Deluxe Digital Studios

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Deluxe Digital Studios is a DVD/Blu-ray authoring company established in the early 2000s via the acquisition of Ritek Digital Studios. Deluxe itself is a subsidiary of Deluxe Entertainment Services Inc., an American-Spanish mass media company founded in 1915 by William Fox (founder of Fox Film, a predecessor to 20th Century Studios).



1st Logo (October 22, 2002-May 17, 2005)


Visuals: On a black/white gradient background, a red globe zooms out while it is rotating. Then, it becomes solid as the word "deluxe" fades on it (forming the Deluxe Corporation logo). "digital" flies out from the circle letter-by-letter, as the texts "design", "compression", "authoring", and "production services", in white, appear under "S T U D I O S", which appears letter-by-letter under "ital". The Deluxe logo then flashes, and "A DIVISION OF DELUXE GLOBAL MEDIA SERVICES LLC" fades in.

Variants:

  • A widescreen version exists, which appears on widescreen releases of certain DVDs from the period.
  • A still version exists, which is seen on the Universal DVDs of Midnight Run, Ed (1996), Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax (1972), Blue Crush, Empire, The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, Jaws 3-D, and Jaws: The Revenge.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A synth drone is heard all throughout the logo. When the letters appear, several whooshes and beeps are heard, and a boom is heard at the end. None for the still version.

Availability: Seen at the end of Universal DVDs from October 2002 to early 2005, including 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Cat in the Hat (2003), the 2003 DVDs of Casper and The Land Before Time, the Tricked Out Edition of The Fast and the Furious, the 2002 20th Anniversary Edition DVD of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Hulk, the first two Bourne movies, Scarface: 20th Anniversary Edition, the first two seasons of Monk, the first season of Sitting Ducks, Schindler's List, Back to the Future: The Complete Trilogy, An American Tail, Santa vs. the Snowman, Bruce Almighty, Johnny English, The Rundown, American Wedding, Along Came Polly, About a Boy, Peter Pan (2003), Love Actually, Thunderbirds (2004), Shaun of the Dead, Sssssss, Dawn of the Dead (2004), Van Helsing, Ned Kelly, Connie & Carla, Seabiscuit, Two Brothers, The Chronicles of Riddick, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Friday Night Lights, Wimbledon, and Vanity Fair.

  • It also appeared on MGM DVDs from 2003 to 2005, such as Absolute Beginners, Evelyn, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, It's My Party, The Last American Virgin, National Lampoon's Dorm Daze, Bulletproof Monk, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Sleepover, Saved!, Soul Plane and Kart Racer, as well as the 2005 DVDs of Get Shorty, The Graduate, and Raging Bull.
  • It also appeared on some 20th Century Fox DVDs from late 2004 to mid-2005, such as Taxi (2004), DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, Fat Albert, Alien vs. Predator, Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Napoleon Dynamite, I, Robot, Elektra, The Sandlot 2, The Clearing, First Daughter, seasons three and four of King of the Hill, the Star Wars: Ewok Adventures Double Feature, Family Guy: Freakin' Sweet Collection, Paparazzi, Class Action, Sideways, Kinsey, and Francis of Assisi..
  • It was also seen at the end of the Artisan Entertainment 2004 Special Edition DVD of The Running Man and it also appeared on some Lions Gate Home Entertainment DVD releases from 2004 to 2005, such as Saw, The Punisher (2004), Dragons: Fire & Ice and the Ultimate Editions of the first three Rambo movies.
  • It also appeared on some HBO Video releases, such as the first season of Entourage.

2nd Logo (January 25, 2005-October 17, 2006)


Visuals: An iris-in effect brings forth a red/black background with a grid and a continuously scrolling filmstrip that transforms into 1/0 binary codes after reaching the center. The logo from before flies faintly from left to right over the background. Then, a transparent square flashes in, where the Deluxe circle zooms out and "digital" and "S T U D I O S" slide in from left and right, respectively. The texts "DESIGN", "COMPRESSION", and "AUTHORING" appear above the square, fading in word-by-word while they slowly space out, before ending with "PRODUCTION SERVICES". The codes and text continue to move as the logo fades out.

Variant: On early Universal DVDs with this logo, it is in a crimson red color, and below is "A DIVISION OF DELUXE LABORATORIES" with a red glow.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A dark sound that sounds like air blowing, then a loud whoosh sound when the square flashes, and a laser zap for the above texts appearing. After that a gradual synthesized "fade-out" sound effect is heard.

