Company Logo

We have collaboratively decided to name our production company 'Panda Productions' after much deliberation over what would be an appropriate brand identity to associate our film with. The use of the panda to represent the company image has a number of different connotations. These not only relate to horror films, but represent values that we want to reflect to our audience. 

• Pandas can be vicious animals which reflects the often vicious nature of horror films, however the fact that they are sometimes labelled 'cute' also links in to the idea that our film, and any other films produced by the company, will try to be deceiving and not necessarily follow the generic trends. This will therefore give audiences a more enjoyable and 'frightening' experience as they might not know what to expect. It is being frightening which is one of the main purposes of horror films. Also, the fact that pandas are often least-accurately labelled in this way suggests that although predominantly producing horror films, the company has strong potential to diversify into other genres in the future should it be successful.

• The panda is strong animal which represents strength in the quality of production and strength as company as a whole. It adds a certain assertive feel, showing that the company is confident in itself and therefore this will lure in audiences.

• The actual use of an animal is quite anthropomorphic - there is a link between this and the fact that horror films are usually fiction. Most people tend to have a positive relationship or attitude towards animals which will help the company to become well-liked and less of a bureaucratic organisation with a negative press. 

• The use of alliteration (Panda Productions) means the name is memorable and catchy. This will in help the company to gain positive press (which can be used to advantage with future ventures) as people will associate previously successful films with their name

Using the name I have created the company logo (with approval from the rest of the group). I have produced two variants which can be used according to which is deemed more appropriate in the specific context, in terms of colours and impact, etc. 

The main version of the logo which was designed with the intention of promoting the company as a whole when not being used for a specific product. 

This is a variant of the main logo which is designed to be more impacting and specifically relevant to the horror genre so it is probably the variant which will be used at the beginning of our title sequence. 

The logo has been designed so that it is simple and sophisticated yet impacting at the same time. It does this by using a sans-serif font which is modern and relates to the idea that the company's films are not conventional and do not always follow the generic trends; it is rather creatively innovative as already mentioned. Both variants use a simple black and white contrasting colour scheme retrospective of the panda concept, but also to help the text stand out and promote the name rather than the image as a whole. This is also aided by the fact that the text is in uppercase letters. 

The logo has a copyright symbol which shows that the originally designed logo and company itself is protected by copyright laws and cannot be reproduced in any way. This is also the case for any content it produces. This is necessary for professional companies as it prevents fraud and helps to maintain status and respectability. 

The fact that the the panda image is integrated with the words helps the logo to be less cluttered but also more creative and interesting. The red colour has connotations of blood, danger, evil, etc. which all relate to the horror genre. However, if the company changes direction to further genres this colour could be changed easily. The use of a simple panda will help audiences to associate the company's films with the logo better as images are often better remembered than text. 

The screen dumps below show some of the aspects involved in creating the logo. 

The panda graphic was used by downloading a font aptly entitled 'Panda' from the website 'dafont'. This is a ornamental typeface meaning that different graphics represent different keys on the keyboard and in our case the 'f' key represented the image that we wished to use. We chose the graphic that we did as it best resembled a letter that would be used in the text element of the logo more than any of the others. It was also clear, simple and eye-catching. 




In Photoshop the font was utilised through a text layer which placed above all the over layers in order to make sure that it covered the space where otherwise the 'D' in panda would be placed. This space was created by placing a white (black in the variant) shape over the D, in the layer below. 

The pitch of the text/image was 200pt, slightly larger than the main text itself as the images were quite small in comparison. It was important to maintain a consistent size to make the logo more aesthetically professional and pleasing. 

Although the font style was regular, it was made 'strong' to help emphasise it did the red colouring (this also has connotations relating to horror - see earlier) which was applied by changing the 'layer style to colour overlay' as evident in the screenshot below. 

It was important to make sure that the blend mode was set to 'Normal' so that full colour overlay effect would take place to full extent. Ensuring the opacity was at 100% made sure that the colour would differ from the one selected. 

The shade of red selected was done so carefully. Although needing the graphic to stand out, a slightly darker and more burgundy shade was chosen as this conveyed sophistication rather than the standard, bright red which could have been considered 'tacky' and cheap'. 

The colour of the panda was changed in this way rather than changing the font itself as it was more convenient - there is also has a very faint (i.e. low opacity) grey 'outer glow' which is too applied in this way. 

When the variant of the logo was produced the layers were flattened and the image inverted to create what is shown below. 

Because there were no layers, the panda image was then filled in the with the red colour using the paint bucket tool . The colour picker tool was used to ensure that the red used in the original logo was the same used in the varient. 

The line separating the 'PANDA' and productions was done by selecting the line tool from the shapes menu as shown in the screen dump below. The shift key was held down whilst dragging the cursor across the page to ensure that the line was indeed straight.

The 'PRODUCTIONS' in the logo appears slightly faint. This is to draw attention to the 'PANDA' aspect and is done by placing a grey inner glow on the text and lowering the opacity to around 66% (this was changed several times after the below screenshot was taken). 

Finally, using both a font downloaded from the internet and an included system font is fine in the instance of this coursework, although should our sequence and company actually be created for the 'real world' we would need to seek copyright permission in order to use them for commercial purposes. 

When we use our logo at the beginning of our sequence we will need to consider how it will appear. Will it be animated by different aspects fading and flying in, etc.? At the moment we anticipate that the logo will fade in, in a slow and  sophisticated manner, with the panda dropping down from above, before bouncing on the line and stabilising. This will be done to a 'bouncing' sound.