Andrew Keller A2 Advanced Portfolio Blog

All film productions have an ident shown before a film and its trailer. It is a short clip showing the company logo, normally through an animation which reflects the foundations of a particular company. When my group started planned to create 'The Darkness', we had to decide which ident would be the most appropriate for our storyline and chosen genre. For this we decided to do some research into the existing idents which are being used by existing production companies. I will also list some basic history of the ident, and films similar to ours, which use the various idents.

20th Century Fox

The Art Deco 20th Century Fox logo, designed by landscape artist Emil Kosa, Jr., originated as the 20th Century Fox logo after the 'Pictures Inc.' was substituted with 'Fox' in 1935, after the merger of 20th Century Pictures and Fox. In 1994 after several failed attempts of creating a moving ident in 3D, Fox hired a Los Angeles based company to use CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) to redesign the ident, and create the ident which has been used ever since. The company hired, Studio Productions, had already provided facelifts for other companies such as Paramount and Universal, so it seemed natural that 20th Century Fox would do the same. The famous Fox ident soundtrack was created in 1981 and has been used ever since. Due to the nature of the films which 20th Century Fox creates, such as the Simpsons Movie, my group decided that we will not use this ident, and look for another ident from a production company which has created more appropriate films.

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures is an American film production and distribution company, which now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which itself forms part of the global conglomerate Sony; which as a result makes Columbia Pictures a member of the Big Six film production companies in the world. The company was set up in 1919, and released its first motion picture in 1922. Columbia's logo which forms the main focal point of the ident has been through five major revisions since the company first created idents. Originally the lady holding the torch signified 'Columbia' (the female personification of the United States). But before it adapted this character, the original idents in 1924 was a female Roman soldier holding a shield in her left hand and a stick of wheat in her right hand. The current revision of the ident was created in 1992, when it was digitally repainted by New Orleans artist Michael Daos, who returned the figure back to her original look before the various versions of the character. This ident was a serious contender for our ident in the planning process of the 'Darkness' but for various reasons, we decided that we would not be using it for our film.

Paramount

The Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company owned by media conglomerate Viacom, and is part of the Big Six group of production companies. Founded in 1912, it is America's oldest film studio, and is one of the last companies to still be headquartered in the Hollywood district of the city of Los Angeles, California. As a result of its prestige in the film industry due to its age, Paramount is consistently rated as one of the top grossing film studios in the world. The Paramount Pictures' mountain image has been used on the companies' ident since its inception; so as a result is the oldest surviving Hollywood film idents. Over the years, the ident has been subsequently redesigned, with the latest version of the ident featuring Mount Everest (created in 2002, as part of Paramount's 90th anniversary celebrations). The current ident was created in 2010, with a new font called 'New Viacom'. A horror film which Paramount created include the 'Friday the 13th' franchise of movies, which have been hugely successfully for the company and have been one of our inspirations for the planning of 'The Darkness'. For the same reasons, as Columbia Pictures though, we decided not to use this ident, and instead use the final ident in which we researched.

Universal

Universal Studios was created in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, and is one of the Big Six production companies in the world. It is owned by the American media conglomerate NBC Universal. It is the second oldest surviving Hollywood studio with Paramount Pictures beating it by one month to be the oldest. The company's ident has became ident and synonymous with the company even without the 'Universal' text being shown in front of the revolving globe. The first ident dates back to 1914, and has been through several revisions since the creation of the current idea, but one factor has remained the same - this being the revolving globe featuring the North American and European continents. When NBC took control of the company it was assumed that the globe would be retired in favour of a more modern brand, but wisely they decided to keep the rotating globe and integrate it into the new companies' logo (NBC Universal). It is assumed that this ident will be revised between 2014-15 as Universal reaches it's centenary. Our inspirations in the planning process including a sci-fi/horror film named War of the Worlds which was released in 2005 with the director Stephen Spielberg. As a result, we decided that we would use this ident as opposed to Paramount and Columbia, as we believe it fitted in better with the product which we are trying to create.