logo investigation

walt disney pictures

In 1929; Walt Disney came up with the idea of 'steamboat willie' which was a cartoon that featured a mouse character which we all know today as Mickey Mouse. Through this cartoon, much success was brought to Disney and Walt Disney Productions was formed.

 

The first logo which debuted in 1937 showed the profile of Mickey Mouse and would change colours.

For around 48 years, the Walt Disney company never showed an actual logo in their film only 'Walt Disney presents'. Although they had their mickey mouse logo for the company; this was never incorporated into their film.

In 1985 a logo was introduced in films that is still recognisable today and sets up the basis of the logo. The logo was that of a light blue castle with the words Walt Disney Pictures displayed below it.

From 1995-2006 a new logo was used that was very similar to the original one. It was updated to a lighter background and a more blue castle. The line behind the castle also stops at the W of walt now.

In 1995, a new logo was introduced for the use of Pixar movies. This showed a CGI animation of a 3D castle; still following the same basis of the original. This was the beginning of the many variations Disney would continue to do in the future to fit the film that was playing. However, this version was short lived.

In 2000, the logo was updated to a new range of colours. It now featured a black background with an orange castle and yellow star. This logo almost resembled that of a candle as it was very dark lit and would quickly fade once the star had passed over the logo.

In 2006, a brand new logo was introduced. It was a fully cgi logo which shows the advancements in technology that Disney took. The logo shows by setting the scene as the camera is seen panning over a kigndom and then finishes with fireworks and that classic star flying over the castle. The castle also now resembles that of cinderella's castle which became a huge symbol for the company. Interestingly, the New-Zealand based visual effects studio; Weta-Digital was used to produce this logo.

In 2011, the logo was updated visually as the world made more technological advancements. It still showed a very similar visual to what we see in 2006 but for the first time only the word 'Disney' is displayed instead of 'Walt Disney pictures'.

Like mentioned before, Disney have introduced many variations of their logo which have suited the movie that were to play afterwards. This idea allowed for each movie to be unique. Here a few of my favourites:

Bedtime Stories

Recess: School's Out

 

Lilo and Stitch 2

Oz the Great and Powerful

The current Walt Disney logo is incredibly impressive in its detail which shows Disney's dedication to showing their advances in graphics and animation. By having their logo and the entrance to their theme parks look incredibly similar, the Disney logo is also able to serve as an advertisement for Disneyland and Disneyworld. Disney also came up with a highly unique and recognizable font to spell out “Walt Disney”.

universal pictures

The film studio was founded in 1912 after the merger of several specialised companies. To emphasize its global significance for humanity, the artists used the globe as the key elements of the emblem. It is present on all logos, of which there are a total of twelve.

In 1914; the first logo was produced which showed a globe with rings surrounding it. This represented a planet much like Saturn.

In 1920, the logo was updated to show a slightly tilted ring that still orbits around a planet. There is also more detail to this logo.

In 1923, a new logo was introduced that showed a planet that actually resembled earth. The words of 'universal pictures' were now the only words to be seen and replaced the rings that orbited the planet in previous logos. A plane is also used in this logo to create the smoke that is seen. The plane is seen flying around the planet.

In 1927 a more modern logo was created. This logo still featured many of the same concepts as the one in 1923. The words are now changed to 'A Universal Picture'.

In 1936, a more exciting logo was created that showed the words of a universal picture circling the globe. It also featured stars that were exploding from off the globe. This set up the basis of the logo we see today.

In 1946, the company merged with International Pictures Company and a new logo was created which featured the new words of 'universal international'. This logo was a more basic version of the one prior to it as it simply just showed the earth rotating with the words in front of it. However, it still featured the stars that were introduced in 1936 but these were stationary.

In 1963, colour was incorporated to really display the vivid blue earth. The earth continues to rotate like the previous logos as the word 'universal' fades in.

In 1990, a more complex logo was produced as many camera movements and zooms were used. It wasn't used with cgi but all done through model work.

In 1997, the first cgi logo was produced. This logo became one of the most recognisable logos. It features a design that is similar to that of the 1936 logo as the earth is illuminated with stars and the word universal rotates around the globe.

In 2012, the most recent logo was produced which shows how incredible technological advancements have come. This logo is much like the previous one but shows many more intricate details and displays a cleaner look. To celebrate the company's 100th anniversary the logo also displayed these words below the typical title.

paramount pictures

The paramount logo depicts two emblems; one being the mountain and the other being the stars which surrounds the mountain. Some say the 24 stars that surround the mountain are due to the 24 actors who signed with the film studio in 1914. Apparently, the new idea was to add a star every time a new actor signed a contract but the movie industry was developing too rapidly for Paramount to keep up with this idea. Some say the first Paramount logo was drawn up on a napkin.

