Lesson 04: Film Production Company Logos

Lesson 04: Film Production Company Logos

Research on Film Productions and their company logos.

27/09/12
MWE

                                                           Film Production Company Logos

Dream Works- The film production was the result of Stephen Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen (hence the "SKG" underneath the companies name) in 1994. 

Spielberg wanted the logo to feature a man on the moon fishing and to be computer generated. However, a dear friend of Spielberg who worked with him previously Supervisor Dennis Muren of Industrial Light and Magic; suggested that a hand print logo would look much better which Spielberg agreed to. And so Maureen contacted his friend Robert Hunt who created the logo. Hunt created an alternate version which illustrated a little boy with a fishing rod sitting on a crescent moon (the little boy being Hunts son), Spielberg prefered this better then the original idea and decided to make it the official logo for Dream Works.

Analyzing the logo above, it's interesting why Spielberg wanted a man on the moon with a fishing rod to star in the logo of Dream Works. Taking in the company name "Dream Works" it is very fitting to the logo. Dreams are associated at night and so it may be the reason why Spielberg chose a moon to feature. The fishing rod may imply that the boy is fishing for stars (great actors) or fishing for great movies which are dream-like. The fact that the moon is elivated and that all three objects are up the sky could be a metaphor for "out of this world" projects that they will provide for their audience.

 Paramount- Founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor and Frohman brothers (Daniel and Charles).

The "Majestic Mountain" of the Paramount was a creation made by W.W Hodkinson after his first meeting with Zukor, this was based on his childhood enviroment- the Ben Lomond Mountain in Utah. Originally, the logo had 24 stars representing 24 contracted movie stars (there are only 22 stars present at the modern logo, no one knows why it was reduced).

The story behind the logo is pretty self-explanatory to why the logo looks the way it does and what it's trying to promote. Each 24 stars represents 24 great actors and actresses, the fact that they chose to use stars to represents them connotes the idea of outstanding, high quality acting, high achievers. Mountains can be seen as reprsentation for challenges, they're difficult to overcome and so putting the idea in the context of film production; just like mountains which provides difficult challenge for many, they're work are hard to trumph over.



Pixar- In most Disney animation the lively lamp often makes appearance on the pixar logo. This lamp was a character all the way back from year 1986, which starred in  a short film named "Luxo, Jr"

Pixars logo definitely has a playful element in it, it could be because its target audience are of those in lower age groups and it's their method of drawing them in. Having said that, it could be more than just a tribute to a classic pixar character. It is possible that they are tying to assemble another message, that just like the lamp which provides light, their productions are bright and are of high standards.