Nippon Eigasha

Credits

Descriptions by
VortexArto

Captures by
VortexArto

Video captures courtesy of
VortexArto

Background

Nippon Eigasha (日本映画社, Japan Film Company), shortened as Nichiei, was a Japanese major film company established in 1940 from the merger of four news film companies, initially as Nippon News Eigasha (日本ニュース映画社, Japan News Film Company), with the main purpose of producing the Nippon News newsreel. In 1941, Nippon News Eigasha was reincorporated with the bunka eiga (cultural film) departments of film companies Toho (Toho Bunka Eiga) and Shochiku (Shochiku Bunka Eiga), and was renamed as Nippon Eigasha. In 1943, Nippon Eigasha established a branch in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies, which was taken by the newly-formed Indonesian government and became Berita Film Indonesia (BFI) in 1945.

1st Logo (1940)

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  Early version
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Logo: The Nichiei logo (a circle with the characters 日央日 inside) is engraved on a rock background. A light casts a shadow to the left of the logo. The company name 日本ニュース映画社 (Nippon News Eigasha) only appears on the title card of the program.

Variants:

• On the first issue of Nippon News, the logo is illuminated differently, with lighter shadows.
• Sometimes, a closing variant is used, which has the program name and "終" ("End") superimposed over the logo. Here the light is from the left, casting a shadow to the right of the logo.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Only seen on the first few issues of the Nippon News newsreel, in which all issues of it are available on NHK's website.

2nd Logo (1942)

Logo: On a dark sunburst-like background, a small Nichiei logo in white can be seen in the center. Below is the kanji "社団法人 日本映画社".

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Can be seen on Sensen nimankiro (戦線二万粁).

3rd Logo (1942-1943)

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Logo: On a black background, a 3D Nichiei logo is shown upright, with a reflection underneath it. Below are two sets of 3D kanji, with one to the bottom left of the logo reading "社団法人" (Corporation) and below that in the center reading "日本映画社" (Nippon Eigasha/Japan Film Company).

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: A custom fanfare.

Availability: Can be seen on Sora no shinpei, Marē senki shingeki no kiroku and Rikugun kōkū senki.

4th Logo (1944)

Logo: On a moving starfield-like background, the Nichiei logo in white is seen with the company name in Japanese below. The logo fades away and some Japanese text fades in.

Technique: The moving background.

Music/Sounds: A horn fanfare.

Availability: Seen on Gouchin (轟沈).

5th Logo (1946)

Logo: On a black background, we see a large Nichiei emblem in white. The Japanese name in a thin font is seen below.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: A custom fanfare or none.

Availability: Seen on Nippon no Higeki and Seikei-hi 500-en

6th Logo (1948)

Logo: Just the Nichiei emblem in white on the center of a black screen.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme.

Availability: Seen on Ikite iru pan (生きているパン)

◄ Toho Bunka Eiga Shochiku Bunka Eiga

Nippon Eigasha

Nippon Eiga Shinsha ►