Vue Cinemas

Background

Vue Entertainment (otherwise known as Vue Cinemas, and stylised as vue), formerly SBC International Cinemas, is a cinema company operating in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The company was formed in May 2003 by the acquisition of Warner Village Cinemas by SBC and the subsequent rebranding of the business as Vue. As of 2019 the company has 91 cinemas in the UK, making it the third largest cinema chain in the country, with 869 screens. The company's flagship site is Vue West End, the former Warner Village cinema in Leicester Square.

1st Logo (Enjoy the Vue) (2004-2010s)

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Visuals: Before the camera rises to see a rectangle, we first see a metropolis from above. The rectangle then reappears, but this time, two people and a canyon are visible. Then, with four persons on the same rectangle but back in the city and several lights zipping by, the scene is cut (vehicles). The camera then pans to the street and rectangle before cutting to the same rectangle over what appears to be an ocean but really contains four separate people. Before the scene cuts to space and we see the same two individuals on the rectangle, but the camera is sitting on its side, the woman moves closer to the man. Then, as the screen cuts to the same 4 individuals from the top of the water, this time in the sky with the rectangle still there, the camera pans out to make the rectangle more visible. The camera pans forward as the woman approaches the man, then freezes as she sits down to reveal the text "enjoy the vue," which is in white with "enjoy the" and "vue" in a flaming red-orange colour with curtains and smoke. In the top right corner, the URL (www.myvue.com) then gradually appears.

Variant: There is a prototype version. This trailer's ending contains the website address 52post.com.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: A warped sound precedes the introduction of the violin, followed by a rock song with drums, guitars, and synthesisers, before it becomes more tranquil with a piano composition.

2nd Logo (The Future of Cinema) (early 2010s-2015)

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Visuals: The sequence starts with four lights turning on and getting brighter whilst rotating before it explodes into various light patterns. The text "A VUENIQUE EXPERIENCE" is formed in the center and zooms in, leaving a trail behind it as "BREATHT4KINGVUE" zooms in with a smaller "The Sony Digital Cinema 4K Experience" below. The main text zooms in, whilst the other text rotates and stacks themselves before zooming in (4K zooming in the quickest). "VUEPROFOUNDSOUND" is formed onto the screen (with four curves around the first D, all of them emitting "signals") with more smaller text "PROFESSIONALLY DESIGNED IMMERSIVE AUDIO QUALITY" below. As the main text zooms in, the smaller text, once again stacks itself and zooms in as multiple red-orange stacked squares zoom in with five rectangles in descending order (all with the letters of SUPER carved in them) and the Vue logo next to it in front of the squares. Below is smaller text "STEPPED SEATING PERFECT VIEW|BIGGER SCREENS". Said logo at the front turns and zooms in as the squares in the background form an abstract staircase shape before becoming 3D and turning, revealing a large screen producingmore light patterns. The Vue logo zooms in from the screen with "THE FUTURE OF CINEMA" below before the logo's "shadows" zoom in.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: An electronic humming sound along with lasers, lightning, robotic noises and whooshes with an orchestra piece playing in the background. Towards the end is a loud, robotic hum followed by a calmer hum sound and a coin dropping.

3rd Logo (Big Screen Entertainment) (2015-2020)

