Research: Logos

 I will be focusing on the Disney logo and researching how their logo has evolved over the years.

This is what the original Disney logo looked like. There were others before this as Disney is decades old, but the more recent ones stemmed from this 2006 design. The Castle is the same as that of the sleeping beauty castle which is based on Neuschwanstein Castle - A 17th century German castle designed by a Mad King. 

When the Logo was updated into more of a sequence, it was modeled almost exactly after the Disney land castle. It was created by Weta Workshops in New Zealand, after being designed by Pixar. The Castle is shown to be lit from within to create a sense of longing to see what is inside. At Disney world, you can go inside the castle, so this simple lighting technique is also a psychological marketing strategy.  As the camera circles around the castle, you can see are large landscape.

As you can see above, there is a river leading out to sea, a pirate ship, a train and various settlements.  Here Disney is suggesting that their fictional world goes far beyond the castle, and that the possibilities are endless, which creates a sense of wonder and magic.

In recent years, Disney has made changes to their logo for different movies. They often reflect the setting where a given story takes place or elements of the narrative.

Above is the Mary Poppins Version which Mimics a Cobblestone street in London. The trees are bare cherry trees which alludes to the element of spring and new beginnings in the story, as the movie finishes with the cherry trees in London in full blossom.

Above is the Maleficent logo variant. A s you can see, the audience is shown the side of the sleeping beauty castle. There was no need for a change in setting for this castle, but the audience is shown the familiar scene but from a different angle. The familiar castle from a different angle tells the audience they are going to be told a familiar story from a different perspective (Maleficent's).

This into the woods theme is spooky and haunting much like the story. There are key elements of the film such as trees and the moon which are centuries old forms of iconography associated with Grimm's fairytales which will be re-told in this movie. 

Finally, there is the Cinderella variant.  It is quite obvious that is film is set in the french countryside from this image. This castle is inspired by various french castles and chateaus such as Pierrefonds, Château d'Ussé and châteaux of Chenonceau. This variant mimics the creme colored exterior and blue-grey roofing of french castles.

The 24 stars that form a circle over the mountain stand for 24 actors who signed their contracts with the film studio in 1914. The original plan was to add a new star onto the emblem every time a new actor joined the team. However, the movie industry was developing so fast that Paramount Pictures had to give up on the idea. The two main symbols depicted on the logo are a mountain and stars above it. There is still debate about the backstory behind the emblem. According to some researchers, it was based off the childhood memories of William Wadsworth Hodkinson – the man who founded Paramount Pictures.  On the new 1952 logo, the mountain grew higher and moved to the center of the composition. A blue sky with fluffy white clouds lended a fresh, vibrant feel to the design. In 1957, the Paramount branding took a turn towards minimalism. The logo was painted blue, and the landscape lost some of its details. The next rebranding milestone happened in 1987. The revamped emblem was based off a painting which was commissioned by Paramount to celebrate its 75th anniversary. A picturesque lake appeared at the mountain foot, and the stars got a realistic shining.In 2002, it was decided to add dynamics to the emblem. A new design displayed shooting stars over the the snowy mountain peak. The landscape turned out to be very romantic and dreamy.   I took this information from https://www.logaster.com/blog/paramount-pictures-logo/ 

Originally, Steven Spielberg had the following brief. For one, he wanted the DreamWorks logo to be inspired by Hollywood’s golden age. The logo should have depicted a man on the moon, fishing, and be generated by a computer.Dennis Muren, suggested a slightly different approach. He said the moon-fisher theme would look better if painted by hand. Artist Robert Hunt, Muren’s friend, was commissioned for the project. He suggested a series of drawings. In addition to those depicting a man, there was also a version depicting a fishing boy. It was this additional version that was eventually chosen by Spielberg. When a person dreams, she or he in a way becomes more like a child than an adult. Children dream with their horizons unlimited. They don’t know about all these material obstacles that may interfere with their desires. Because of this, nothing is impossible to them. Interestingly, we even know who the boy had been modeled after – it was Robert Hunt’s son. The final logo was developed by Industrial Light and Magic based on Hunt’s paintings in close collaboration with Kaleidoscope Films, Dave Carson, and Clint Goldman. - I got this information from https://1000logos.net/dreamworks-logo/ 

The company was renamed in 1924 and that is when the first official Columbia Pictures logo was born. It was composed of an image of the Roman Warrior Lady with a shield in one hand and a wheat spike in the other. The wordmark was placed in the center of the oval badge, over the image.The logo, used by the company today, was created in 1993 and featured an enlarged wordmark, set in two levels, with the emblem in its right. The lettering is executed in a strict geometric sans-serif, with the square shape of the letters and distinct bold lines. As for the emblem, it is a delicate yet strong image of the iconic lady, surrounded by a curved line, symbolizing the cloud. The picture is enclosed in a strict square frame.

Despite several changes, Disney, Paramount and Columbia pictures have always kept a metalic logo in the same font at the front. My own logo has a Metalic feature as well. My logo is 3D forest green image that I made on after effects. I used similar techniques to Disney like using a camera to a just the angle so that the audience feels like they are looking up at the logo, a metalic effect so it seems sleek and has a connotation of value, as well as using lighting to my advantage by having it lit from the bottom up.