Starry Eyes and True Detective Win SXSW Film Design Awards

Originally South by Southwest – a riff on Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest – was only a music festival, first organised in 1987. Seven years later SXSW expanded by adding the SXSW Film and Multimedia Conference, and in 1995 those were split into two components – SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive. Just like most film festivals SXSW has its own SXSW Film Awards, focusing on new directing talent. This annual event honours the creativity and talent demonstrated by film makers and designers in the SXSW program. The awards comprise a balance of Audience and Jury selected winners, including SXSW Film Design Awards for Excellence in Poster and Title Design. Always a fan favorite, the Film Poster Gallery at the Austin Convention Center showed poster art from films featured in the Festival program. The Title Design Finalists were screened last Sunday, March 8, where the favourite title sequences of the year were showcased. Below are the winners in the Excellence in Poster Design and Excellence in Title Design categories, together with a gallery of the nominated title sequences.

:: UPDATED :: Winners Audience Awards added

Excellence in Poster Design

In 2009, AIGA board member David Horridge and SXSW teamed up to launch the SXSW Film/AIGA Austin Award for Excellence in Movie Poster Design. Following its success, it became a permanent component of the SXSW Film Awards. An essential and growing part of the SXSW Film Design Awards, the annual Film Poster Competition always draws plenty of attention. Each year, a dedicated poster gallery highlights work from international design and illustration talent in one of the only contests of its kind. Last year's gallery can be viewed in its entirety on Flickr, but no sign of this year's posters (yet).

At SXSW 2013 Akiko Stehrenberger's Kiss of The Damned for Gravillis Inc. sporting Bodoni won both the Jury and the Audience Award in 2013. Special Jury Recognition went to We Always Lie To Strangers, designed by Palaceworks' Erik Buckham, with John Downer's wood type-inspired Council in a supporting role. This year another big name in film poster art was honoured – Jay Shaw won with his onesheet for Starry Eyes.

Winner |Starry Eyes

Designer | Jay Shaw

Main typeface | antiqued handwritten script, somewhere between Treefrog and Escrita

Supporting typeface | ITC Benguiat

:: UPDATE ::

Damn time zones – a little after publishing this post I learned that the Film Audience Award Winners also had been announced. Corey Holms won with Big Significant Things, the poster for director Bryan Reisberg's feature length directorial debut at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival.

Big Significant Things

Designer | Corey Holms

Typeface | Gotham

Excellence in Title Design

:: UPDATE ::

The opening title sequence for True Detective not only won the "regular" Film Design Award, it also won the Audience Award.

HBO's True Detective – Main Title Sequence from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

Winner |True Detective

Design | Patrick Clair for Elastic

Typefaces | ITC Avant Garde Gothic Condensed, Minion

The Lego Movie – Main Titles from Alma Mater on Vimeo.

Special Jury Recognition |The Lego Movie

Design | Brian Mah for Alma Matter

Typeface | Dymo type

Nominees

ADBNE 2013 – Opening Titles from BREEDER on Vimeo.

Analogue/Digital 2013

Design | Joyce Ho for Breeder

Typeface | New Century Schoolbook

ANR from The Jack Stupid on Vimeo.

ANR

Direction | Matteo Di Gioia

Design | Luis Felipe Bueno for The Jack Stupid

Imaginary Forces – Black Sails from Imaginary Forces on Vimeo.

Black Sails

Direction | Neil Marshall (Pilot)

Design | Michelle Dougherty & Karin Fong for Imaginary Forces

Titles inspired by Kris Kuksi

HBO / Clear History / Main Title Sequence / Filmograph + L256 from Aaron Becker on Vimeo.

Clear History

Direction | Greg Mottola

Design | Aaron Becker for Filmograph & Level 256 VFX

Typeface | Lucida Sans

End Credits "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2" from Pete Oswald on Vimeo.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2

Direction | Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn

Design | Craig Kellman and Pete Oswald for Sony Pictures Animation and Screen Novelties

Typefaces | Various

The Conjuring / Main on End Title Sequence / Filmograph from Aaron Becker on Vimeo.

The Conjuring

Direction | James Wan

Design | Aaron Becker for Filmograph

Typeface | Futura

The Glass Castle Titles from Torben Stange on Vimeo.

The Glass Castle

Design | Adrian Herr & Torben Stange

Typeface | Adobe Garamond, children's lettering

The Last of Us – Title Sequence from Henry Hobson . Bootsmith on Vimeo.

The Last of Us

Direction | Neil Druckmann

Design | Henry Hobson & Kevin Joelson for Bootmaker Films & Sony Creative SCEA

Typeface | Compacta

"Masters of Sex" from Elastic on Vimeo.

Masters Of Sex

Various Directors

Design | Leanne Dare for Elastic

Typeface | Neutraface

feed your creative brain // motion 2013 from leftchannel on Vimeo.

Motion 2013

Design | leftchannel (who use Affair for their logo)

Typeface | Various

Imaginary Forces – Pacific Rim: Main Titles from Imaginary Forces on Vimeo.

Pacific Rim

Direction | Guillermo del Toro

Design | Miguel Lee for Imaginary Forces

Typeface | Agency Extended

Ping Pong Summer Opening Title Sequence from CHIPS on Vimeo.

Ping Pong Summer

Direction | Michael Tully

Design | Teddy Blanks for CHIPS

Typeface | Rounded sans serif

"Salty Toons" Title Sequence (HD) from Peter Ahern on Vimeo.

Salty Toons

Direction & design | Peter Ahern, Peter Ahern Productions

SEMI-PERMANENT 2013 TITLES from Danny Yount on Vimeo.

Semi-Permanent Portland 2013

Design | Danny Yount

Typeface | Gotham

Uneasy Lies The Mind – Opening Title Sequence from Ricky Fosheim on Vimeo.

Uneasy Lies the Mind

Direction & design | Ricky Fosheim for Detention Films

Typefaces | Distressed sans serifs

LVVDP title sequence from Mitch Pecqueur on Vimeo.

La Vraie Vie Des Profs

Direction | Emmanuel Klotz and Albert Pereira Lazaro

Design | Alexis Beaumont & Michel 'Mitch' Pecqueur for 2.4.7. Films

Typefaces | Various pixel/bitmap fonts