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Visuals: The logo starts with water droplets forming what is supposed to be an ocean. The ocean then forms a cascade that looks like a water tap, and then the screen zooms again to the droplets. The droplets then zoom, and they get paralyzed, with the color of the droplets changing into gold. Over 3 seconds, a text saying "GET READY" morphs onto them while ice cubes submerge into the liquid. The water droplets then return to their original blue color. Then, the droplets became glue and paperboard at the same time, supposing that is a broken seat, when we see 3 pannings of it, one at the middle, one at the near bottom, and one at the bottom. Over it, 2 red yarns unite the broken seat, and when they're done, the text "TAKE YOUR SEAT" morphs in the seat background. The seat then fades into a blue background, with a giant water circle dropping into the ocean, making many circles turn to the right to form a horn, and then the text "EXPERIENCE DOLBY ATMOS" morphs into it. Once it's morphed, the horn engages two digital explosions, and into a radar-esque style, the sound horn's sounds spin, as the camera is unfolding it. And then the horn zooms out to see a black background with joints of circles forming eight circumferences. Over two seconds, the text "DISCOVER SONY 4K" appears, with a camera opening with a bright, orange circle. The circle opens rainbows in its shadows, And then the screen zooms to it, taking some silver particles, circles, lines, and shapes onto it. Many lines and comets, which resemble the camera's area, zoom in intensely onto the viewer, and it goes more and more intense, as the camera can't hold much pressure, and in its ultimate form, it brights are so seen that we are cutting into a white background. (a la 2001: A Space Odyssey) The white background implodes with orange smoke upon it, and over 3 seconds, the text "vue", formed by many curtains and smoke, appears in a black background, thereupon the text "BIG SCREEN ENTERTAINMENT" would appear at the bottom of the text. Everything then cuts to black.

Variant: For the logo's first year, the text "EXPERIENCE DOLBY ATMOS" is replaced with "EXPERIENCE DOLBY AUDIO". The original variant was still used in cinemas without Dolby Atmos equipment.

Technique: A combination of CGI and live-action, made at Joint London with collaboration from Mill+.

Audio: A very complicated mish-mash of sound effects and tracks, but here it goes: When the droplets fade in, we hear muffled sounds of waves splashing combined with an intensifying reversed synth. At its final split-second, the splashing's volume shifts, and everything cuts off. We then hear more muffled water noises with trickles. The noises then shift in volume as a humming synth theme starts to increase in the background. When the "GET READY" text appears, a loud whoosh is heard with a faint synth chord behind it. Mixtures of whooshes and hard splashes are heard. Sounds of water gurgling then whooshes and cracking noises as the water morphs into the broken chair. Rumbling noises are heard with a choir. A synth bass. There is a loud whoosh (which sounds like a jet powering down) combined with cracking, then split-second whooshes mixed in with the choir. A descending synthesized whoosh (sounding like it's stop-starting) is heard for the seats uniting. Another synthesized whoosh is heard as the synth theme and choir get louder as the text "TAKE YOUR SEAT" appears. For the waterdrop, a loud descending whoosh followed by a muffled reverberating rumble is heard with faint tinkles. When the text "EXPERIENCE DOLBY ATMOS" is seen, a loud synth-wave chord is heard. Loud muffled gunshot noises are heard, followed by an explosion stuttering in volume, and followed by quick descending synth zaps. The synth zaps then dominate the sounds as a loud engine-like noise is heard when the camera goes underneath the ascending sound dots in sync with the radar movement. The volume of the zaps dies down as a bass drop is heard, followed by quiet synth rotors. When the text "DISCOVER SONY 4K" is seen, a soft phaser-like sound, followed by a loud ringing noise (like ear tinnitus) is heard (with a quiet noise that sounds like someone burping) before a synthesized reverse whoosh follows. A synthesized bass note disrupts the ringing, as the humming synth theme from earlier plays, this time mixed with an orchestral brass and string fanfare. A whoosh and the sound of something powering down, followed by the sound of a gun reloading before segueing into a very loud mix of cybernetic sounds and synth pads. The synth bass sounds and fanfare get louder and louder until it abruptly finishes. There is a reversed whoosh, followed by an explosion and one last synth pad, along with a quieter version of the warbling synth theme which gains a stop-starting string note and increases in volume before abruptly decreasing in volume and end. All of this was created by String and Tins.

