Bumper Films

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Background: Bumper Films, or Ffilmiau Bumper Cyf as it is known in its home country of Wales, was a children's stop-frame animation production company formed in 1982 by John Walker and Ian Frampton. They are best known for Fireman Sam, which was first shown in 1987 and is still going strong today. In 2001, the Fireman Sam brand was sold to Gullane Entertainment and after production on Starhill Ponies ended in 2002, the rest of the company closed down.

1st Logo (November 17, 1987-November 17, 1994)

Bumper Films/S4C(3X)/HiT Entertainment PLCBumper Films (1987)Bumper Films (Joshua Jones Variant)Bumper Films (1994)

Nicknames: "Dodgem Car" "WHOOSHHHH!"

Logo: The screen fades to a white background, and a picture of a dodgem car fades in. Inside it are a boy wearing headphones and holding out a microphone, and a girl looking through a camera with a telephoto lens. On the car is a yellow flag with the company name in black. The whole symbol is colored blue and yellow. Underneath the dodgem car is the text "BUMPER FILMS Ltd for S4C", with "S4C" being in said channel's corporate typeface. A copyright stamp attributing Prism Art & Design Ltd is displayed underneath.

Variants: On Fireman Sam, "with thanks to the Fire Service" is written in Gill Sans under "BUMPER FILMS Ltd for S4C". From 1988 onwards, the "S4C" text was updated to match the channel's then-new logo. On Joshua Jones, the colors on the flag are inverted, and the copyright text is different. Instead, it reads "BUMPER FILMS" in Futura Condensed, and then "for S4C, BBC, Prism Art & Design" underneath. Below that are copyright stamps for Rob Lee and S4C. On Season 4 of Fireman Sam, the logo has been made identical to the Joshua Jones variant, but with "With thanks to the Fire Service" underneath and the copyright stamp for Prism Art and Design Ltd. On Welsh prints of the 4th season of Fireman Sam (Or Sam Tân in Welsh) the logo is set on a black BG and is on the top with Welsh text saying "Cynhyrchiad" ("Production") and on the bottom of that is the S4C logo of that time and text saying "Ar Gyfer" ("For") on the top of the S4C logo. The copyright date is below that. "BUMPER FILMS" is in English though. On current prints of the original series of Fireman Sam, the logo has the S4C logo in the left corner, and the HiT Entertainment logo in the right corner, and the copyright now says "© (year) S4C International (with S4C in the 1995 typeface, along with the notice that reads "BUMPER FILMS for S4C") and Prism Art & Design Limited, a HIT Entertainment Company." FX/SFX: The fade in from white.

Music/Sounds: On Fireman Sam, the synthesized whoosh from the end of the show's theme tune is heard. Oddly, the "whoosh" sound is also heard in Joshua Jones, but sounds noticeably faster.

Availability: Presumably on original broadcasts and VHS tapes of the first four seasons of Fireman Sam. The variant with the HiT logo is seen on current DVD releases of the original series of Fireman Sam, though some DVD's have the original logo intact. The logo was present on all episodes of Joshua Jones, which was given a DVD release in Australia but not the UK. It's unknown if this end board was used for Bumper Films' first production, Rocky Hollow.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1998-2002)

Mike Young Productions/Bumper Films (2002)

Logo: On a white canvas background, we see the words "Bumper Films" under the Mike Young Productions logo in a blue pudgy font. Underneath the symbol reads "for S4C" with "S4C" being in the channel's then-current logo typeface. A copyright stamp appears below.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the show.

Availability: Was only seen on Starhill Ponies.

Editor's Note: None.