Production Company Logos
All of the production company logos and indents that I analysed followed a basic outline in terms of what they did and what happened. They each started with some kind of animated movement that, as it progressed, revealed the logo of the production company, usually stationary in the middle of the frame becoming the focal point. The animation of most of the production companies involved either the known logo being in separate ‘parts’ and then coming together from different angles to ‘fully form’ the logo (i.e. New Line Cinema), or involved a close up at an artistic angle that then zoomed out to reveal the full logo (i.e. 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., DreamWorks).
Others took a slightly different approach, for example Walt Disney Pictures used a combination of live action film, CGI and animation. This made their logo/indent stand out far more compared to some other production companies as it captures the imagination of the audience. The animations and images used mostly contain a link to the production companies name or to what it is known for and therefore creates a visual link; for example Universal used the image of the earth, Marvel studios used moving comic books and Walt Disney used the Disney Castle.
All of the Production Company logos/indents were played with either music or sound effects, but in most cases an orchestral piece of music. The music was used to create a dramatic build up reaching a crescendo and lasted as long as the animation. These pieces of music used are sound motifs that are instantly identifiable with the production company and create an audio link. All of the sequences lasted for about 10-20 seconds, with only a few exceptions reaching up to 30 seconds. Even though the main consensus was an orchestrated piece of music some of the production companies, e.g. Pixar Animation Studios, used only sound effects. This worked for the logo as only basic sound effects to accompany the animation helped create a simplistic outlook.
Something noticed from extra research was that at the beginning of some films the style of the logo had been altered. This had been done to help set the tone of the film or to help identify the genre. For example at the beginning of ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’, to help give an indication that the film contains fantasy elements, the universal logo was changed to a pixelated state and the universal sound motif was altered to sound like it was from a retro video game.
Other reasons the style of logos are changed, is to help build up anticipation and expectation, and to help emphasises the ongoing story lines in films that are part of a series. An example that many would be familiar with is the ‘Harry Potter’ series; the Warner Bros. logo kept its basic shape and outline, but its colouring and animated movements where altered as the films became more of a phenomenon and the story lines progressed. Because of this more dramatic and mood setting openings were required. (See images below) As a difference to the normal Warner bros. sound motif, a ‘Harry Potter’ sound motif is also played along with the logo to help identify Warner Bros. as the creator of the Harry Potter franchise.
The images above show how the Warner Bros. logo was altered and edited as the series of ‘Harry Potter’ developed to fit with the changing mood of the films.
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