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Topic: Film Trademarks

Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 07-05-2007 04:30 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
The 70mm print I saw of Die Hard featured a Fox logo horizontally stretched.

This wasn't confined to the 70mm prints; the 35s had it too.

quote: David Stambaugh
I always wondered what the deal was with the Fox logo in front of "Die Hard". Didn't that flat-logo-projected-in-scope error even carry over to home video releases?

quote: Bobby Henderson
I don't think so. Each DVD release has had the 1980's era 20th Century Fox logo properly composed for a 'scope frame. I'm not sure if the stretched logo error carried over to any of the laser disc releases.

I imagine the stretched Fox logo was a simple mistake of the lab cutting into the negative a flat version of the logo rather than a scope one, and then having a lack of time or a cost-factor preventing a correction. But…when I saw the stretched logo reappear two years later on "Die Hard 2" I had to wonder if it wasn't deliberate.

Anyway, I think the first laserdisc edition did retain the stretched logo. To verify, I recently dug into my laserdisc collection (yep, I kept 'em), but the disc I found for "Die Hard" was the 1995 Dolby Digital remastered edition which featured a corrected Fox logo. (As with a lot of remastered releases, I ditched earlier versions upon acquiring a new-and-improved version.)

quote: Bobby Henderson
Since the current Fox motion graphic is CGI-based, it's been relatively simple to customize it. X-Men altered it. The Star Wars special editions and prequels had stationary versions of it, ahead of the Lucasfilm Ltd. brand mark shown during the "CinemaScope Extension" music.

A stationary version (to accommodate the removal of the CinemaScope Extension music) is what I think should be used on contemporary "flat" releases.

quote: Bobby Henderson
In the 1980s, the Fox logo was altered in weird ways on some 70mm prints. The 70mm print I saw of The Abyss had the Fox logo badly cropped. You could see the "20th" part of it, but much of the lower part of it was clipped.

The off-center cropping in this instance may have been due to the film being shot in Super-35 using a topline composition method. Since "The Abyss" was only Fox's second Super-35 production and was produced fairly close to the introduction of the format, a customized topline Super-35 version of the studio logo probably had not yet been produced.

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Bernard Tonks
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 07-05-2007 06:37 PM

Before CinemaScope in the 4x3 screen days. I could never understand why the B+W Fox trade mark also had the searchlights over the front, but on Technicolor films they were only behind the trade mark. Always spoilt it for me! [Frown]

I hate the ridiculous sound delay on the Fox Searchlight Pictures overlong trade mark. [sleep]

Ran most of the Paramount VistaVision pictures. I remember the framing cues well which were printed on 12 frames. Could never understand why they had to print them on every incoming reel though, surely just on the first 2 reels would have sufficed.

Also used to like the Repuplic Pictures trade mark, but cannot remember the sound track. Anyone remember?

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 07-05-2007 08:54 PM

The front-crossed searchlights reappeared in the mid-60s... on pictures like "Fantastic Voyage" and "Batman".

quote: Steve Guttag
watch the "0" change in shape over the years...it is like they couldn't decide what it should look like

I just figured they didn't get the perspective quite right.

I've always preferred that original first logo. For some reason, it just looks grand to me. In black and white with the searchlights all around, and the odd-shaped "0" it has a surreal appearance that I dig. [Wink]

On the track, the drums are prominent throughout the entire piece (as they were on the non-scope versions until the mid-70s), and they're really hammering it out. The arrangement sounds bigger.

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 07-23-2007 03:45 AM

quote: Tim Reed
The arrangement sounds bigger.

Bigger optical recording IM distortion as well -- what does that sound like, maybe 10% It's enough to make you grind your teeth.

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Bernard Tonks
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 07-23-2007 08:35 AM

The front crossing searchlights on Technicolor films seemed to appear by the early 1950's going by "Destination Gobi" (1953)
screened on FilmFour TV recently.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0045682/

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Damien Taylor
Master Film Handler

Posts: 493
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2007

posted 07-23-2007 10:58 AM

quote: Steve Guttag
watch the "0" change in shape over the years...it is like they couldn't decide what it should look like

This one just looks really wrong, like 0's about to roll off.

Edit: TV Movie Incident on a Dark Street (1973)

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 08-01-2007 12:50 AM

quote: Frank Angel
It's enough to make you grind your teeth.

Wasn't talkin' about that. It's obviously a very old recording. I'm referring to the musical arrangement. Humm... I've been down this road before in another thread. [Wink]

The way the instruments are playing this version of the theme, particularly the drums pounding throughout the entire piece, give it a bigger presence than in later arrangements, IMHO. It sounds larger, mightier.

Am I the only one who hears this? [Confused]

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Damien Taylor
Master Film Handler

Posts: 493
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2007

posted 08-01-2007 03:36 AM

Those poor drums kinda got washed out by the rest of the instruments as time went on. When the fanfare was re-recorded, the decision was probably made to pull them down in the mix. As some said, it could also be due to more archaic sound equalization bringing them out more.

Take a look at M*A*S*H. By 1970 the drums were being mixed to sound like they were being played in a pipe but the rest of the band were right in your face.

Edit: This was the DVD, so it could be a plastering of a later fanfare.

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 08-02-2007 01:22 AM

I always liked the logo Universal used when the studio was known as Universal-International. I seem to recall the studio used the UI logi during the fifties and reverted back to 'Universal' in the early sixties. What was the purpose of adding 'International " to their logo?

-Claude

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Bernard Tonks
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 08-02-2007 07:34 AM

Claude,

International Pictures merged with Universal Pictures. HISTORY LINK

There have been several mergers over the years, too many to mention now. An interesting one is that Gaumont British Pictures was distributed in the UK by General Film Distributors (later Rank), but in the USA distribution was by Gaumont British Film Distributors of America.

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