Fremantle

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

FremantleMedia (doing business as Fremantle) is a British-based media conglomerate company founded in 2000 as a merger of Pearson Television and CLT-UFA; the companies merged to become "RTL Group" and by renaming Pearson Television to FremantleMedia, who currently owns the All American, Mark Goodson, and Reg Grundy libraries, among other formats. In 2003, FremantleMedia acquired Australian production company Crackerjack Productions, who merged with Grundy Television to form "FremantleMedia Australia". On September 7, 2018, the company changed its onscreen name to simply "Fremantle," though FremantleMedia remains its legal name. Today, Fremantle is a division of the RTL Group, and is 90% owned by German media conglomerate, Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, which is 80.9% owned by the Bertelsmann Foundation and 19.1% owned by the Mohn Family.

1st Logo (May 2002-February 1, 2019; October 29, 2020)


Nicknames: "The Splotch", "Dismantle", "Fremangle", "Splotchmantle", "Creamantle", "FrePaintle", "Paintmantle", "Splatmantle", "Milkmantle", "The Splotchy Atom", "Atomantle", "Frematom", "Failmantle", "It Looked Like Spilled Milk"

Logo: On a royal blue background, a splash of white paint (which looks more like milk or whipped cream) flies through the air, going from left to right. Then, another splash is seen going the other direction, and then a third flying down from left to right. Then, white paint "bubbles" out in the center, then pulls back and to the right as the paint orbits around to form a stylized atom design. The text "FREMANTLEMEDIA", in Futura font with different font weights, fades in to the left of the atom, as 4 white paint drops appear around the atom to complete the logo.

Variants:

  • On North American-produced shows, the words "NORTH AMERICA", in a non-bold Futura typeface, appear right under "FREMANTLEMEDIA" next to the bubble. For Australia, the word "AUSTRALIA" would appear under the name. For Poland, "POLSKA" would appear under the name in a basic font.
  • The text "distributed by" appears above the name for US distribution of shows from the UK.
  • The text "Distributed by FREMANTLE INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION" appears underneath the logo for global distribution since 2003.
  • The "FAMILY & KIDS" variant takes place on a white background, the 'FREMANTLE'MEDIA text in black instead of white, the atom is blue in color instead of white, the text of the latter is all in yellow and a big uppercase childish-like font, plus the inside caption of the latter text seems to be a huge splatted, red gooey paint. This version only appears on Ella the Elephant on TVOKids in Canada and on Disney Junior in the US, and Bitz & Bob on BBC. A short version exist, on Danger Mouse on CBeebies. A still version exist, on Kate and Mim-mim (with the final half of the sounder)
  • An early variant has been spotted with a white background, black text, a blue atom, and no animation on the final season of Bruce's Price is Right. Some episodes of US TPIR from 2001 & 2002 (like the first "Million Dollar Spectaculars") also have this logo. In the Finnish TV quiz show Voitto kotiin from 2002, the black text and a blue atom are seen quickly fading in on a white background. This variant is also used in games based on TV shows. An in-credit version was also seen on Tree Fu Tom and some episodes of Kate & Mim-Mim without the white background, while other Kate & Mim-Mim episodes used it with the white background.
  • The logo is on right such as Philippines Got Talent (blue atom, black text on background).
  • A much more common shorter version starts at the paint bubble.
  • Some versions of this logo are stretched out, such as the one appearing after episodes of The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular from 2008.
  • On the 2014 Australian version of Family Feud, the short version of the logo is superimposed onto a blue background with a shining yellow line on top of it, This is superimposed onto the final few seconds of the program.
  • Starting in the 36th season of The Price Is Right, the FremantleMedia logo can now be seen on credits, replacing the Mark Goodson Productions logo. "FREMANTLEMEDIA" is in white, and the "Splotchy Atom" is royal blue. The logo is accompanied by the following announcement: "This is (announcer's name) speaking for The Price is Right, a FremantleMedia production.".
  • There is a B/W variant.
  • On some BBC airings of Neighbours, the URL "www.bbc.co.uk/neighbours" appears below.
  • The logo appeared superimposed, inside a box, on later episodes of 100 Mexicanos Dijeron (Mexico's version of Family Feud). The fully animated logo also appeared on ¿Que Dice la Gente?, inside a box (with a white border), against a black background.
  • On Portugal's O Preco Certo (em Euros), the phrase "Uma producao RTP executada por:" ("An output performed by RTP") appears above the logo, and is true for all shows on RTP from the company.
  • On Komunikata, the logo is on the left along with TPI and copyright below superimposing the background with Komunikata logo.
  • An in-credit version appears above the Endemol logo on the Netherlands' version of TPIR, Cash en Carlo.
  • A superimposed version of the logo appears in rectangular form, above the Caracol TV logo, on 100 Colombianos Dicen (Colombia's version of FF)
  • On Hole in the Wall on Cartoon Network, the short logo was superimposed in the credits after the HITW theme ends. The logo plays with a +1 pitch in a blue rectangle, and after the superimposed logo ends, the American version of the logo plays.
  • A still shot version of this exists.

FX/SFX: The flying and bubbling paint, the text fading in, and the design of the atom logo.

