Universe

Credits

Descriptions by
Thisisanswer

Background

Universe (寰宇), like its competitor Mei Ah (美亞), has a humble beginning as a distributor of VHS and LD, later VCD and DVD, witnessing the revolution of visual storage media in the past 30 years. Founded in 1986 by the brothers Alvin Lam (林小明) and Daneil Lam (林小強), Universe step into film production and distribution in 1990s, and the group was listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange in 1999. Recent directors under the Universe umbrella include Pang Brothers (彭氏兄弟). Other Universe brands include Century Creator (世紀創作室) and Matrix Productions (縱橫製作).

1st logo (1986-1988)

Logo: On a black background, 6 bars with 2 in blue, 2 in red, and 2 in green flip in with very strange cuts. A yellow U flies in and rotates to fit the cuts and has a notch on it. "UNIVERSE LASER & VIDEO CO LTD." flies in and turns as green Chinese characters flies in from the middle of the screen and lands above the text.

FX/SFX: Very primitive animation for the 80s.

Music/Sounds: A high-pitched synthesized bark, which quickly turns into a synthesized lead, which segues into a funky synth theme with drums.

Availability: Rare.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd logo (Early 1990s)

Logo: The logo begins as we see the camera flying through some asteroids with a model of the Earth shown in the background. After we get away from the asteroids, the Universe logo emblem from before moves in from the left side and rotates into place, the company's name "UNIVERSE LASER & VIDEO CO LTD." in a golden color is shown moving from behind below it with the Chinese text above. The logo settles in the place, leaving the Earth model in the bottom-left corner and the starfield in the background.

FX/SFX: Standard CGI for its time.

Music/Sounds: A funky synthesized theme with drums, with a resonant whoosh a second after the logo starts.

Availability: Rare.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd logo (Early-Late 1990s)

Logo: From darkness, we see the Sun shining over the Earth as the screen brightens up and reveals a blue starfield with nebulas. The Earth is shown spinning away into the center, and after a while three comets bring up from it and move close to the screen, revealed to be respectively of red, green and blue colors. The trails remain into the screen for a brief moment as it turns into the stripes of the logo, moving away into place. The golden U zooms away and settles, followed by both Chinese and English company names of "UNIVERSE LASER & VIDEO CO LTD.". The logo shines slightly before freeze-framing.

Variant: In later film productions, the company name is swapped with "UNIVERSE FILM PRODUCTIONS CO LTD.".

FX/SFX: The light, the rotating Earth, the comets, the transition of the logo and the zooming elements. Good CGI although it started to become primitive by the late 1990s.

Music/Sounds: A repeating brass fanfare in A# key, the first part consisting of the F note in different octaves before changing into a C note and then finishing with a G note.

Availability: Uncommon.

Editor's Note: This is one of the more recognized and beloved Hong Kong film logos.

4th logo (Early 2000s)

Logo: On a blue starfield, a shining, transparent Universe logo rotates away from the camera and moves to the upper position. A blue light trail passes into the logo before it settles; the starfield fades away as the logo turns into its traditional colors and a registered mark symbol appears above it. The letters of "UNIVERSE ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED" float in from below, and then the Chinese characters in orange appear underneath.

Variant: Another variant has the text swapped with "UNIVERSE FILM DISTRIBUTION CO LTD.". The colored Universe logo also looks more three-dimensional, and the Chinese characters are white colored.

FX/SFX: The CGI logo, the light effects, and the 2D text.

Music/Sounds: Whooshing sounds.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on Shaolin Soccer which is perhaps the most popular film featuring an Universe logo.

Editor's Note: None.

Other logos are missing; a video showing the rest of them can be found here.