Well, before we start, first of all Popcorn@Movies is NOT on hiatus for the summer, but seeing as i am paying for my internet access by megabyte now that I am on holiday, until the 12th of August, i will not be promoting my posts on Facebook or Twitter, and my posts will most likely be much less picture oriented. See you soon!
Whatever your opinion of the Walt Disney
Company or Disney films in general, for those of us who grew up in the
nineties, there are few things as iconic, memorable or nostalgic as the vintage
Walt Disney Pictures logo, featuring Sleeping Beauty Castle and the asteroid
soaring over the top. Even the music was cool. This simple but effective logo
was the signal that we would spend an hour and a half curled up on the sofa
with a sibling or two, and watch one a series of the biggest home runs by a
studio in the modern age. The logo managed to be completely gender neutral, and
was extremely eye catching.
Modern Disney viewers will be greeted by
this upon entering the wonderful world of Disney, much has changed from the
previous logo. The most obvious change is the style of animation. The original
logo was drawn in simple, 2D animation. Whereas this logo is in shiny new 3D
animation, and uses a similar style of animation to Tangled, in that the logo
looks to be a blend of hand drawn and computer animation, with this logo having
the same lush Rocco style as in the film Tangled. A more recent change is also
that instead of the logo saying Walt Disney Pictures, the logo simply says
Disney. I wil admit that this doesn’t rile me nearly as much as it does some
other bloggers, and I feel that this change makes sense from a business point
of view, as the name Disney is one of the most easily recognizable. This is
especially important as many of their viewers are very young and may not be
able to read yet, and simply the name Disney, in this iconic font is instantly
recognizable, even by the youngest of viewers. This newer sequence is beautiful
in my opinion, and has the advantage that it can really be used for any film,
live action, classic animation, 3D animation or PIXAR, and maintains the
essence of the original, retaining the castle and the golden arc, whilst adding
just a little sparkle!
In 1995 with the release of Toy Story, the
first completely computer animated film, Disney had PIXAR produce a new logo,
which made use of this new technique, the logo also had the camera reverse zoom
out from behind the castle and was the perfect logo to usher in a new age of
Disney animation, and indeed the modern age of the animated film. The logo was
subsequently used for all PIXAR features, until the creation of the modern
logo. I personally love this logo, and feel it shows perfectly the PIXAR
variation on the Disney brand.
DisneyNature is a subsidiary of Disney
which produces narrative based nature documentaries. The logo here is almost
like a tongue-in-cheek homage to the Walt Disney Pictures logo, with the sky
having similar cloud formations, and with the mountains having a shape which
resembles that of the castle, the logo here is extremely beautiful, and
reflects the Disney brand, without being too obvious, and not overly ‘Disney’,
thus appealing to adults who might find the idea of a Disney film perhaps
childish or juvenile.
Variations
Now we come to the interesting part, over
the years for various films Disney has produced variations on these logos for
different films, often highlighting various themes or motifs of the various
movies, there isn’t nearly enough time here to detail them all, so I will
simply detail my favorites.
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· Inspector Gadget: One of the early variations, here Disney replaced the generic, animated tower, with a steampunk inspired, steel riveted castle. This is a nice touch which is indicative of the look and theme of the film. The logo manages to be modern and yet timeless, and manages to be very Disney, yet reflects that this is perhaps not a film which one would perhaps instantly associate with Disney, and which may appeal more to boys than girls. A detail which I really love is that the arch which normally appears as a simple animated line, here takes the form of an industrial cog, which also forms part of the Inspector Gadget logo. My only slight qualm with this logo, is that the cog should be a different color to the rest of the castle, and in fact it would be more striking if it was a simple black silhouette, and here the logo looks a little muddled, it is still however, a fun and playful logo. It seems retrospectively that I actually have more to say about this logo than I would about the actual film, were I to write a review!
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· Fantasia 2000: Here the variation is deceptively simple, however I believe that this logo was not animated for the film like other Disney logos, or the one at the top of the page. Here the classic blue background is replaced by a matte painting of a nebula. I think this logo is absolutely fantastic, and is perfect for this film. Fantasia and its sequel remain some of the greatest animated movies, and both contain some of the most innovative and beautiful animation ever seen. Here the logo represents the sheer expansiveness of the genre, and shows the audience how huge the spectrum of animation is, and how the film contains multiple styles and techniques of animation. The logo is also decidedly modern and adult, and is still recognizable as part of the Disney brand, whilst showing audiences that the film they are about to see is not a typical Disney film. The lack of animation is also smart here, as it again shows that this film will appeal to adults and children, and is more of an ‘art-house’ film than most other more traditional Disney films.
· Atlantis: The lost empire: Here the logo is shown as if being seen behind water, with ripples and reflections, and as if the logo is embossed on steel. I feel a certain ambivalence towards this variation, although it is beautiful and mysterious, and uses stunning colors of the style which are also found in the film, however i simply feel that the logo is unnecessary. In all the other cases shown here, a variation is used when the film represents something a little different or unusual in the Disney canon, Atlantis is very traditional when it comes to Disney films, and is probably as unusual as Hercules, as they are both based on a legend, however in all other aspects it is pretty traditional in terms of Disney movies, and is even animated in a rather traditional style. The logo, like much of the film, seems like a cheap gimmick, and is more about beautiful animation, than sensible story telling. Overall despite the animation being beautiful, the logo becomes an unfortunate metaphor for the film itself, pretty and attractive, but ultimately empty and rather pointless.