Music/Sounds: A gentle sounder with a guitar strum, bongos, and a piano note. This was composed by Score Productions, which did music for The Price is Right, Family Feud and the 1986 Lorimar-Telepictures logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:

  • In other cases, the end-title theme plays over or it's silent.
  • On Baywatch, episodes of The Price is Right on the 2008 DVD "Best of" set, episodes of Family Feud from season 14 and onward, and all game shows aired on Buzzr, there is a low tone version of the theme.
  • A long version exists.
  • There is a very short version with the last four notes of the theme
  • On Challenge's airings of Strike It Lucky in the UK, the end of the theme plays over the logo on the first two seasons; on the third season the logo jingle plays, cutting of the theme music presumably due to sloppy plastering.
  • On DVD releases of the 1983 television film Adam, the closing theme of this movie is heard, and, after the logo has finished, then the short version of the 1978 Alan Landsburg Productions theme over the finished logo. The ALP logo interestingly, is seen before the FremantleMedia logo.
  • On Where the Hell's that Gold???!!! on its DVD release, it uses the Pearson Television music on the "North America" version, as a result of double plaster.
  • On Komunikata, a voiceover in Indonesia says 'Komunikata is a production of FremantleMedia in association with TPI. Nusrin Nuerdin speaking'. The closing theme used (sometimes after the jingle plays)

Availability: Very common.

  • The short version with sounder can be seen on the current version of Family Feud in syndication and GSN, the second season of Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck on GSN, live editions of Fox's American Idol, The Price is Right, and Let's Make a Deal on CBS, Grojband on Teletoon and Cartoon Network, Max Steel on Disney XD, and Buzzr airing of Match Game (in lower pitch, nonetheless).
  • The long version appears on Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck's first season with the show's theme playing over it. It was also sighted on The Aquabats! Super Show! on Hub Network (before the rebrand to Discovery Family), My Babysitter's a Vampire on Disney Channel, and Monsuno on Nicktoons. It is also used as a de-facto home video logo in the United Kingdom.
  • The long version with sounder can be found on ¿Que Dice la Gente? (the Spanish-language version of Family Feud) on Telefutura, on DVD releases of American Idol, Match Game, Family Feud, and The Price is Right, and was also seen on Temptation: The All-New Sale of the Century, when last seen on MyNetworkTV. It also appears on S1 and S2 episodes of Asia's Got Talent on AXN, following the Sony/SPT (S1), or Sony Pictures Television Networks (S2).
  • The Australian version appears on post-2006 episodes of Neighbours and Temptation, among other current series in Australia. It was last seen on Hole in the Wall on Cartoon Network. It's also seen on seasons 3-8 DVD releases of The Bill and on Baywatch on More>Movies ("More Than Movies") in the UK. This plasters the Thames Television logo on episodes of Strike It Lucky, when aired on Challenge in the UK. This also is seen at the end of every game show episode aired on their new network, Buzzr. It appears at the end of Jack The Ripper after the final credit that precedes the Lorimar-Telepictures logo since it's a Thames production.
  • The one with the Family & Kids version can be only seen so far on Ella the Elephant, Kate & Mim-mim, Bitz & Bob, Danger Mouse (to name a few) but (the later used Boat Rocker logo).
  • When Mr. Bean (the live action series) aired on Disney Channel Asia, both a still "Distributed by" version and a short animated version appeared.
  • This strangely appeared on the October 29, 2020 episode of ABC's Match Game, over a year after it was last used.

Editor's Note: The logo is clean and the sounder is relaxing, but it's not a popular logo by many due to its wide prevalance on television, in part due to its plastering older logos, though it's not on the scale of Sony Pictures Television, 20th Television or CBS Television Distribution.


2nd Logo (September 10, 2018- )


Nicknames: "Writing", "Script", "Cursive", "Scriptmantle", "Writemantle"

Logo: On a black background, two shots fade in and out depicting the letters "Fr" and "e" in white being written out in cursive. A third shot shows a cursive white "m" being drawn, which zooms out to reveal the words "Fremantle" being drawn out in cursive handwriting. The stem of the "t" is the last of the lettering to be drawn after the zoom out.

Variants:

  • A shorter version with the first two shots omitted has also been shown.
  • The closing credits for The Price is Right has since been amended to show the still "Fremantle" cursive logo in white at the beginning of the credits, accompanied by a revised announcement: "This is (announcer's name) speaking for The Price Is Right, a Fremantle production."
  • On some older shows distributed by Fremantle, the text "Distributed by" or "Produced and Distributed by" appears above the logo. There is a still version of the Distributed by variant.

FX/SFX: The writing and the zooming.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic three-note orchestral theme followed by a chorus stinger when the stem of the "t" is drawn. The shorter version cuts out the first two notes. On CBS programs, the network's generic theme (which is high-pitched) is used.

Availability: Current.

  • It first appeared on the September 10, 2018 episode of Neighbours. It debuted in the U.S. on the September 11, 2018 episode of America's Got Talent and later appeared on both The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal on the 17th of that same month. Recently the logo has also started to appear on some shows aired on Buzzr, replacing the previous logo, starting with the newly acquired Classic Concentration. The logo should appear on newer episodes of shows that once bore the previous logo. Season 20 of Family Feud began using this logo on October of 2018. Also the logo appears on S3 episodes of Asia's Got Talent.
  • The logo has started to plaster the previous logo on prints of older shows outside of the United States as well.
  • It can be found on later Blu-Ray prints of Jack the Ripper.

Editor's Note: This logo is a perfect example of the "simplicity" trend in modern logos, which could be seen as either cheesy or refreshing depending on who you ask.


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