Artisan Entertainment (Parent Company IDs)

Compiled by Matt Williams

IVE (International Video Entertainment)
1st Logo
(1984-1988)

Nickname: "IVE Grid 1", "Clapping"

Logo: On a white background, black lines begin to draw a rectangle, and then crisscross to form a grid. Below the grid, the words "INTERNATIONAL VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT" (in black) are "typed" in, letter-by-letter. After the words make their appearance, the letters "IVE", in a tall, thin, italic font, zoom out from one of the lower-left squares of the grid, nearly covering it. The "I" is red, the "V" is blue, and the "E" is green.

SFX: Computer animation, animation of the lines and seemingly "typing in" of the letters.

Cheesy Factor: Off the charts. Like its cousin, the 1984-92 FHE logo, it uses very primitive computer graphics, probably on an Apple II. The logo looks crude, and the grid animation is low-quality.

Music: A synth theme combined with clapping and FHE 2-like whining noises.

Availability: Look, and look hard. Many IVE releases were B-movies (that is putting it "very" nicely), and the few higher-quality releases (mostly Carolco flicks) have been released under Live/Artisan or other labels.

Scare Factor: Low, the primitive animation might put a few off but this is a fave, mostly due to the musical score.

2nd Logo
(1988-1990)

Nicknames: "IVE Grid 2", "IVE Box", "Star Tiles"

Logo: We fade in on a gray marble grid background with stars in the squares that moves to the upper left. A purple rectangle comes from the upper-left and positions itself in the center of the screen, whilst a magenta "IVE", in the same font as before, comes from the bottom-right.

SFX: The animation, the grid bg.

Cheesy Factor: 80s Computer Graphics abound in this one. Rather cheap as well.

Music: An uninspired synthesized theme.

Availability: A bit wider in distribution than the last one, but still pretty rare. This might turn up on pay TV networks from time to time.

Scare Factor: None.

Live Home Video/Live Entertainment
1st Logo
(1990-1995)

Logo: On a black background, a gray segmented triangle (almost like the "Cheesy V" Vestron logo) appears, with another triangle cut out of it so that it looks like a stylized "L". Below it, the word "LIVE" appears in blue, with "HOME VIDEO" under it.

Variant: On FHE or Carolco Home Video releases, this logo appears with "Exclusively Distributed By" above it. "A Division of Live Entertainment" can be seen below.

SFX: None, it's a still logo.

Music: No music for this one.

Availability: The "Exclusively Distributed By" variation can be seen on FHE and Carolco releases, the normal version's on regular Live Home Video releases.

Scare Factor: None

2nd Logo
(1995-1998)

Logo: On a black bg, several sets of triangles, laid at a 90 degree angle, come onto the screen from opposite directions. They then spin around a few times, as the camera pulls back, revealing more sets of triangles spinning, and the words "LIVE ENTERTAINMENT" at a 90 degree angle! The text then does a 90-degree turn to face us, while the triangles form the Live logo (segmented triangle with a smaller one cut out on the upper-right). All are bluish-gray, until two searchlights crisscross the logo, making the triangle logo brighter, turning "LIVE" blue, and "ENTERTAINMENT" white. "LIVE" shines, and a white sparkle appears on the side of the "E".

SFX: Excellent CGI-- I've noticed that IVE/Live/Artisan alternates between good logos and bad ones. This one is a great effort. The next one (for Artisan)... well...

Music: A semi-ominous synth theme that turns more triumphant at the end. Nothing special, though. However, this was replaced in 1997 by a more uplifting orchestral fanfare-- this one IS special, and much, much better than the original version.

Availability: It was on all Live releases from 1995 to 1998, when the company became Artisan. However, recently Artisan has been pulling a Columbia-Tristar--rereleasing Live videos in their original packaging, but with all evidence of Live edited out and Artisan logos edited in in their place!

Scare Factor: Low, this is a nice logo.

Artisan Entertainment
(1998-)

Nicknames: "The Box," "The Box With Web Address," "The Fugly Box"

Logo: On a black bg, the word "ARTISAN", in a box with the leg of the "R" extended, fades in while it is zooming towards the screen. It stops at a distance and the word "ENTERTAINMENT" appears underneath.

Variations:

• In Artisan's very early days, a simpler version of this logo was used, with just the word "ARTISAN" in a box, with a very small "ENTERTAINMENT" underneath. No fancy spacing, no fade in of "Entertainment", no fancy R. Just a very speedy and bad zoom-up. Probably made in five minutes.
• A version with the logo done in a "chrome" effect exists. This was probably only used on 1999-era trailers, and to date has not been spotted on Artisan films. Trailers now use the standard Artisan logo.
• For home entertainment releases, the logo was shown before Artisan's trailers with a "www.artisanent.com" web address underneath. This too has been discontinued; Artisan Home Entertainment now uses a custom logo/website promo.
• On the current version, the www.artisanent.com web address will appear underneath the logo occasionally.

SFX: The zooming up of the box, the fading in of "ENTERTAINMENT"

Cheesy Factor: Oddly, this looks sort of dated-as well as a bit derivative of the famous Warner Bros. \\' logo. The "silvery" version looks even worse.

Music: None.

Availability: Currently in use, but quite rare-Artisan usually leaves their library alone when it comes to logos.

Scare Factor: None.