Columbia Pictures
The Columbia logo has gone through many changes over the past 80 years and this is the most up-to-date ident, which was created in 1992. The model used for the woman carrying the torch was a housewife and mother of two, and the artist made her look like the traditional 'Torch Lady' with the draped dress and torchlight. There is one interesting aspect about the history of Columbia idents - it is not known who the original Torch Lady was! There have been multiple speculations - everyone from Bette Davis to small-town Texan actresses has claimed to be the lady in the famous logo. However, Columbia is not well known for its horror productions - notable films in Columbia's repertoire include 'Charlie's Angels', 'Stuart Little' and 'Spider-Man'. All of these films are either action or family films, and these do not coincide with our horror production. Furthermore, although the history of Columbia Pictures is extremely interesting, the bright golden lights and grand orchestral soundtrack does not convey any sort of horror imagery and thus does not represent our horror trailer successfully.
DreamWorks
Steven Spielberg wanted to reinvent the DreamWorks logo, and intended it to be reminiscent of Hollywood's golden age. The logo was originally intended to be a computer-generated image of a man fishing on the moon, but Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren has other ideas. Muren casted his own son William to model as the boy on the moon, and artist Robert Hunt painted both the real boy and a CGI version - but Spielberg liked the real boy William better. Ever since, William Muren fishing on the moon has been universally recognisable and is well-known for its animation productions, such as 'Shrek', 'Antz' and 'Madagascar'. Unfortunately, since DreamWorks is solely known for its family-friendly animation productions, it would be inappropriate to use it in our horror trailer since it does not coincide with the sinister themes in our production. Moreover, the orchestral music and the positive imagery of the boy fishing on the moon amongst the white clouds does not convey horror themes, and would thus not match our trailer at all.
Paramount
There is a story behind this distinctive Paramount ident - it is the oldest surviving Hollywood film logo, and has appeared in almost everything from home videos, cartoons and TV programmes to million-dollar blockbusters. The well-known Paramount mountain is said to be based on a doodle made by W. W. Hodkinson during a meeting with Adolph Zukor, from his own memories of the mountain ranges from his hometown in Utah. The soundtrack played over the top of the ident is a fanfare called 'Paramount on Parade', and was used in the ident after the film of the same name was released in 1930. The ident has gone over minor changes since its 1930 release, and the one shown above is the coloured version used in the 1992 film 'Wayne's World'. However, this ident would not fit in with our horror production since the stars, blue skies and picturesque mountain gives off a positive atmosphere more associated with family films or dramas. The music is also too upbeat and positive, which does not connect with out horror-mystery themes at all. Paramount is not even known for producing horror films - its most notable productions include 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider', 'Zoolander', 'Rugrats in Paris: The Movie' and 'Iron Man' - all films that are either dramas, action, comedies or family films. Therefore, Paramount would be an inappropriate ident to use in our trailer.
Twisted Pictures
Twisted Pictures is actually owned by Lionsgate, and it sprung into fame after producing the first ever 'Saw' movie and has gone on to produce all of the following sequels. These films are the most notable in Twisted Pictures' repertoire, but they have had other horror-mystery projects such as 'Dead Silence' and 'Mother's Day'. The ident starts out with the seemingly-innocent 'Twisted Pictures' text, but suddenly barbed wire appears out of nowhere and coils around the text. A metal steak is then planted in between the two words, with the barbed wire wrapping around it and the steak turning to pull it tighter around the text. The wire twisting around the text and the steak turning to twist it tighter coincides with the company name, 'Twisted Pictures', and gives a disturbing and unsettling image mostly connected with horror films. After that, there is a sudden and unexpected flash of lightning and the barbed wire uncoils itself to leave lines on the text where the spiky wire cut in. This again relates to the 'twisted' imagery and conveys that the production company is obviously based around the horror genre. This would be a good ident to use for our film since it represents all of our ideals and principles for the film, but its only downfall is that this ident is not instantly recognisable - it is not as well known as other production companies, and would only be successful in attracting an audience if people knew that Twisted Pictures produced the infamous Saw films.
Lionsgate - Our Chosen Ident
'Saw' was the biggest money-making horror movie in history for Lionsgate generating $103 million at the global box office, and has since become renowned for its other horror projects. After the Saw films, Twisted Pictures (a spin off company owned by Lionsgate) was created and it has gone on to lead production in all of the following sequels. Horror films such as 'Hostel', 'The Descent' and 'My Bloody Valentine 3D' have come from Lionsgate's various film franchises. Since it has had so many horror films, Lionsgate has produced its own spooky ident to relate to the genre. The ident starts out with a faint thumping sound, and then a strange sound is suddenly amplified and we see (and hear) a load of cogs turning. The shot then zooms out to show all of the cogs working together, and then zooms out through a key hole to reveal a set of large doors. The doors then open to reveal the 'LIONSGATE' logo surrounded by a cluster of dark, red and black clouds. The imagery in this ident connects to the horror theme - all of the cogs are brown, red, black and golden colours that convey an ominous heated setting, and the cogs appear to be rusting and creaking giving off a sinister impression. This links to the dark, rusty golden doors that spring open to reveal the Lionsgate logo - this added with the sinister music is quite frightening since we do not know what is behind those doors, there could be something terrifying there! The Lionsgate logo surrounded by dark, red stormy clouds conveys horror, anger and heat and thus has connotations linking to hell - this of course adds to the overall horror feel, and would connect perfectly to our film. Moreover, the sinister background music and the sound of the clicking cogs gives off an eerie atmosphere and links to the scary imagery - the sound and imagery combined gives a horror atmosphere, and since it has produced well-known horror films it will fit perfectly in our trailer. Therefore, this is our chosen ident for our movie, Hangman.
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