Arthouse Film Idents

Film Idents vary in style and length, very often to suit the film they're working with, several of the idents below for example, use a timeless effect either by using scale and themes such as the earth or the brain, others including a variety of characters and locations to show the proportion of the company. Other companies use a very simple technique and logo, often when they're starting off. 

The most important thing in a film ident is the logo, to have company success, you want your audience to recognise your logo, each of the ident's below has a very clear logo that always comes at the end of the clip. Length's vary from 5-17 seconds depending mostly on the wealth and popularity of the company. Often ident's change with wealth & popularity, effects such as 3D animation are used to do this. 

Unless and ident only deals with a certain genre such as Film Noir or Thriller, it's important that they can apply to any film, this most often comes through simplicity, which all of the ident's have, we may not know precisely where we are or what's happening but we get an excellent sense of the type of company.

CURZON FILM WORLD

This ident gives a feeling of knowledge and being central to events, the abstract computerized object looks rather like a brain or some kind of control centre, in it's background is a large spherical object, resembling earth. This makes us think of scale and innovation, the sparks of the maze suggest a hint of new things to come from this company.

BLUE HEAD FILMS

This ident is very short and simple, it goes from a very modern, technical looking pixel screen that transforms into a tribal design face and bold, simple lettering. Giving the effect of old and new combined to create one another.

SNASK FILM

This longer ident, gives a sense of money, it's very high definition and set-up very cleverly with smoke and lights timed precisely so we almost can't make out what the company is called. The black and white palette makes the film feel very timeless and gives a sinister edge when combined with the sound effects and background noise. 

ENTER FILM 

This ident immediately says comical from it's soundtrack, there is a business and liveliness to it, especially using the bright yellow and film noir silhouette look. The transition between so many locations and characters suggests a longevity and variety within the company that may be attractive to any viewer.

A1 FILMS

This ident is the shortest of the one's I've viewed, it very simply animates the company logo with a bright sun like light in centre. The fade of the light and very simplicity of the logo gives it an innovative feel, like the birth of a new era or company, there is something not yet formed in the simplicity. The colour palette is also quite egyptian, it feels like a hot sunrise and the lettering is timeless. 

SEVEER FILMS

The several version of the one ident shown in this video allow a look at how some more well established companies have changed their ident's over the years but stick with the same logo, often to suit the film it's used in, or to give a different impression to the audience. The last  ident for example, shown on the preview screen above is in full 3D with a red-hot iron stamp as the f, suggesting that the company is making its mark, or possibly already has. This version is far glossier and more hollywood than the 2D versions shown in the first edition which includes it's website at the end of the ident. This progression is a sign of wealth and popularity within the company, they no longer need to put anything other than the logo in their ident. Large conglomerates such as Universal and Disney are able to do the same with their idents. 

ENTRACTE FILMS

This very simple ident is replayed several times here using slightly different colour schemes, this company made films mainly in the initial use of colour cinema, it's a retro feel today and you can imagine it being used with an 'old film' effect on the computer. There is a sense of that 70's/80's new generation technology. The music especially is one of the first computer generated soundtracks used in film idents.

After having looked at several idents and analysed their success it's becoming clear that for a first film with our company the ident should be short and succinct, focusing most importantly on our logo and film company name.

HH