4th Logo (This is Not a Cinema) (2017-)

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Visuals: On a black background, the words "This is not a cinema" appear one at a time, with the last word fading out. The words "This is" then appear the same way. The screen then cuts to a montage of various scenes which are bookended by surreal environments:

• A rally car driving on a dirt track (subtitled "A race track")
• An opera performance (subtitled "A legendary opera house")
• A big music festival (subtitled "The festival of all festivals")

On the last one, water droplets fly into the camera when "This is not a cinema" appears. A green abstract environment appears on screen while "This is" appears one at a time. The screen then cuts to:

• A ballet performance (subtitled "Life in the front row")
• A man in the back seat of a car (subtitled "A season finale")
• A stage production of War Horse with an animatronic horse prop (subtitled "Live from Broadway")

We then rapidly zoom out of the surreal landscape when "This is" appears one at a time. The screen then cuts to:

• A man on a piano while sparks fly over him (subtitled "Passion")
• A dancer leaping in the air (subtitled "Spirit)
• A large crowd cheering (subtitled "Energy")
• A man on stage with a sorrowful face (subtitled "Pain")
• A boxer punching another in slow motion (subtitled "And glory")

We fade into a starry landscape with a wormhole that resembles an eye when "This is not a cinema" appears one at a time. A beam of light circles the screen when "Big screen sports" appears, with "sports" rapidly changing to "opera", "music", "theatre", "dance", "TV", "comedy", "gaming", "innovation", "knowledge" and finally "entertainment". The beams of light then form the Vue logo in a similar way as the previous logo.

Technique: Alternates between live-action and CGI throughout, once again done at Joint London and Mill+.

Audio: Throughout the whole trailer, an ethereal, powerful choir theme is heard. Being intermittently mixed in with the fanfare is the sound of a racecar engine, a male opera singer, a drum hit combined with an audience cheering. Faint tinkling noises and whooshes are heard, combined with the theme of echoing off into an electric guitar piece. Reversed whooshes are mixed in with the fanfare as sparkling is heard combined with a reversed hit. The sound of a police siren and more tinkling is heard, with the electric guitar playing again. Metal shaking is faintly heard. Whooshes and stuttering explosions, followed by a reversed hit and a hard electric keyboard note with electric sparking noises. Combined with the audience cheering are mystical whooshes and a long choir. The electric guitar voice plays again, as reversed sparkling and whooshes are heard again. A high-pitched howl is briefly heard as the whooshes get louder and faster, before diverging into a single choir note at the end.

Availability: Played before every film, at every Vue Cinemas in the UK and Ireland.

5th Logo (Get Lost) (2020-)

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Visuals: A woman walks down an empty street with a smartphone in her hands. The screen then pans past a car with another woman with a smartphone in the back seat, to a crowd of people all holding smartphones. We then head to an outdoor cafe with several people on their smartphones, texting and taking photos of various things, from dogs to coffee. A waiter delivers a sandwich to a man as he takes a photo of it and throws a napkin at the camera. The sequence then transitions to a film set as we approach a caravan with "A113" (a reference to Pixar movies) on the side. In front of it is a man doing parkour with a selfie stick, and behind it is a municipal building with "GOTHAM CITY HALL" (a reference to DC). When the camera enters the caravan, we see Ridley Scott (director of Alien and one of the founders of Scott Free) holding a smartphone with an image of a dog on it. Behind him are rows of monitors, which the camera zooms into. On the monitor we see John Boyega (known for his roles as Finn from Star Wars sequel trilogy and Jake Pentecost from Pacific Rim: Uprising) preparing for filming on a green screen. He gets his face sprayed and a clapperboard comes into view. Once the crew and clapperboard come out of view, a destroyed cityscape appears behind him, and he screams and runs away. The camera changes to show that he is running away from falling debris. The screen then zooms out of a TV showing the movie into a living room, with a person sitting on a chair with a dog, two children watching the movie on a laptop while it is buffering, an elderly woman eating toast and watching her smartphone and a father in the kitchen watching a smartphone while eating pizza. When he opens the door, his daughter comes in and their smartphones start to be overlaid with notifications on top. As he goes out of the door, there is a crowd of people all with notifications on their smartphones. As we pan upward, the notifications overwhelm the screen until the screen zooms out of a smartphone-shaped hole into a black screen. For a few seconds, the screen remains black until an orange light comes on the screen. The light grows in size, revealing it to be a galaxy-like mist. The screen then cuts to people in a cinema with the orange light reflecting on them, with a woman smiling. On a black screen, the words "Get lost in great stories" appear, which then become "Get lost in the ultimate seat", with "seat" transitioning into "screen" and "sound". The Vue logo forms the same way as the previous two logos. The logo then slowly zooms out and disappears in a puff of mist.