The first logo

Between 1917-1935, the logo went through many different variations of the same look that featured the many similar features of a mountain, stars and clouds.

In 1953, Jan Domela added more details to the logo by adding trees which gave a zoomed out effect.

In 1968, the by-line 'a gulf + western company' was added and paramount was left as the last remaining word.

 

In 1975, the logo took a minimalistic look as it got updated to resemble that of the print logo.

In 1986, for the studio's 75th anniversary, Dario Campanile repainted the mountain. The "Paramount" text and the Gulf+Western byline from the previous logo would both fade in first before the 75th Anniversary wordmark fades in last.

In 2002, the logo was given a cgi animated version for the studio's 90th anniversary. A new design displayed shooting stars over the the snowy mountain peak. The landscape turned out to be very romantic and dreamy.

After a second merger between Viacom and CBS Coporation in 2019; the by-line of the logo was changed to A ViacomCBS Company.

In 2022, after ViacomCBS was rebranded as Paramount Global, the by-line was permanently removed. This leaves the logo simple and minimal with the just the word Paramount shown.

  The main strength of the Paramount logo is that it’s easily adaptable to different contexts. For example, the art piece can change its colour palette depending on the movie it precedes. As its fundamental symbol, Paramount uses a mountain, a symbol of power and reliability. 

warner bros. pictures

The Warner Bros. logo has always had the same basic premise: It’s a shield floating in the clouds stamped with the initials W.B. 

The first Warner bros. logo was created in the 1920s. This logo saw the studio's initials in the lower third of the shield with the company's Burbank film studios.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the W.B. initials eventually grew to take over the rest of the shield.

In 1970, Kinney Services bought the Warner Bros. company and changed the logo to a something more simple. This is also a logo that sets up the basis as something that is more recognisable today.

Saul Bass was hired in 1972 to rebrand the logo. It represented an abstract symbol that didn't resemble anything of the original logo. The logo was short-lived though as most films returned to the classic shield and W.B initials. However, there are still some modern day movies that still opted to use this logo like the movie Argo.

In 1984 Warner Bros. returned to the shield set over a background of clouds. The corporate names below the shield have changed over the years, but the logo has been a shield ever since.

In 2019, to celebrate their anniversary the company revisited their logo and rebranded from the classic gold writing of the initials to silver and white. The new design is clean and modern.

Like Disney, filmmakers have always been encouraged to tailor the film logo to suit their individual film. There have been more than 200 variants of the logo in the last 15 years.

20th century fox

William Fox began the Fox Film Corporation in 1915. Then in 1935, the Fox Film Corporation merged with Twentieth Century Pictures which formed the film company 20th Century Fox.

Before the merge in 1935 the only 'film logo' of the Fox Film Corporation were the words which read William Fox presents. This was shortly changed to Fox Film Corporation presents.

After the merge in 1935; the first 20th century fox logo was created by artist Emil Kosa Jr. The logo was that of a monolith with the companies name shaped into it. It also features spotlights which would pan around everywhere. This logo set up the foundation for the logo we see today.

In 1953, Rocky Longo repainted the logo to fit the widescreen cinematic format that was now being introduced into the world of film. For proportionality purposes the 0 in 20th was tilted. it still contained the same look as the original logo. That classic song that we all know when we watch this opening logo which is known as the Fox Fanfare was introduced. 

In 1981, the logo was revisited and the 0 in 20th was fixed to look straight.

In 1994, the logo was completely reimagined as it was made into a cgi animation. It started by sweeping from above the 20th sign and panning downwwards to reveal the L.A basin including the Hollywood sign.

In 2009 the logo was once again revisited and upgraded creating a more detailed and sleek looking logo.

Once again like Disney and Warner Bros. the filmmakers have been able to put their own style on the logo to fit their film. Some include Edward Scissorhands, Robots and Mirrors.

My personal favourite is from the simpson's movie as it features one of the character's singing along with the song.

How our logo was created (snn films)

Samuel created our logo using adobe after effects. It shows our logo with a silver fire type effect surrounding it. It's sleek and modern and fits the genre of film we are producing as there is a dark and suspenseful feeling to it. However, for our foundation portfolio we are thinking to update it and follow the same suit as Disney, Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox with changing the logo to fit the mood of our film. We will most likely share the same features as our original logo with the ring of fire but we are thinking to add a gold element to it as gold is symbolic in our foundation portfolio; as seen through the mask of the abductor. I have found this video that we may follow or be inspired by: