none wrote: poking around, Sam Longoria says:
http://emusingmusic.blogspot.com/2011/05/typographic-rage.html
Mr. Longoria was nice enough to answer the questions sent over, they've been added to the above blog's comments section.
You are welcome, Christian, and I thank you for the opportunity to comment on your fine post, which I enjoyed very much.
I am grateful also to Peter Lopez, who wrote me recently, to ask more detailed questions about the title shoot.
Just to be clear, I did not work at ILM in 1980. I came there to visit in when my friend (and later boss) Richard Edlund ASC invited me. Later, I worked for Richard at his special effects company (Boss Film) in Los Angeles.
What I saw of the title shoot was quite wonderful. They ran the VistaVision camera over the high-contrast title artwork on a light box. I've shot lots of titles on animation stands, so it was familiar to me, but I'd never seen it done with a motion-control camera before.
I remember seeing the title "Episode IV - A New Hope," and wondering at it, but I don't recall much discussion.
If there are variations between title crawl versions, as Peter asserts in his email to me, that would be caused by some combination of executive order and camera operator choice, both in the original photography and in re-photography. (Optical printing, printing for foreign distribution, etc.)
There are sooo many parts to a movie, and there are so many variables.
I hope my response is helpful. Keep up the great work!
Sam Longoria
http://samlongoria.blogspot.com
So the next step is to send something over to Mr. Edlund. He did do the work, wish we had a little more then speculation...