Fonts of Those About to Die
Those About To Die is a series by Rober Rodat on entertanment business in Rome during the beginning of New Era. Although the first episode has computer graphics of mid-2000’s, one and only Anthony Hopkins and Game of Thrones’ star Iwan Rheon are selling the project good.
While cunning political intrigues, specatcular chariot races, and unjustifiably cruel gladiator fight defenitely grasp my attention, there were a couple of moments that captivated me even more than the eruption of Vesivius. What I mean is typographic findinds!
Disclaimer: I understand that this is a fiction movie which is was not indended to be historically accurate. But no doubts, creators used many creative ways to help spectators immerse into the world of ancient. And I honestly think they did great with creating a spectacular show. I just wanted to point a couple of things that standed out to me personally.
Romulus font It’s not a historical documentary, I know. But Romulus font, which was created in 1989, is based on letterforms of Trajan Column, which was erected in 113 AC, decades after the events in the series. This is 100% a nitpick, but using Imperial Roman capitals or at least letterforms less perfect than those is Trajan, could add up to the visual perception. Especially considering the following fact.
Old Roman cursive This is a beautifully done calligraphy made with Roman (Latin) handwriting style which was actualy used in ancient Rome. It was used for informal writing, hence no suriprises seeing it notes passed between characters.
Graffiti in the cell KWAME. This is one of the biggest annoyances. The thing is, W as letter didn’t exist neither at the time of Vespassian, nor Titus, nor many of the following. Acually V was not even distinct from U, they represented the same sound. A more correct way to spell Kwame’s name in ancient Roman should be “KVAME”.
Choice of title font (poster) I don’t get it. Looks alike to Jenson by Adobe or Lynotype, which, consequently was inspired by Nicholas Jenson, a French type designer who created Roman typeface. The choise looks logical, but it doesn’t work with the fonts used in the movie. Less sophisticated viewers won’t notice the difference, but I did.
Nero Burning ROM was popular software for writing data on compact discs, CD-ROM.
Nero Burning ROM is a pun in reference to Roman Emperor Nero, who was best known for his association in the Great Fire of Rome. The emperor allegedly fiddled while the city of Rome burned. Also, Rome in German is spelled Rom. The software’s logo features a burning Colosseum, although this is an anachronism as it was not built until after Nero’s death
Another fun fact that .. years after Nero’s death, eruption of Vesivious depicted in “Those About To Die” covered hundreds of kilometers with ashes, which allowed future generations (us) to research intact sigts of ancient Roman. I think ther is a beautiful poetic resemblence betweem burning Rome, ashes from Vesivius, and computer-era software to store data.
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