Notes on Institutional Logos

Logos are used to show the company behind the film, they can create fanfare for the film as people can follow the progress of different companies. Large companies create large logos to show the grandeur of the company. Companies like 20th Century fox, Universal and Warner Brothers have large logos that move and change through time. They have animation which shows the change in technology and the companies advancing. Smaller companies (Independent) have logos which are less impressive and cheaper to create. They do not change greatly due to the amount of money it takes to change the logo and design another.

Large companies:

These companies are reaching out to a global audience, their logo is to attract everyone. These logos are usually very expensive and animated to show the large scale of the companies. Examples of Large companies logos:

Dreamworks:

The DreamWorks logo features a young boy sitting on a crescent moon while fishing. The general idea for the logo was the brainchild of company co-founder Steven Spielberg, who originally wanted a computer generated image, whereas Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren, of Industrial Light and Magic suggested a hand-painted one. Muren then contacted a friend and fellow artist, Robert Hunt, to paint it. Hunt worked on both versions, for each of which his son William was cast as the model for the boy, and Spielberg liked the CGI one better. The music accompanying the logo to start live-action DreamWorks movies was specially composed by John Williams (although a number of DreamWorks films, such as Galaxy Quest and Saving Private Ryan, omit the music); the DreamWorks Animation logo has music from the Harry Gregson-Williams/John Powell score for Shrek. The main logo shows the scene at night, while the DreamWorks Animation logo shows it during the day. The "Night" Logo is Dark Blue.
The DreamWorks fanfare has been sampled for the intro to Kid Cudi's remix album, A Kid Named Cudi.
The logo attached to feature films was made at ILM based on paintings by Hunt, in collaboration with Kaleidoscope Films, Dave Carson and Clint Goldman. 

Smaller 'independant' companies:

These companies are usually independent. This means they do not have a larger company giving them money etc. This would mean they would have a basic logo due to the cost of making a better logo. For small companies the logo is normally still with no animation, this again is due to costs. Independent companies are going after a niche audience and not targeting a global audience so the logo can be linked to the type of film they are famous for making or where or why the company was created.

Film Four:

These logos are used to signify what company it is from and in what direction the film is going in. For example Dreamworks is shown to be a more animated company whereas 20th Century fox are shown to be a grand high budget company. The logos are used to show name tag the film so the awareness of the production company is raised. Smaller 'independant' films like Film4 won't have any animation to their logo as they aren't a major company therefore they have a more basic logo. However if Film4 were to become more well known perhaps their logo would change and become animated.

Bibliography:
Dreamworks information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks#Logo

By Will Howlett