- · Lilo and Stitch: Here the logo is fun and amusing. Lilo and Stitch is rather odd for a Disney film, it is one of only three which are set in the present day, it is based on a wholly original idea, and not on a legend or fairy tale, it is also one of very few Disney films which is not a musical. Here, the logo again reflects the unusualness of this film, and shows how this film differs from other more traditional Disney films. The logo starts in the traditional way, with the castle yet in new colors, however instead of dust appearing in an arc above the castle, a small spaceship is represented by a yellow dot, which was accompanied with a beeping sound and a trail of fire. Then the walt Disney logo was lit up in green, and airlifted out as if it was being abducted, appropriate given that the character of Stitch is an alien. This is also appropriate given that the advertising campaign for this film involved Stitch hijacking various celebrated films from famous Disney movies, including the flying carpet scene from Aladdin and the ballroom scene from Beauty and the Beast. Overall the logo is fun and unexpected, and is appropriate for the film.
- Home on the Range: One of the last hand drawn animated films produced by Disney until The Princess and the Frog. Home on the range was a farmyard homage to 1960’s cowboy TV shows, such as are shown in Toy Story 2. The logo for this film was much like any other Disney film, except that instead of being animated in the traditional fashion and in the traditional colors. The viewer was greeted with what seemed to be a piece of creased and faded leather, and the Walt Disney Pictures logo was suddenly embossed onto the leather, appearing to be a ruddy brown color. This intro was fun and intriguing, if a little frivolous, and to be honest I have no qualms about this introduction, even though it is a little unnecessary, as I feel that the logo refrains from using cheap animation tricks, and is surprisingly simple.
- Enchanted: this is a personal favorite, Enchanted, like some other animated Disney classics, starts with a live animation sequence showing a book, from which the narrator reads the fairy tale, here narrated by Julie Andrews. From the modern, computer animated logo, the camera zooms in on the castle, and the first scene of the movie takes place inside the castle, this has to be one of the most seamless transitions from logo to movie ever seen, this variation is ridiculously simple, and in fact the castle logo is not changed at all, and thus the sudden zoom in is completely unexpected. The concept of this variation is what makes it so good, and it is in fact much more than a gimmick like so many of the other variations shown here.
- The Santa Clause 3: Here the transition is again unexpected, and ultimately seamless, here the Disney logo appears in a snow globe, transitioning straight into the credits. This is neat and smooth, and doesn’t feel gimmicky or cheap (unlike the rest of the movie) and is a simple and effective concept, which allows for a transition from the animated environment of the logo to the live action environment of the movie. So despite being deceptively clever, the transition here is ultimately very clever and actually quite simple.
- Tron: Legacy: Here the castle appears in a grid style series of line, which flickers slightly before fading. Given the color palette of this film, a traditional Disney logo would perhaps be jarring, and the logo itself in Tron style colors would look inappropriate and odd. Thus Disney decided that the best idea was to recreate the original castle in a Tron style, with straight lines and neon colors. I like this variation, and I find it to be flashy and slick, without being overdone, and I feel that it derives from necessity, and not simply from an overactive imagination.
- Oz the Great and Powerful: This logo was used in the trailer only, but I think it’s fantastic. The logo is seen unanimated, and painted on the side of a building, seen as the camera swoops up, over the roof of the building. This is absolutely fantastic, and is a decidedly simple concept which is nicely effective. This variation overcomes two possible issues with the traditional logo. The first is the color, as it might be jarring to have the logo in its regular colors, and then transition to black and white, and the second is the aspect ratio. Normally not an issue, the whole first part of this film is presented in traditional ‘academy’ aspect ratio, and again a transition from widescreen to this might be a little jarring.
- Unfortunately upon entering theatres, viewers were greeted by this. Although flashy and shiny, this sequence represents everything that is wrong with this movie. As the arc appears green dust falls and the castle transforms into the city of Oz. Although it is rather pretty, as I said before this is a little jarring given that the whole of the first chapter of the movie is presented in black and white, and in a different aspect ratio. The sequence despite its beauty is strangely appropriate for this movie, given that it is shiny yet empty, pretty yet oddly unnecessary, and like the film seems not to derive out of imagination, as the concept for the variation is a little obvious, to those of us blessed with even the smallest smidge of imagination.
- Frankenweenie: This is a personal favorite, the logo starts out as normal, and we are flying over green fields, the flag appears, fluttering in the breeze and the castle follows in its full illuminated glory. The golden arc appears, rising high over the castle, and as soon as it finishes its trajectory, there is a flash of lightning, a full moon appears and the picture is suddenly in black and white, it is raining and the bright twinkly music turns into deafening organ horror movie style music. This opening is simply perfect, and acts as a fantastic transition into the black and white Tim Burton world of Frankenweenie. The opening introduces the light, campy horror movie style themes of the movie, and is a playful homage, like the movie, to iconic monster movies of the sixties.
Well, it appears that Disney has done some pretty fantastic variations, much more than any other studio, and their variations often arise from necessity, and help to reduce the jarring transitions, rather than from animators wanting to show how clever they are.
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