical.
The font bears a contemporary feel on it.
2. Bw Vivant
This font was designed by Moritz Kleinsorge and Alberto Romanos.
Bw Vivant is a romantic and glamorous sans serif typeface with a clean and elegant look.
Combining the 1960s magazine style and Art Deco style with the minimalism of Roman script styles.
The end result is a stylish font without much effort.
3. Arrogant
Among Trajan’s most decorative alternatives featured here, Arrogant is quite vain and flamboyant.
The font boasts decorative lettering and alternative ligatures.
This font was created by Zeppelin Graphics.
Arrogant revolves around Trajan’s tradition, using lavish tracking and wide, airy letterforms.
4. Loki
Loki is a brush typeface inspired by a minimal sans serif typeface.
The font resulted in a crisp Roman style that is unique in character.
This font is In honor of the mischievous Scandinavian god for whom it is named after.
Loki is a high-contrast typeface with thin, pointed, and heavily bracketed serifs.
The font is similar to Trajan Pro, but only contains uppercase letters.
But, it is this feature that makes it the most honest tribute to the original uppercase letterforms.
5. Giveny
Giveny is a classic and simple serif font created by Craft Supply Co. designed to showcase a brand.
The square shapes of the circular letters pay homage to the formality of Roman script styles such as Trajan.
While the geometric design nods to transitional serif fonts such as Baskerville and Mrs. Eaves.
6. The Broads
The typeface is described as a modern Roman font.
The Broads pays homage to the interpretations of Roman styles from the 1930s.
The font has crisp geometric shapes of the letters, making the type appear luxurious and modern.
A beautiful and sleek alternative to Trajan.
The Broads brings class and elegance to branding projects, websites, and packaging.
7. Cal Roman Modern
If Trajan or the other Trajan-like fonts featured here seem too formal, this is an alternative brush font style.
Cal Roman Modern is an informal calligraphic typeface created with a brush, not pen strokes.
Simple Roman proportions bring dynamism and energy with a brush-style that makes it lively and optimistic.
8. Agatho
The font has been styled like the serifs, with a thicker top and bottom elements.
Agatho has a vintage look that suits nostalgic marketing, packaging designs, or logos.
Designed by Andriy Shevchik, Agatho is available in a single standard weight.
9. Imperium
Reminiscent of the architecture and aesthetics of ancient European cultures.
Imperium is a dramatic interpretation of Trajan’s formal Roman style.
The vertical lines represent the pillars of Greek and Roman architecture contrasted by thin lines.
10. Merova
Merova is a classic typeface that combines the Roman style with the proportions of Belle Epoque.
The tall x-height makes the font a more concise alternative to Trajan Pro.
Includes five weights for versatile use in editorial, book, and magazine design.
11. Novante
Designer Ramz describes Novante as a luxurious serif display.
Inspired by interpretations of classic Art Deco styles.
Novante uses flowing escapements and script-inspired alternatives for a romantic and laid-back style result.
Suitable for modern branding, magazines, and websites.
It offers a relaxed and beautiful alternative with a serious personality.
12. Praetoria
Praetoria is a dramatic, historical-fantasy typeface that combines Roman, Greek, and medieval influences.
Perfect for games, movie posters, and book covers.
Available with a range of fancy letters, the font is sure-fire but a more interesting alternative to Trajan Pro Regular.
13. Karin
Karin is another elegant version of the classic writing style with a wide range of alternative letters and ligatures.
A versatile choice for branding and logo design.
Smoother and more feminine than Trajan, Karin nonetheless retains the crispness and clarity of Trajan.
This typeface is suitable for display, packaging designs, and posters.
14. Porte
Porte approximates the stone-carved fonts that became popular in the early 20th century.
In turn, it took inspiration from classic carved typefaces like Trajan’s Column.
The fully kerned font, it contains about 2,000 perfectly kerned pairs.
The font also contains a wide range of stylistic alternatives to give your design a unique twist.
About The Movie
The Black Swan is a psychological movie from 2010 directed by Darren Aronofsky.
Darren also directed other movies just like the movie “The Wrestler” and “Pi”.
It’s a full-scale melodrama, that is told with intense passion.
Echoing the conflict of good and evil from the ballet “Swan Lake” by Tchaikovsky.
The movie shows a professional ballerina Nina, struggling with her two personalities.
Trying to become ideal in her art, she slowly loses touch with reality.
Like every artist, she’s devoted her life to becoming the best she can.
Nina dances in a company at New York’s Lincoln Center, which opened a production of “Swan Lake”.
The production requires her to play two completely different roles.
She’s the perfect choice for the role of the pure and tender White Swan.
But the artistic director finds her too “innocent” for the role of the dark and passionate Black Swan.
The arrival of Lily was ideal for the role of Black Swan, this puts pressure on Nina to compete for the role.
But, the rivalry between the two dancers resulted in a weird friendship.
Spending more time with Lily, Nina gets in touch with her dark side, which threatens to destroy her.
Just like “The Wrestler”, it shows how a dedicated professional can lead to the destruction of his personal life.
The movie has all the traditional supports, such as rivalry, jealousy, boundaries between art and real life.
Stunning performances of Natalie Portman playing Nina, and Mila Kunis as Lily.
Training and Role Play
The two play opposite roles, yet they both have similar preparations.
They trained five to eight hours a day, for six months.
The training included ballet lessons, cross-training, swimming, pilates, and cardio.
The goal of the training was to reach a professional dancers’ body type and muscle tone.
As a result, they both lost over 20 pounds and significantly changed their appearances.
They’d been learning ballet from professionals, such as Mary Hellen Bowers and Georgina Parkinson.
Georgina Parkinson is a mistress from the American Ballet Theatre.
Natalie Portman had an even more extensive preparation.
Long before the script was written, Darren Aronofsky had chosen her for the leading role.
Two of them talked about the idea almost 10 years before the filming started.
Portman told him that she had always wanted to play a dancer since she’d studied ballet as a child.
She had over 10 months of intense training, including swimming, weightlifting, cross-training, and dancing.
She said that it is pretty challenging to pick up ballet at 28, even though she had studied it as a child.
All her training led to her dancing about 90 percent of the ballet scenes in the movie.
Although, her double, a professional ballet dancer Sarah Lane, had to perform exacting point dances.
During the whole movie, the two main actresses go over the top and stay within their roles.
Awards and Movie Earnings
For her role, Natalie Portman won the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Actress.
The cast consists of Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Benjamin Millepied.
The movie was a huge success, it opened the 67th Venice International Film Festival.
In the beginning, the movie had a limited release, but over time, it had become a huge hit.
The budget for the movie was around $13 million, and it earned over $330 million around the world.
At the 83rd Academy Awards, it got five nominations including the Best Actress, which Natalie Portman won.
It also got nominations for Best Motion Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress.
Final Thoughts
Although old-fashion, the Black Swan movie font (Trajan font) is quite popular among graphic designers.
They use it for all sorts of texts, including movie posters and video games.
It can be pretty useful for various projects, including book covers, newspaper titles, business logos.
If you want something similar, but not the same, you can choose from one of the Trajan alternatives.
I hope that I’ve helped you with choosing the right font for your project.
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