Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 2 Questions About Logos (sound format, 70mm)

This is topic 2 Questions About Logos (sound format, 70mm) in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-31-2002, 10:39 AM:

I've done some searching, cannot seem to find an online repository of any of the logos used in newspaper display ads for special presentation formats. Example: "70mm 6-Track Dolby Stereo" had a great logo that was often used in the 80s (in the LA Times anyway). Anyone know if these logos have been collected and made available online someplace?

Common scenario: Theater advertises in the paper "All Digital Sound" but doesn't specify the format. They also don't run any logos or snipes (?) before the feature. Clearly they are using DTS and sometimes SRD. But their marquee says "Dolby Digital" with the Dolby logo alongside the name of every feature, and this never changes. Is this considered not important? In other words, does anyone in the industry care if the theater advertises "Dolby Digital" but actually uses other formats sometimes? This is probably a trivial thing, but on the other hand, it could be considered misleading. Dolby might like it, but DTS (or Sony) might frown on it. ?

The above question came up in my head after I saw newspaper ads for theaters in San Francisco. In SF, the ads seem to always specify EXACTLY which format is used in each theater: SRD, DTS, or SDDS. But in other markets, theaters seem to sidestep the format issue and just say "it's digital".

Enquiring minds want to know.

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- dave
Avoid the meadow...

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-31-2002, 10:51 AM:

Contact each of the vendors if you are looking for clip art or graphics:
http://www.dtsonline.com
http://www.dolby.com
http://www.sdds.com
http://www.thx.com
http://www.uslinc.com
http://www.hps4000.com

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-31-2002, 10:54 AM:

Thanks John. Being lazy, I was looking for 1-stop shopping.

But this is probably the way to do it. I suppose even the old logos are copyrighted and would require permission to reproduce.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 01-31-2002, 12:49 PM:

If you plan on running anything in a given company's format, then you should be OK with using the logos for that format.

And many times you see ads advertising something in a certain format, but once you arrive you find its in analog stereo or worse, mono or front/surround!

We avoid the trouble of logos by just advertising films as being 'in digital' with no specification to format, as prints do move around, sometimes in the same day and they can go from DTS to SRD to SDDS (no rollaround systems) We try to keep digital advertised prints in a digital house whenever possible (several of our locations have digital on all screens just different formats).

-Aaron

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 01-31-2002, 11:34 PM:

I seem to remember someone (Boxoffice Mag?) made a generic "70mm Presentation" logo that you could copy for free. It didn't have any manufacturer' name on it.

Posted by Thomas Hauerslev (Member # 566) on 02-01-2002, 06:28 AM:

I've got a fairly large collection of many "70mm Dolby" logos used in the 80's. I'd be happy to snail mail you copies if you like.

------------------
Cheers, Thomas
..in70mm - The 70mm Newsletter

www.in70mm.com www.dp70.com www.70mm.dk www.hauerslev.com http://hjem.get2net.dk/in70mm

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 02-01-2002, 09:18 AM:

I emailed DTS and Dolby about the logos. I asked DTS specifically about their 70mm logo. DTS responded immediately, and their policy is they will not allow use of the logo, period. Dolby has not responded yet.

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- dave
Avoid the meadow...

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 02-01-2002, 11:15 PM:

I wasn't aware that DTS had a specific 70mm logo. Then again, I'm not sure if I've ever seen a 70mm presntation. I wonder why they wouldn't allow use of that logo if the presentation truly is 70mm DTS.

Dave, my last theater was all digital, and we did the same thing Aaron does - advertise all digital but not the format. If you are going to advertise a format, please make sure it is the correct one! Otherwise, it is false advertising.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-03-2002, 12:48 PM:

I have a LOT of 70mm logos I have collected from stack ad clippings from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times and other newspapers. I've made some very fine quality vector conversions of those logos as well.

