Shaw Brothers Ltd.

Credits

Descriptions by
Lazlow, m3urious, Logohub, rj4712 and Henrynguye5

Editions by
Prodigy012

Video captures courtesy of
Peakpasha, Hong Kong Movie Studios ID Channel and Amovielogos11

This article is about the original film company. For the revived company, see Shaw Brothers Pictures Ltd.

Background

Shaw Brothers was one of the largest and oldest film studios in Hong Kong. In 1925, Runje, Runme, Runde and Run Run Shaw founded the Shaw Organisation in Singapore as a distribution company. In 1930, they founded South Sea Films in Hong Kong, later renamed Shaw Brothers Studio. It is famous for its martial arts films. Today, Shaw Brothers only distributes films in Southeast Asia. The company went defunct in 2011 as it was reincorporated into the Clear Water Bay Land Company Limited.

Today, a catalog of the pre-2002 library was held by Celestial Pictures, while the reminder of the Shaw Brothers films after 2002 was still held by China Media Capital and TVB.

1st Logo (1952?-1956)

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Nicknames: "Word Shield", "Word on SB Shield", "The Early Shield"

Logo: On a blue background, we see a shield, which is turquoise with a red border. In red, the following text is on the shield:

A
SHAWS
PRODUCTION

Under it is a yellow ribbon with some red Chinese text.

Variant: On Madame White Snake, the logo is yellow and is on an orange background and shares with the Toho logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: A bombastic fanfare similar to the 20th Century Studios logo. The variant uses the opening theme.

Availability: Extremely rare. Can be seen on martial arts films from the era.

2nd Logo (1956-1959)

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Nicknames: "Word Shield II", "Word on SB Shield II", "The Early Shield II", "Shield and Satin"

Logo: We see the same shield and ribbon from before, except its bronze along with the text "A SHAW PRODUCTION". It is set on a midnight blue satin-like background with some tan-colored satin sheet-looking material at the top and bottom.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo.

Availability: Same as the previous logo.

3rd Logo (1958-2011)

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Nicknames: "Glass Shield", "Glass SB Shield", "SB Shield"

Logo: The background looks like some kind of glass, with various colors waving behind it. First, a shield, similar to the Warner Bros. shield, appears with the the letters "SB" in gold on it. It fades out and some Chinese text appears on the same background. It fades out and the shield appears again under some more Chinese text. The shield is between "SHAW" and "SCOPE".

Variants:

• A B&W variant exists.
• A full-screen version exists.

FX/SFX: The constant moving of the shapes in the background and the various fading ins and outs.

Music/Sounds: A bombastic fanfare with drums and trumpets.

Music/Sounds Variant: On some films, the theme was slightly different. In 1998, the theme was re-orchestrated with more horns and ends with a timpani hit.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on every Shaw Bros. film of the period. It notably appears at the beginning of Kill Bill Vol. 1, with the Miramax logo overlapping the first segment of this logo; however, Shaw Bros. had no involvement with the film, and director Quentin Tarantino merely put their logo in as a tribute to their works.

4th Logo (1979-1987?)

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Nicknames: "The Golden Shield", "SB Shield II"

Logo: We see the inside of the shield from the last logo, animated to look like a spinning sunburst background (a la Toho). The initials "SB" zoom-out via trail effect. We then zoom out from the shield, which is placed on a starburst background. The shield leaves a slightly transparent trail which then merge with the logo turning it gold. The shield flashes, turning into orange Chinese text.

FX/SFX: The zooming. Typical animation for 1979, although the transition from the normal to golden shield is a little bit choppy.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo.

Availability: Rare. This was seen mainly on trailers, such as the trailer for Fast Fingers.

5th Logo (2002-2011)

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Nicknames: "Films inside the Shield", "SB Shield III"

Logo: We see many clips from Shaw Bros. movies zooming out and transforming into the "SB" shield. "SHAW" then rotates, and fairy dust effects sprinkle over it.

FX/SFX: The clips merging the shield and text. Decent CGI.

Music/Sounds: An abridged version of the previous logos' music with the fiery swoosh sound and the gong.

Availability: Common. Seen on every Shaw Brothers films, preceding its 3rd logo.