The logo and ident of 'Universal Pictures' shows that they literally have a universal audience. As a company they strive to have their films reach a worldwide audience, which can be seen through their logo with the words 'Universal' overshadowing a 3D spherical image of the Earth. As well as their company's ethos, most of their films have 'Universal' themes. For example, 'E.T: The Extra Terrestrial' (their 2nd highest grossing film of all time) is a family film that contains themes of family, friendship, and teamwork as Elliot and E.T. work together to bring E.T. home. Finally, as well as making films that are 'Universal', the company is also known to make big budget movies ('Jurassic World' is their highest grossing movie of all time) and their company ident helps them to maintain this reputation by making their ident 'epic' with the famous horn fanfare and the smashing timpani accompanying the word 'Universal' as it appears over the horizon and swirls around the world to create the iconic logo. In addition to the ident not being epic enough, when 'Universal Pictures' changed their logo in 2012, they also changed the ident slightly with the addition of a fully fledged choir singing their hearts out to the sight of the words appearing again. Unlike the Universal Logo, Walt Disney Pictures is aiming for a younger audience. 'Magic' is a key aspect of Disney's marketing and their logo is based around 'Magic'. The font is glittered with a gorgeous chrome that is pleasing to the eye and sparkles like fairy dust, linking to the well known character of Tinkerbell from 'Peter Pan'. The blue hues of the sea blend beautifully with the pinkish reds of the sky to create a fantastical sunset that is too perfect to be true, which plays into Disney's marketing of magic and believing in magic. Finally, the Cinderella Castle is the icon of Disney and by using it in their logo, it gives audiences This logo also links to the types of films that they show as most of their movies have some sort of fantasy element. Whether it is a 'Disney Pixar' film or a 'Walt Disney Animation Studios' production, most of Disney's movies accompanied by this logo will likely have some form of fantasy embedded in the narrative of the upcoming film. However as soon as audiences see this logo, they will think of 'Cinderella', 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' and 'Beauty and the Beast' and other films related to Disney Princesses because of the Cinderella Castle, and so this is a reason why 'Disney' never show this logo before a Marvel or Star Wars film as it would demoralise the film into a Disney 'fun-for-all-the-family' movie and disrespect the fans in the process. The logo for the French film production company 'StudioCanal' is a perfect example that you do not have to be flashy and stylish to make an effective logo. Although, their logo seems bland with no meaning behind it at first glance, there are some hidden meanings in the logo at a second one. Firstly, there is no separation between the words 'Studio' and 'Canal' with the 'O' and 'C' linking together showing that the two things are the same, which is true in real life because the company is a unit of the 'Canal+ Group', owned by 'Vivendi'. Secondly, the squared border has changed with two curved corners symmetrically placed opposite each other, which gives the impression that the company are different to other production companies by changing a simple formula like square borders. However, for me, the ident is what makes this logo stand out the most to other ones. From a statement by UK agency 'Devilfish', creators of the ident, they say that the ident revolves around the concept of the 'interplay between light and glass': light being the common denominator of cinema, and glass representing the lens of both the camera and the cinema projector. The strange glass panels spinning around with light changing and colours moving represents StudioCanal's vast library of films (their film library is the third largest in the world). The abstract light generated from the logo of StudioCanal and projected through the glass panels creates an effect of surrealism in the audience. Finally, compared to the loud emotional orchestral scores used by Disney and Universal for their idents, the music used in StudioCanal's ident is subtle and suggests an artistic vision with the types of films that the company distribute like 'Youth' and 'Carol'. In recent years, 'Lionsgate Films' has become a leading company in production and distribution thanks to box office successes like 'The Hunger Games', 'Divergent', and 'La La Land' and their logo helps to establish them with their new status as independent film logo ideas are blended with studio film ones. The epic backdrop of clouds evokes the backdrop of the 'Universal Pictures' as 'Lionsgate' metaphorically places themselves up amongst the gods. The title is bordered by a white highlight and has a 3-D shaped curve in the font so that it stands out from the background, and the orange highlights shining through the logo are to reference the old ident where the clockworks open up two grand orange doors to reveal the old 'Lionsgate Logo'.
As well as the studio logo influences, their independent roots can also be seen. For example, the font looks like it has been steel plated which references the word 'gate' and so the logo has its own identity. Also, the name 'Lionsgate' does not seem natural as both words 'Lion' and Gate' are two different things (one is an animal, another is a steel object) so audiences may find it hard to connect with the company's title. Finally, the cloud backdrop may be referring to the type of films that they produce and distribute as clouds can be connotations of dreams, which makes their films seem like escapism into flights of fantasy (e.g. 'La La Land' is an escape into a idealist version of Los Angeles).
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