Vértice Cine
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Logo descriptions by bigladiesman
Logo captures by Eric S.
Video capture courtesy of Eric S.
Background: Based in Barcelona, Spain, Manga Films was created in 1993 as a distributor for Japanese anime (mostly from Toei Animation) and Asiatic action and horror films. Its success took it to diversify its catalog in the late '90s, starting to distribute independent American films and many British movies and TV shows (sometimes under the name of its subsidiary Sherlock Media), and even entering in the production world. Nowadays Manga Films is maybe the most powerful Spanish-based independent media distributor: for instance, it currently holds he rights of all the RKO library in Spain as well as a major part of the Hammer Productions library. Their website is here.
1st Logo (1993-2000)
Nicknames: "Fire!", "Anime no Fayaboruu", "Anime Fireball", "Red-Hot Metal"
Logo: On a dark blue background, we see a fireball crossing the screen diagonally from left to right. Then "MANGA" (in silver and in 3D) flips and zooms out to the center of the screen, letter by letter. Then a huge burst of fire engulfs the screen and turns the logo red. A outline of the logo zooms out and turns the logo 2D, as a light streak forms the word "F I L M S" in white. The URL of the company's site fades in below.
FX/SFX: The fire, the letters turning from 3D to 2D.
Music/Sounds: A rising synth sound and a calmer ascending series of pings, followed by a Japanese folk theme with powerful percussion when the fire bursts, and synths that end with a little "ping".
Availability: Extremely rare. It appears on Manga Films tapes from the era, like its Dragon Ball GT release. On later VHS releases (for example on a Monty Python's Flying Circus VHS from 2000) it was substituted by the next logo. The still version (with no website) is preserved on the Spanish DVD releases of Torrente (1998).
Editor's Note: None.
2nd Logo (2000-2009)
Nickname: "Orbiting Cubes"
Logo: On a black background, some red glowing lines start zooming out while twisting. As they make their way, they reveal themselves as three rectangles that keep twisting and finally merging together with a quick flash. Then a streak of identical rectangles is formed and we zoom through it at a very high speed while in the background some vertical and horizontal hyperspace-like lines appear. At the end of the streak we reach a web-like structure formed by moving lines which are formed by 0's, 1's, and the word "films". In the web, four stars are formed (distributed in a way that resembles part of the Great Bear constellation) and merge together as a set of silver cubes enters the scene and starts orbiting the new star, which glows, rotates and moves down until disappearing. The cubes then go out of orbit and start falling until crashing - perfectly aligned and leaving trails of light - into some kind of floor. The floor zooms out as white trails form letters in a down-to-up pattern, leaving the words "manga films" as a white, glowing rectangle surrounds the now finished logo.
FX/SFX: Very nice CGI animation that features glowing lines, weird moves and angles and flashes.
Music/Sounds: Some "whoosh" sounds, followed by a dramatic fanfare with synths and strings.
Availability: Fairly common.
Editor's Note: None.
3rd Logo (2009-2013)
Logo: We open on what looks like a red glowing light coming out of a lense, over a black background. An orange circle with the words "vertice" and "cine" inside and a smaller orange circle on its left suddenly appears, looking blurry. As it clears, we see other shots of the red light behind the circle, which fades away once it's clear, leaving the finished logo over a black background.
FX/SFX: Live action footage of the glowing light.
Music/Sounds: A collection of buzzing and beeping sounds.
Availability: Also seen on home media and theatrical releases of the company during that era.
Scare Factor: Minimal, the sounds might startle some first-time viewers.
4th Logo (2013-2019)
Logo: On the left centre of a black background, an orange square is divided into two parts, which then separate. Other grey, red and blue squares appear, surrounding the orange squares and forming a cube. While this is happening, the grey text "vertice" slides in the centre of the screen and the grey vertical number "360" fades in on it's right.
Variants:
- On some trailers and promotional material, the logo is still and the text is orange instead of grey.
- On Spain prints of Winchester, the logo, now in red and with “Vertice“ written in the same font as the film's credits, zooms slowly over a black background as flourishes are drawn in the top and bottom of it, emulating the movie's title card.
FX/SFX: Simple Flash animation.
Music/Sounds: 4 piano notes and some projector noises.
Availability: Common in Spain, it's seen on the Spanish home media and theatrical releases of films like Early Man or Robinson Crusoe (2016); and since the year it debuted, it was also seen on all Spanish DVD and Blu-ray releases of the films Vertice owns, including titles from the Manga Films era. The last theatrical release from the company to use this logo was Antes de la Quema, though it would still be seen at the start of DVDs and Blu-Rays for the distributor's 2019 releases before completely switching to the next logo later that year.
Scare Factor: None.
5th Logo (2019-present)
Logo: The logo begins just like the 2nd logo, but the “vertice360” text (now in CGI) emerges from the floor as it’s revealed the logo’s animation is happening on a black room. Once the logo’s animation finishes, a reflection appears on the floor.
Variants:
- On trailers, the logo is still.
- On Spain prints of Astérix: The Secret of the Magic Potion, the logo is already formed. The cauldron containing the magic potion from the movie suddenly falls from from above, and magic potion pours from it, touching the logo, which begins to jump and shine (just like the characters in the movie do when they drink said potion) and then turns into bronze, as the light dims.
- On Spain prints of Hellboy (2019), the logo, now entirely in red, rises from a black background filled with red smoke and particles. Fire comes out of the logo and fills the whole screen. It then dissolves to smoke, revealing that the logo is now golden with a red border, similar to the movie’s title card.
- On Spain prints of Angel Has Fallen, we open on a sniper gun’s target, made out of silver, over a black background trying to focus on the logo, which is zooming out. After the logo stops zooming out and the target gets the full view of it, the sniper gun shoots, revealing a metal version of the logo with the US flag ripping and flying away, on a black, misty background, resembling the movie's title card.
- On Spain prints of Rambo: Last Blood, we see a broken knife being slowly pulled out of a fire, as the logo is revealed to be printed on its blade.
- On Spain prints of Judy, we open on a shot of Dorothy's ruby slippers clicking, making dust of various colors filling up the screen. Once the dust dissipates, the logo, made out of red glitter, appears.
FX/SFX: A mix of Flash and CGI animation, probably done by Onirikal Studio.
Music/Sounds: Same as the 2nd logo.
Availability: Current. The logo techincally debuted in the spanish release of Astérix: The Secret of the Magic Potion, but in that film, the logo was already formed, followed by the variant described above. The following relases then either used the 2nd logo or the variants described above. A still version of the logo then appeared on the Spanish trailers for Untouchable and Judy, and the full logo finally debuted on the Spanish releases of Untouchable and Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon. It also began being used on DVD and Blu-ray releases in late 2019.
