The 3 images above show the well-known idents of 3 out of 6 of the Hollywood Big 6 production companies. The backgrounds of all of these are fairly similar as they all use a sky or a space image behind the title of their company. These backgrounds are used for mainly two reasons, firstly because the image of a blue sky or a starry night sky are both conventionally beautiful and calm. Blue skies are iconic of sunny days and sunshine has codes of happiness and brightness, therefore many people feel happy when they see images of a sunny sky. In terms of the Universal background, stars are icons of light and beauty and many people enjoy looking up at the stars at night as it makes them feel peaceful, therefore this background will be attractive to a large target audience. The second reason is that all of these pictures represent a large and wide open space, this could link to the idea of each of these conglomerates being global and targeting a large audience all over the world, as the open sky and space can be associated with everyone in the world and isn't specific to a niche audience. These background images represent that the conglomerates have no limit and can target whatever audience they wish to because they have the budget and the status. My production company differs from them in this way as it won't have anywhere near the same budget or resources as the companies above, and therefore I may have to consider using a slightly different background that is associated with the smaller and more niche production companies.
The actual icons and titles for both are very different for each conglomerate. 'Universal' uses a globe as it's logo to link closely to the title and to represent the idea that this conglomerate targets audiences from all around the world and isn't specific to one location. The globe icon ties in with the space background as it represents the earth and it's place in the universe. This company has a strong ident and title as both of these symbolise the idea that the company has no limits and can defy expectations as they have associated themselves with the idea of space and the whole universe, showing that even the sky isn't the limit. This looks impressive and will usually appear at the beginning of the film or trailer, therefore showing the audience that the film has been created by a company of huge power and status. The typography used is fairly simple but is still bold and noticeable, the white colour is used to stand out on the mainly blue and black background and the thin gold outline emphasises the font further. The title is simple because there's a lot more going on in the ident such as the detailed globe and the starry background, if the font was too detailed and confusing then there would be too much going on.
The Paramount ident is fairly effective, it uses a mountain image as it's icon which links to the 'mount' aspect as the name of the conglomerate. This is similar to the ideas I've discussed above in terms of the globe being a powerful image in the way that mountains are viewed as a challenge and people often talk about climbing mountains as something difficult, so the company has associated itself with these ideas and proven that they can overcome challenges and be successful, and do what many others fail to do. The stars around the title are effective and link to the film industry and the ratings of 1-5 stars that many magazines and critics use to rate newly released films. The actual typography is basic and a white colour, the white colour is the same as the stars and is fades slightly at the edges so it looks like it glows. If I used a font like this I'd have to ensure that it wasn't too basic and therefore boring which wouldn't appeal to the target audience as they would want to be drawn in by an eye catching and interesting font. However, it works successfully for this ident as the rest of the ident and the background are detailed and therefore this works to draw the audiences attention and play on their desires.
The Warner Bros ident is similar to the others in terms of the background image and style, and the idea that all of the titles and logos are in the very centre so they stand out immediately and the audience make direct eye contact with them, however the rest of the ident is slightly different. The other idents use images of either a globe or a mountain as their logo, however Warner Bros uses the name of their company inside a badge shape as their main logo. So, the title itself is practically the logo. This is still effective as the badge shape is an icon that can be associated with the company, and the audience will see it with the title inside and immediately know who the conglomerate is. The gold colour used for the typography is effective as gold is symbolic of success as it is iconic of first place medals and expensive items, therefore this offers the idea that the company is acclaimed and is better than it's competitors (the other Big 6 mainly.) The large 'WB' is eye catching and appears in a larger and slightly bolder font than the rest because these specific letters are an abbreviation of the company name and are meant to stand out and therefore be noticed and hopefully recognised by the target audience, who are likely to have seen a film or trailer made by the company previously. The blue background inside the badge is a lighter shade and therefore allows the gold to stand out and be emphasised further so the audience are forced to read the letters and potentially remember them.