Trivia:

• Directed by Jake Scott, son of Sir Ridley Scott, at RSA Films for the agency Joint London.
• There are many movie easter eggs in the logo, all of which are listed here.
• Here is an article about the behind-the-scenes production of the logo, with stories like a torrential rainstorm during filming.
• This is the longest logo of the 21st century so far, clocking in at 2 minutes and 12 seconds long.

Variants:

• The online variants lack the narrator's "no talking or phones" warning at the end and the logo quickly zooms out into a puff of mist.
• Around the release of Jurassic World: Dominion, a slightly modified variant appeared where the movie's dinosaurs are in the background of some scenes and the film's logo appears after the Vue logo has disappeared, ending with a Tyrannosaurus rex bursting out of it.

Technique: A combination of live action and CGI.

Audio: A repeating piano arpeggio which gets louder in volume, we hear a notification sound from inside the car. The arpeggio gains bass beats as noises coming from the phones (such as selecting noises and notifications, as well as camera shutter sounds). When the man throws the blanket at the camera, a flapping sound is heard. A sound of the door opening as we go inside the caravan. There is Ridley Scott chuckle and say "Cute dog". The piano theme loses its bass beats as the sound of spraying and a "clap" is heard. A voice saying "Action!" is heard as the scene changes. Sounds of lasers being fired and explosions. The audio becomes compressed as the screen zooms out of the TV, along with dogs barking and growling. After we pan across the room, we hear a doorbell ringing. A rising whirr is heard with the music as the camera pans to the painting. One of the girls is heard saying "Hi, dad" as notification sound effects are heard from their phones. We then hear all kinds of notification sound effects as the camera pans out the door. As the whirring reaches its peak, everything cuts out as a bass drop is heard. An ethereal chord is heard with a building whoosh, which then devolves into just the ethereal chord and a choir. The trailer ends with two reversed whooshes. Composed by Allen Bingham at Machine.

Throughout all of this, we hear John Boyega say the following: "So.. stories.. the story is.. that they.. are.. everywhere. You can broadcast them to the entire world from the palm of your hand, I mean, yeah, you saw a sunset, saw a dog, saw a flower, and yes, you bought breakfast. Or coffee. You bought a.. sandwich? I've always have been. And, okay, so now you can tell your stories in ten seconds. Six seconds. Three.. second disappearance stories? But come on. To lose yourself in a story, you have to do it properly." After the scene changes, he says "Hang on," then loudly screams as he runs away. After the camera zooms out of the TV, he continues, "not like that, or that, or THAT, definitely not like that. Great stories are the ones you can lose yourself in not. You can't do it like that. No, to really lose yourself in a story, it means no pins, no alerts, click-mes, write mes, like mes. Feels good, doesn't it? Imagine what two hours feels like. So ssshhhhhh.. No more talking. Switch off your phone, sit back, relax, and get lost in the big screen experience."

Audio Variant: The Jurassic World: Dominion variant has sounds of the T. rex growling, a loud slash, and the dinosaur's roar.

Availability: Same as the previous logo. The logo is much harder to find online now that Vue has privated all videos of the logo. The sole remaining capture of the Jurassic World: Dominion variant in particular appears to lie behind this paywall.