Availability: This logo was only used for nearly two years.

  • It was seen at the end of 2005-2006 DVDs from Universal, 20th Century Fox, and MGM (before Sony took over distribution).
  • Like before, for Universal releases, this logo was paired with the Macrovision logo.
  • It also appears on the Lionsgate releases of Saw: Special Edition, The Barbie Diaries, Arthur's Missing Pal, and all Lionsgate UMD releases.
  • It even appears on some HBO Video and New Line Cinema releases.
  • The variant with the byline is known to appear on October Sky: Special Edition, Ray, Meet the Fockers, The Motorcycle Diaries, David Lynch's Dune, Arthur's Missing Pal and Assault on Precinct 13 (2005).

Legacy: This had been known to scare some people due to its dramatic appearance and its audio.

3rd Logo (September 5, 2006-March 8, 2016)


Visuals: On a white paper-like background, the logo sketches itself in at a bottom angle, before angling itself upward as it zooms out to the center. To the tune of the logo music, the Deluxe logo faintly flashes as all the normal colors begin painting in. With the background now bright silver, the Deluxe circle becomes shiny as a duplicate of the text on it shoots out letter-by-letter. The Deluxe circle flashes again as its color "inflates" inside, while the entire logo then raises to fully render in CGI. At the same time, the background becomes a darker silver metal flooring, with a large blue spotlight shining on the Deluxe logo. The logo's shadow moves from right to left as the flooring shines on top from the opposite.

Variants:

  • On full-screen only DVDs, the logo starts at the left side and when it angles, it pans until it's centered.
  • On Blu-ray releases, the logo cuts to black instead of fading out.

Technique: A blend of CGI and 2D animation.

Audio: A piano theme that builds up to a majestic climax and ends with a held-out synth drone and a faint "hiss" with the shine. Composed in F major by Roger Fiets.

Availability: It was seen at the end of 2006-2016 Universal Studios Home Entertainment DVDs and Blu-rays (starting with United 93).

  • Like the previous logos, this logo was paired with the Macrovision logo on Universal DVDs until early 2007 (as well as on the 2010 It's A Very Muppet Christmas Movie DVD). It does not appear on the original release of Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses, but subsequent Barbie titles from this timeframe do have it.
  • It also appeared on pre-2016 Blu-ray/multi-film set DVD reissues of older Universal products.
  • It was also seen at the end of 2006-2009 20th Century Fox releases, and beginning in 2007, MGM releases. Fox DVDs and Blu-rays since 2009 no longer have this logo, with the introduction of the region-specific warning screen.
  • It also appeared on the Lionsgate releases of Saw II: Special Edition and The Last Unicorn: 25th Anniversary Edition.
  • Pre-Lionsgate Summit Entertainment releases, such as the first four Twilight films, also used this at the end.
  • Some Universal and Fox DVDs and Blu-rays released around this time do not have this logo at the end, as they either go straight to the main menu or replace it with the Panasonic Disc Manufacturing Corporation, 2013-2016 Sony DADC or a different authoring logo instead.

Legacy: This has also been known to scare people, but it is also a nostalgic logo for people who owned Universal and Fox DVDs in the 2000s.

4th Logo (March 15, 2016-)


Visuals: On a white background, three red swirls fly into the screen as a bright red light moves in to the center of the screen. The swirls form the Deluxe circle from the previous logos, but "deluxe" is in a different font. There are still some swirls in the circle. The "digital studios" text is also absent.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A long whoosh accompanied by twinkling sounds.

Availability: Seen on most Universal DVDs and Blu-rays since March 2016, with its earliest known appearance being on Sisters.

  • Some Universal DVDs and Blu-rays released around this time (e.g. The Fate of the Furious and Skyscraper) do not have this logo at the end, as they either go straight to the main menu or replace it with the 2016-2019 Sony DADC New Media Solutions logo instead.
  • It does not appear on any Ultra HD Blu-rays released by Universal as they use a 4K Ultra HD version instead, nor on Fox titles in all formats, as they kept using the same region-specific warning screen and then updated to Disney's version in May 2020.

5th Logo (August 9, 2016-)


Visuals: On a white background, a red circle zooms out, which later turns into a globe, and back into the circle with the word "deluxe" in the same font as the previous logo.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A calming three-note string tune, along with some shining.

Availability: Only seen on Ultra HD Blu-rays from Universal. This logo does not appear on standard Blu-rays or DVDs from Universal, as they use the previous logo.

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