Fox Television Studios

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Revision as of 03:52, 9 October 2023 by Camenati (talk | contribs) (Text replacement - "Logo:" to "Visuals:")


Background

Fox Television Studios was the network television division of 20th Century Fox Television, that was formed in 1997 by News Corporation (later "21st Century Fox Inc.", now "The Walt Disney Company"). On December 4, 2014, the Fox Television Group merged Fox Television Studios with Fox 21 into Fox 21 Television Studios.

(May 19, 1998-March 16, 2015)

Visuals: We see the standard Fox structure, this time reading "FOX TELEVISION STUDIOS". However, the searchlights are turned off, the normally clear sky is gone, and a thunderstorm is brewing overhead. A bolt of lightning crashes down on the tower, turning on the searchlights. The News Corporation byline then fades in (pre-2013 only).

Trivia: The background of this logo is based on the 1995 Fox Lab logo, minus the two electric beams.

Variants:

  • This logo is seen for a split-second at the beginning of the Foxstar Productions logo from 1998 onward.
  • In 2008, the logo was redone with a different design, more realistic effects and background, with the byline now in all caps and rendered in a Times font.
  • Sometimes, the logo is bylineless, but has always been bylineless since 2013, due to the News Corp. split.
  • On Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt and the first four season DVD releases of Soul Food: The Series, a short version is used.
  • An extended version exists, where the tower (seen darkened) slowly turns and zooms in a bit with lightning in the background. The logo then continues as normal, staying on a few seconds with more searchlight animation and the extended fanfare.
  • On the TV movie Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House, the logo has more searchlight animation, but not as much as above. On an ABC Family (now Freeform) airing, this version is shortened to the last three seconds.
  • The DVD and initial TV edits of Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy have a slightly cropped version of the logo. The ending theme plays over it and it appears before the Lucasfilm logo. This is plastered with the 2008 variant in a 2015 revision of the special (which is also the version used on Disney+).
  • A still version exists.
  • Sometimes, the logo is shown in-credit.

Technique: CGI. The original 1998 version was done by Flip Your Lid Animation, and the 2008 "enhanced" version was done by Cinergy Creative.

Audio: A rearrangement of the final four notes of the 1997 Fox fanfare conducted by David Newman, accompanied by sounds of thunder.

Audio Variants:

  • In some cases, it's the closing theme of the show, the generic network theme or none.
  • The long version has thunder and an extended short version of the Fox fanfare.
  • On Olive: The Other Reindeer and a handful of season 1 episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, the 1997 TCFTV music is used, abridged to the last two notes on the latter.
  • On The Glades, the second half of the 2005 TCFTV theme is used without any thunder sounds.
  • The Home Alone 4 version has the extended version of the music in low-tone.
  • On some shows starting in 2013, it uses the last four notes of the 1997 20th Century Fox movie fanfare, accompanied by a different thunder stock sound. This version would later be used for the 2015 TCFTV fanfare, minus the thunder sound.
  • On Fox airings of Murder in Small Town X, a different thunder sound plays over a generic theme.

Availability:

  • This logo made its first appearance on the 1998 TV movie Gargantua.
  • This was also seen on The Glades, Burn Notice, White Collar, the short-lived The Good Guys, Maron, and Saving Grace, among others.
  • It can be seen on most comedies that Fox produced like The Hughleys and was also seen on network airings of Malcolm in the Middle.
  • It survives on DVD releases of The Shield. HD releases of said show replace the original version with the 2008 variant.
  • Some shows on Fox Sports Net also used this logo.
  • Some reruns of shows like The Hughleys (last seen on FXX and Bounce) and Malcolm in the Middle on Fuse plaster it with the 20th Television logo (sometimes leaving the music intact).
  • It was also seen on The Girls Next Door last seen on E! and preserved on Tubi prints.
  • The long version so far was only seen on Night of the Headless Horseman.
  • Nickelodeon's print of Olive the Other Reindeer plastered this with 20th Television, while Cartoon Network and The WB's print didn't show any Fox logo.
  • Reruns of Malcolm in the Middle on Comedy Central UK plaster this with the 2013 bylineless 20th Century Fox Television logo, whilst some episodes from later in the series run retain this logo. However, on Netflix prints of Malcolm in the Middle, this logo is plastered by the 2013 bylineless 20th Century Fox Television logo on all episodes. Hulu prints of the sixth and seventh seasons of Malcolm in the Middle retain this logo, beginning with the sixth season episode "Tiki Lounge". It's also preserved on Aussie airings thereof. Speaking of Malcolm, some current prints of the show, like on 4Music UK airings, plaster the original logo with the 2008 version.
  • On current HD prints of Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (TV, digital, etc.), this is plastered by the 2008 20th Television logo, sometimes leaving the FTS theme intact.
Fox Television Studios
Fox 21 Television Studios
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