Government Film Unit

Background

Founded in the 20th century, this government-funded film company is currently managed by the Department of Government Information of Sri Lanka.

1st Logo (1980s)

Visuals: Superimposed on the opening scene of the movie, the yellow outline of the lion of Sri Lanka's national Sinha flag integrates in at the right, with the Sinhalese name of the company then fading in at the left of it. The text then changes to other information in Sinhalese. At the end, both the text and lion dissolve in subsequent order.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: The opening theme of the film.

Availability: Seen on Protect Environment.

2nd Logo (1990s)

Visuals: On a black background, the outline of the lion of Sri Lanka's national flag is shown. At the bottom, the Sinhalese name of the company is shown aligned to the left.

Variants:

On Mutu Waruna, the logo is in monochrome and the lion is slightly zoomed out to the left.
On The Magic, the logo is in a yellow tint and most of the logo is aligned to the center aside from the text.
On Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, the lion is inside a drawing of a Buddhist relic, and the Sinhalese text is in a bold font, aligned to the center. The whole logo is tinted in yellow.

Technique: A still, printed image.

Audio: A beating of a Sri Lankan drum.

Availability: Seen on Mutu Waruna, The Magic and Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi.

3rd Logo (2005)

Visuals: Superimposed footage is shown of CGI filmreels and filmstrips and live-action closeups of machines used for film production and editing. A film camera then faces into the screen, and once the lens takes most of the screen, the text "GFU", followed by the Sinhala and Tamil translations of the name, zooms in. The footage then fades out.

Variant: On the 58th Independence Celebration film reel, before the text "GFU" zooms in, the entire logo fades out and the text "Government Film Unit" (in Sinhala, Tamil, and English) zooms in from the right.

Technique: A mix of CGI and live-action for the footage, and camera-controlled animation for the text.

Audio: A string and flute fanfare.

Availability: Seen on Dama Rama Pela and the 58th Independence Celebration film reel.