Just let me know what you need and I can e-mail you a logo in the file format you desire.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-03-2002, 12:55 PM:

BTW, DTS does not have a specific logo for 70mm DTS. The closest thing available are some mock up designs I did that wound up being published in Widescreen Review a few years ago.

I sent them some designs a couple years ago for concept DTS-ES logos. The one they have now looks a lot like one design I did, with the only difference being the "es" letters are in a futuristic font rather than the Letraset Dolmen typeface I used, which is also the letter style for the "dts" letters.

Anyway, with the business I am in, if I need a logo badly enough I'll make my own. I do prefer to get the original versions from the companies themselves out of a matter of principal. And of course you can only use those logos in direct relation to advertising their product. Doing other crap like selling merchandise products made from their logos will land you in court for trademark infringement.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-03-2002, 05:55 PM:

the 70mm logo for DTS is

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-04-2002, 06:17 PM:

Hey, that's my design!!!

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-04-2002, 06:36 PM:

If it was an official DTS design the letters "DTS" would definitely be in there. Looks like a cheap-o Bobby Henderson design to me

Ooops did I say that out loud? I meant Phiggidy Phat Tight Mac daddy B-Hend design dat ownz you!

Posted by Thomas Hauerslev (Member # 566) on 02-08-2002, 03:36 AM:

Here's Bobby's 70mm DTS version we used for "Titanic" in Copenhagen in 1998. I took the WR image, scanned it and blew it up and pasted it all over the 24 sheet poster. Came out rather well.

Bobby, do you still have the logo stored electronically?

------------------
Cheers, Thomas
..in70mm - The 70mm Newsletter
www.in70mm.com www.dp70.com www.70mm.dk www.hauerslev.com http://hjem.get2net.dk/in70mm

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-08-2002, 09:51 AM:

Actually I grabbed that years ago off the DTS site when we were doing Titanic

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-09-2002, 09:31 PM:

Yes, Thomas, I still have all my personally created logos (as well as others companies like Dolby have sent) stored in electronic form, and completely vectorized as well. I have been getting some extra logos vectorized, such as the 70mm logo clippings you sent me a while back.

A lot of people only deal in JPEG or GIF format with logo development. I insist on creating a perfectly vectorized version above anything else. Vector art in formats like EPS, Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW can be used to create cut vinyl or routed metal signage and even neon tube patterns. You can scale the art up or down in size without any loss of quality. Vector objects can be lathed, extruded and texture skinned in 3D programs easily. I even paste vector paths into Photoshop for doing a lot of raster-based graphics work. I threw together another DTS 70mm logo concept the other day.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 02-11-2002, 12:36 PM:

The Splendor of 70mm.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 585-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 585-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 02-11-2002, 01:00 PM:

Now THAT'S a GREAT logo! New wallpaper for my PC.

I finally heard from Dolby regarding my logo question. They claim they searched their archives for the 80s-era 70mm logos but couldn't find them. Also, they are not interested in licensing any logos for T-shirts or related, even if not-for-profit.

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- dave
I want that North American cable deal!

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-11-2002, 06:39 PM:

Dolby Labs is not the one responsible for many of the wide and grand looking 70mm icons we saw in 1980's and early 1990's newspaper ads. The film distributors and ad agencies handling their newspaper advertising accounts are responsible for those icons.

Paramount Pictures unveiled the most popular 70mm logo with the release of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and even got the logo protected as a registered trademark. Other distributors came up with their own spread-out 70mm logos following that. One bad thing about a lot of those cool looking logos is they did not reproduce very well at all when reduced to very small sizes. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to lots of them in newspaper stack ads so more theater listings could be fit in an already cramped space.

I have an Adobe Acrobat PDF file I an e-mail to anyone who would like to see what logos were normally associated with which studios. On occaision, some logo designs would wind up being adopted by other studios in New York and Los Angeles ads. In newspaper ads of most other large markets, the familiar Paramount 70mm was often used regardless of which distributor was involved. Paramount's version seems to be the real, official logo for 70mm.