Production logo
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A production logo is used by movie studios and television production companies to brand what they produce. Production logos are usually seen at the beginning of a theatrical movie (an "opening logo"), or at the end of a television program or TV movie (a "closing logo"). Several production logos have become famous over the years, such as the 20th Century Fox searchlights, Universal Studios' globe, Paramount's mountain, Warner Bros.' shield, MGM's Leo the Lion, Columbia's Torch Lady, Nordisk Film polar bear, Disney's castle, TriStar's Pegasus, MTM's Mimsie the Cat, United Artists' UA letters (originally the Transamerica "T"), and Orion Pictures' outer space. Logos for smaller companies are sometimes (with tongue-in-cheek) called "vanity logos".
Unlike logos for most other media, production logos can take advantage of motion and synchronized sound, and almost always do.
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[edit] History
In the early days of Hollywood, production logos and brands were simple and very much like their print counterparts, usually appearing on title cards and in the opening credits. The Paramount Pictures mountain hails from this era, and originally featured no special effects. As the studios grew, more effort was put into their identities, and motion and sound began to be used. MGM and Universal were the first studios to take advantage of the new medium's possibilities, MGM first using Leo the Lion in 1924 and Universal debuting their globe around the same time. RKO Radio Pictures used their rotating globe and radio transmission tower with a Morse code beeping soundtrack as early as 1929. In the 1930s, 20th Century Pictures introduced their futuristic "tower" logo, which had moving searchlights; it was carried over when they merged with Fox Film Corporation and became 20th Century Fox. Columbia's first version of the Torch Lady used a sparkler to represent her torch, and Universal's globes could rotate.
The advent of television in the 1950s also opened the door to cel animation in production logos. Most studios had used cels for their animation department's logos for some time by this point, but the demand for animation on TV, both as programming and for advertising, made more effects available for less money. TV itself started using logos on its programming: Desilu, Mark VII Productions and Revue Studios all had distinctive logotypes by the end of the decade, and Desilu's and Revue's were animated. By 1976, all of the major studios except Universal had switched their logos over to cel animation, and logos for smaller concerns and broadcasters were beginning to enter the computer age, using machines like Scanimate.
With the 1980s came a return to the older style of logos. Warner Bros., one of the first studios to switch to a cel-animated abstract logo, brought back their WB shield logo as a matte painting in 1984. TV logos began switching from cels and 2D computer graphics to 3D computer graphics around the same time, and by the end of the decade, the quality of 3D animation had improved to the point that cinema quality was possible. For its 75th anniversary in 1990, Universal introduced a new logo that was completely digitally rendered, the first of the major studios to make the move; Paramount had a digital-looking logo earlier, in 1987, but only the foreground animation in their logo was computerised (the mountain backdrop is a model).
As of 2007, almost all production logos are produced (or at least edited) on computers, and have reached a level of sophistication equivalent to that of the best special effects. There are some exceptions; the Mutant Enemy "grr, argh" ID was shot using a camcorder and paper models, and the producers of South Park even recycled footage from an old Braniff Airlines ad for their "vanity" logo. Producer Chuck Lorre uses his production card to post a long and unrestricted essay or observation in small type which changes each week and requires pausing with a recording device to read. Even video games have taken on production logos as their capabilities have increased, and most modern game consoles (notably Sega's models and the Sony PlayStation series) have startup logos in their firmware.
[edit] Personalized production logos
With the advent of computer graphics, some Hollywood studios (notably Fox, Warner Bros. and Universal) began adapting their logos to suit the content of the films they preceded.
[edit] 20th Century Fox
- For Edward Scissorhands (1990), the logo is seen in a blue, nighttime setting, with snow falling in the foreground.
- In films from the X-Men series, the X in "Fox" fades out a fraction of a second later than the rest of the logo.
- For The Day After Tomorrow (2004), a disaster film themed on global warming, erratic bolts of lightning are seen behind the logo.
- For The Simpsons Movie (2007), the character Ralph Wiggum can be seen in the large "0" digit of the logo, singing along with the studio's theme music.
- For Live Free or Die Hard (2007), the logo's presentation is abruptly interrupted by a technical interruption, with the picture impaired by static and the famous searchlights shut off.
[edit] Paramount Pictures
- For Coming to America (1988), there's helicopter ride over the mountain into a riverbed in the fictional African country Zamunda.
- For Scrooged (1988), the shot zooms over the mountain logo to go to a scene at Santa's workship on the North Pole.
- For South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999), the mountain logo is turned into an animated mountain near the titular town of South Park.
- For Team America: World Police, the Paramount Pictures logo animates backwards, appearing fully formed, with the "A Viacom Company" tag disappearing and the stars flying backwards through the word "Paramount" and disappearing into the sky as the opening credits of the film begin.
- For Zodiac (2007), the 1960s Paramount Pictures logo was used to denote the movie's time period.
[edit] Warner Brothers
- For Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), the Warner Brothers shield transforms into the Batsign.
- For The Matrix (film) (1999) and its sequels, the Warner Brothers shield is shown in dark green color to be in tune with the Matrix digital rain that follows it.
- For V for Vendetta (2006), the Warner Brothers shield is seen on what appears to be grainy, black-and-white footage, in tune with the film's central focus on fascist totalitarianism.
- For Zodiac (2007), the 1960s Warner Brothers logo was used to give to denote the movie's time period.
[edit] Lionsgate
- For horror-themed films, the clouds behind the Lionsgate logo are colored a deep red. The letters of the logo, as well as the computer-generated factory seen at the beginning of the production logo presentation, appear rusted.
[edit] Columbia Pictures
- For Go (1999) the Columbia Pictures logo sequence is abruptly interrupted by jarring clips from a rave scene that segues into the opening credits.
- For Superbad (2007) the Columbia Pictures logo from 1975–1981 is used instead of the current logo. This gives the film a more "retro" feel that is also reflected in the soundtrack, which mostly features songs from that decade. The opening credits further articulate this theme by showing the silouettes of the main characters dancing disco-style.
