Film4 Productions

This article is about the production company. For the station, see Film4.

Credits

Descriptions by
EnormousRat and Colorband

Captures by
EnormousRat, IdentsAndLogos, movierelatedlogos, thelogoarchive, Broken Saw, ***(@, 4R Geo, LogicSmash, Taggs and ifrequire

Editions by
AlmightyKingPrawn and Michael Kenchington

Background

Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel 4. Its first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears and released in 1982. Prior to 1998, the company was often identified as FilmFour International. In 1996, the company changed to Channel Four Films for a short time. In 1998, the company permanently rebranded as FilmFour to coincide with the launch of a new digital TV channel of the same name. The company cut its budget and staff significantly, along with the FilmFour channel in 2002, due to mounting losses, and was reintegrated into the drama department of Channel 4. The name "Film4" was introduced in 2006 to tie in with the relaunch of the TV channel with the same name.

FilmFour Productions

Contents 1st Logo (12 June 1998-1 October 2004) 2nd Logo (24 September 2004-27 October 2006)

Film4 Productions

Contents 1st Logo (23 June 2006-13 May 2016) 2nd Logo (15 May 2016-)

FilmFour Productions

1st Logo (12 June 1998-1 October 2004)

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Visuals: There are light streaks, spots, and various effects appearing all over the screen, like in a police siren. They are colored blue and red. The Channel Four logo appears inside the flashing. Suddenly, it all ends, leaving a red box with "FILMFOUR" inside ("FILM" in black, "FOUR" in white, and the "M" and "F" connected).

Technique: CGI.

Audio: An industrial noise including wind-like squeal and booming sounds.

Availability:

• Seen on some films such as East is East, Jump Tomorrow, Sexy Beast, and Charlotte Gray.
• Also used as a de-facto home video logo on VCI retail DVD releases, and on its own on rentals.
• It first appeared on The Land Girls released on 12 June 1998 in North America.
• It was last seen on Dead Man's Shoes, released on 1 October 2004.

2nd Logo (24 September 2004-27 October 2006)

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Visuals: The logo starts in a very dark street. Suddenly a burning firetruck rolls from the left and stops. The camera zooms into the truck and then the logo zooms out, similar to the 1998 logo box, but with bigger words inside.

Variants:

• A short version exists, starting from where the firetruck stops.
• A long version also exists, where the firetruck drives from the right, and goes offscreen to the left, then the firetruck comes in burning.
• At the end of the credits of The Motorcycle Diaries, a still, print version is used.

Technique: Slightly edited live-action by Pete&Tom.

Audio: A somber music entry with fire crackling sounds and clanging noises at the end.

Availability:

• Seen on films such as Isolation, Last King of Scotland, and Death of a President.
• It also plastered older logos too.
• It first appeared on the end credits of The Motorcycle Diaries, released on 24 September 2004.

Film4 Productions

1st Logo (23 June 2006-13 May 2016)

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Visuals: The logo starts in a dark room, where a bunch of lamps light on behind the screen. Then the camera moves across the room to see the screen in front. There are many components of the logo standing in the room (in various distances). When we complete moving, they all form a logo, as it were flat. The logo shows a red box with "FILM" carved out in the bottom, and it is surrounded by other boxes so the spaces between them form a stylized "4".

Trivia: The animation is similar to Channel 4's 2004-2015 channel idents, in which a set of seemingly random blocks in live-action locations form the channel's logo when the camera reaches a specific perspective.

Variants:

• A short version exists where the lights have already been turned on.
• A still version also exists (set on a black background) with the word "FILM4" duplicated in a different font right next to the logo.

Technique: A mix of CGI and live action, produced by The Moving Picture Company.

Audio: Sounds of lamps turning on, followed by the same music from the 2004 logo.

Availability: This logo can be seen on films from the time-period until 2016.

• It is also preserved at the start of the British Film Institute Blu-ray release of Heavenly Pursuits (1986).

2nd Logo (15 May 2016-)

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Visuals: The logo starts off with the inside of one of the stories of a multi-storey building, with a rectangular pool of water on the floor and light coming through it. The screen then pans one storey down, with a red line. This storey is identical to the one above it. The camera keeps panning down the building's stories, all which are identical to each other, and it keeps getting faster, akin to a filmstrip. As the camera keeps panning, the lines that make up the "4" appear, as well as the letters in "FILM" . Along with this, the light on the wall keeps moving. The camera then slows back down as the finished product, the Film4 logo, this time in negative space, is seen. The light is also shining on the "4".

Trivia: The animation is based on Film4's current idents, in which a scene pans down in the same way as this logo, also forming the Film4 logo.

Later Variant: Starting when the Film4 logo changed in September 2018, the logo uses the 2018 logo instead.

Technique: A combination of live action and CGI from ManvsMachine.

Audio: It starts with violins, then turns into a piano note which repeats every time the camera pans down, ending with violins and a deeper piano note. Composed by Resonate.

Audio Variants:

• On the Criterion Blu-ray release of Trainspotting (1996), the theme from the short version of the previous logo is heard due to editing error, as this appears after the 1987 Miramax Films logo.
• On both the music & effects and the commentary tracks to the UK Blu-ray release of When the Wind Blows, the logo is silent, due to a long instance of no audio stream during the logo and it would be detected as the film starts, due to using the same transfer as the one used on the original Twilight Time Blu-ray release, as that release didn't use the logo before the film, despite being shown in packaging. The default English track would preserve the music though.

Availability:

• The 2016 version premiered on American Honey and Free Fire, and was also seen on other movies before the rebrand.
• The 2018 version was first seen in the C4 Network Rebrand Reel, a video uploaded prior to the rebranding of the Channel 4 multichannel portfolio and is seen on films which they produced.
• This logo also does not appear on Widows despite Film4 co-producing it, although the logo was seen on the posters.

◄ Channel Four Films

Film4 Productions