Various Film/Movie Companies

By Matt Williams

Amblin Entertainment
(1982-)

Nickname: "The E.T. Logo"

Logo: We see a close-up of the moon, which zooms backward until it is on the left side of the screen. Right before the moon stops in its place, a silhouette of a young boy on a bicycle (Elliot from "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial") slowly flies in front of the moon from the left side of the moon's border, stopping in the middle (even when the bicycle stops, the wheels continue to move). At the same time, two red/blue stripes move in from both sides of the screen. The stripe that comes in from the left side places itself right underneath the moon, while the stripe that comes in from the right side places itself near the top of the moon (this creates a small space to the right of the moon bordered by the stripes on the top and bottom). When the moon and stripes are in place, the word "AMBLIN" appears in a strange fade-in (shadows form the blue letters one at a time). When the word "AMBLIN" is finally revealed, smaller red text appears under the bottom text that reads "ENTERTAINMENT". Both words are in a similar thin font.

Variants:

• One shows the moon and stripes in place without animation, and it just shows the fade-in of the company name.
• A television version has the logo already formed, but with Television in place of Entertainment. And the logo does a quick flash and then disappears, much like the effect of turning a TV off. It can be seen on "ER". It has also earned the nickname of "Switch Off".

SFX: The moon zooming backward, boy on bicycle appearing, red/blue stripes coming from both sides, "AMBLIN" fading in.

Music: A light orchestral theme was used with this logo in earlier films. However, it is usually silent.

Availability: Since this is Steven Spielberg's company, it can be seen at the end of just about any film produced or directed by Spielberg since 1982.

Scare Factor: Minimal.

The David Geffen Company
(1983-Late 90s?)

Nicknames: "The Circle-G", "The Geffen G"

Logo: On a black background, a silver sphere appears and slowly moves forward. At the same time, the sphere slowly turns clockwise, revealing a thin, inscribed "G". When the "G" is fully revealed, the sphere stops, and text that reads "A GEFFEN COMPANY RELEASE" appears under it. A few seconds later, smaller text appears near the bottom of the screen, which says "DISTRIBUTED BY WARNER BROS. A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" (either the \\' or WB shield appeared to the right of Warner Bros.).

There was also a television variation of this logo, which will be described soon.

Byline: This logo would later have the byline "A TIME WARNER COMPANY" in place of Warner Communications.

SFX: The sphere rotating to the familiar Geffen logo, pretty nice, actually.

Music: A light synthesizer tune. However, this logo was silent on most films.

Availability: Appears at the beginning of Geffen-produced films from the 1980's and early 90's, including Beetlejuice, After Hours and Little Shop of Horrors to name a few.

Scare Factor: None.

The Ladd Company
(1980-1996)

Nickname: "The Oak Tree"

Logo: On a white background, a green oak tree is etched from top to bottom with long glowing lines, and a single line is drawn for the bottom. When the tree is completely drawn out, red text that says "THE LADD COMPANY" appears underneath. A few seconds later, smaller text appears at the bottom that says "THRU WARNER BROS. (\\') A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY"

Variant: On "Blade Runner", this logo appears on a black background, and also contains a credit for Sir Run Run Shaw.

SFX/Cheesy Factor: The tree being etched by glowing lines. It reeks of early computer effects.

Music: A gentle-sounding orchestral horn fanfare, written by John Williams. This logo was also silent on some films.

Availability: Still intact at the beginning of any film produced by the company in the early 1980's, including Chariots of Fire, Night Shift, Police Academy and The Right Stuff. This also makes a suprising appearance on 1996's A Very Brady Sequel without the Warner byline.

Scare Factor: Minimal because the music might seem dramatic to some.

Sherwood Productions
(1983-84)

Logo: On a black background, we see a group of pink and blue horizontal lines crossing over each other; the pink lines move upward, while the blue lines move downward. Then the groups of lines (in box-like shapes) pull away from each other towards both corners of the screen, with the pink line-square moving towards the top left corner and the blue line-square moving towards the bottom right corner. The two squares (which are slanted by this time) are still joined to each other, with the bottom right corner of the pink square joined to the top left corner of the blue square. As the two shapes move to opposite sides of the screen, the left side of the blue square crosses over the right side of the pink square. When the two shapes cross each other, vertical lines form from the opposite end of each shape and nearly connect to each other, forming an "S"-like shape. After the "S" is formed, two groups of lines travel from opposite corners of the screen, with the blue lines traveling from the bottom left corner and the pink lines traveling from the top right corner. The two groups of lines connect to the "S", forming a hexagon. As the "S hexagon" shines, it moves backwards. When the "S hexagon" is in place right above the center of the screen, the words "SHERWOOD PRODUCTIONS, INC." appear underneath in a thin futuristic font.

SFX/Cheesy Factor: The pink and blue lines forming the "S", extra lines forming the hexagon, shining effects.

Music: None.

Availability: Can be seen at the beginning of any film produced by Sherwood, including Mr. Mom and Blame It on Rio.

Scare Factor: Minimal; the animation might bother some people.

Village Roadshow Pictures
(Late 1990s-)

Logo: Sort of like the 1980s New World Pictures logo, we see rows of bars coming up extremely close to the camera. A spotlight lights up the background behind them. The spotlight fades and we zoom out to reveal a large stylized filled triangle made up of six progressively smaller V. "VILLAGE ROADSHOW PICTURES" fades in below.

There is also a television version of this logo. Details to follow.

SFX: The forming of the V.

Cheesy Factor: The CGI, though good, seems like a ripoff of the classic New World Pictures logo.

Music: The beginning of the movie's theme.

Availability: Can be seen on many high-ticket pictures of 1999 and 2000 distributed by Warner Bros., including Analyze This and The Matrix.

Scare Factor: None, this is a clean logo.