Film Institutions
Warner Bros
Warner Bros, founded in 1923, is an American producer of
film, television and music entertainment. Warner Bros also has many parent companies
that are as follows;
·
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (1967–1970)
·
Kinney National Company (1970–1972)
·
Warner Communications (1972–1990)
·
Time Warner (1990–2001, 2003-Present)
·
AOL Time Warner (2001–2003)
The ‘Warner Bros’ are an influential and powerful production
company in Film and this is reflected by the use of the colour ‘Gold’ in their
logo. Wealth is drawn as a connotation of Gold, therefore suggesting the
company are wealthy and high end. For example, the Harry Potter series and the
Batman trilogy. In contrast, the background is a cloudy blue sky connoting new
beginnings, dreams and the phrase ‘the sky’s the limit’. The Warner bros logo
changes, however the original crest is always apparent. Depending on the film
the institution are presenting, the colours and background change to correspond
with the film displayed. When the Harry
Potter series was released, darker colours were used to reflect the mystery in
the movies. A variation of enigma codes were also used, for example in the
‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ the camera zooms through the metallic crest and we see Harry
Potter's house behind it.
DreamWorks
DreamWorks, founded in 1994, is a film studio which
develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television
programming, based in California. Reliance Entertainment, (part of Reliance
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group), is the parent company of DreamWorks. A moon with
a little boy sitting on the edge of it, make up the institutional logo for
DreamWorks, illustrating they produce films for a younger audience. The younger
audience are innocent and peaceful and this is connoted through the white
colouring of the title. Similarly to Warner Bros, the logo connotes ‘reaching
for your dreams’ and having a dream. It connotes this through the clouds in the
background and the fishing rod the little boy is holding into the clouds.
Overall, the whole picture represents, finding and living your dreams. The
DreamWorks logo has been changed slightly throughout the years. Firstly it
consisted of the boy on the moon with the title below it, Steven Spielberg, wanted
a logo that reminded people, of Hollywood’s golden age. As the company grew in
popularity, the logo was given the illusion of more depth, by adding clouds,
symbolising the company’s growth. The boy on the moon remained the same as this
is what made the logo effective for instance it expresses the inner child that
everyone holds.
Columbia Pictures
Columbia pictures,
founded in 1918, an American film production and distribution studio, is part
of the Columbia TriStar Motion picture group. Like the other institutions,
Columbia Pictures also have parent companies, which are owned by Sony
Corporation:
• Sony Pictures
Entertainment (1991–present)
• Sony (2013-present)
The Columbia pictures logo contains a statue of a woman on a
pedestal, holding up a light. Due to its similarity to the Statue of Liberty, an
iconographic landmark in America, the logo is easily recognized and stays in
the audience’s mind. Statues represent power and authority, suggesting the institution
is powerful and of high authority. To highlight the title, the statue holds a
light under the ‘U’ in the title, giving the title significance. Moreover the
background uses astronomical imagery, suggesting they are above everyone else.
The Statue of Liberty is a respected landmark, reflecting that the company are
a valued and respected institution. The logo has changed over the years, the
original logo looked like this:
The statue of the torch was introduced in 1928. The first
version of the logo was called ‘Columbia productions’. The statue wore a headdress,
with flickering rays of light coming from the torch. The second version called
‘Columbia’ (its current state) removed the headdress from the statue and added
a pedestal and the background. The logo then remained like it is today however
colours were introduced.
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, founded
in 1986, is an American computer animation film studio, based in California. The
studio is best known for its CGI-animated feature films, like ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Monsters
University’. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer
division of ‘Lucasfilm’ before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986, with
funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority
shareholder. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006. Luxo Jr., a
character from an early Pixar film, is the mascot of the studio. The company’s
institutional logo consists of a blue background, ‘PIXAR’ in black capital
letters and ‘ANIMATION STUDIOS’ underneath the main title. However, the logo
has added creativity, as the ‘I’ in ‘PIXAR’ is a lamp, connoting the company
comes up with creative new ideas, on a regular basis, like ‘the light bulb
effect’. ‘The light bulb effect’ is a shorter term for when, a person feels as
if, a light bulb has been switched on, when they come up with a new idea. The capital
black letters standout from the blue background, connoting that the institution
is a standout institution.
Paramount
Pictures
Paramount pictures, founded in 1912, as Famous Players Film Company,
and in 1914, as Paramount Pictures. Paramount is a film studio, television
production company and motion picture distributor, based in Hollywood,
California. Paramount is the fourth oldest surviving film studio in the world
after Gaumont Film Company (1895), Pathé (1896), Nordisk Film, (1906), and
before Universal Studios. It is the last major film studio still headquartered
in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. When distributing films from another
company, the words "DISTRIBUTED BY" in white, are seen above the logo
along with the by-line and the line. Usually seen at the end of 20th Century Fox
films beginning in late 2006. Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the
1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company. Paramount’s institutional
logo has clouds and the peaks of mountains as its background, suggesting the institution
is at its peak and the ‘sky is their limit’. The title ‘Paramount’ is
surrounded by stars, suggesting the institution is a high end, five star
company.
20th
Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, is one of the six
major American film studios as of 2011. Located in the Century City area of Los
Angeles, just west of Beverly Hills, the studio used to be a subsidiary of News
Corporation, but now it is currently a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. The company
as we know it today was formed on May 31, 1935 as the result of the merger between Fox Film
Corporation, founded by William Fox in 1915, and Twentieth Century Pictures,
founded in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck and Joseph M. Schenck. The whole
institutional logo is surrounded by spotlights, connoting that the institution is
constantly in the spotlight. The statuesque layout of the logo connotes power
and authority, reflecting the company’s values.
Created and Published by Grace Blick.
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