Film4 Productions

Background
FilmFour (also known as Film4) is a British film production company owned by Channel 4. The company was started as Channel Four Films and its first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears and released in 1982. After 1998, the company was re-branded as FilmFour, to coincide with the launch of a new Digital TV channel of the same name. The company cut its budget and staff significantly in 2002, due to mounting losses, and was reintegrated into the drama department of Channel 4. The name "Film4" was introduced in 2006.

1st Logo (May 23, 1997)


Nickname: "The Green Number"

Logo: On a dark background, filled with greenish sun blinks, we can see white "CHANNEL FOUR FILMS" slowly zooming in. Then, a big green number "4" zooms from beyond and takes "FOUR" inside, making it black. The number is made from two bars and a dot.

FX/SFX: Parts of logo moving.

Music/Sounds: A dark but good ambient soundtrack with ascending booming near to the end.

Availability: Extremely rare. Was seen on Brassed Off.

Editor's Note: TBA.

2nd Logo (September 5, 1998)


Logo: On a black background, we see "FiLMFOUR" slowly zooming in, while in the background 2 shadowy copies of it move both left and right. The words is colored dark blue and white. The dot above "i" is replaced with the Channel Four logo.

FX/SFX: The words moving.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. Was seen on Hillary and Jackie.

Editor's Note: TBA.

3rd Logo (April 14, 2000-December 28, 2001)
Nickname: "The Flashlights"

Logo: There are light streaks, spots, and various effects appearing all over the screen, like in the police siren. They are colored blue and red. We can see the Channel Four logo appearing inside the flashing. Suddenly it all ends, leaving a red box with FILMFOUR inside (FILM black, FOUR white, and they both connected).

FX/SFX: The effects of light.

Music/Sounds: An industrial noise including wind-like squeal and booming sounds.

Availability: Seen on East is East, Jump Tomorrow, Sexy Beast, Charlotte Gray.

Editor's Note: Might be an issue for people with epilepsy.

4th Logo (2005-October 27, 2006)
Nickname: "The Burning Firetruck"

Logo: We start in a very dark street. Suddenly a burning firetruck rolls from the left and stops. We zoom into the truck and then the logo zooms out, similar to the 3rd logo box, but with bigger words inside.

Variant: A short version exists starting from where the firetruck stops.

FX/SFX: This seems to be slightly edited live-action.

Music/Sounds: A somber music entry with dog barking sounds.

Availability: Seen on Isolation, Last King of Scotland, and Death of a President. It plastered older logos too.

Editor's Note: The burning firetruck and the quite sad music may get to some people, plus the burning firetruck is a case of irony gone wrong.

5th Logo (June 23, 2006-May 13, 2016)


Nickname: "The Film Studio"

Logo: We start in a dark room, where a bunch of lamps lights on behind the screen. Then we move across the room to see the screen in front. There are many components of the logo standing in the room (in various distances). When we complete moving, all they form a logo, as though it were flat. The logo shows a red box with FILM carved out in the bottom, and it is surrounded by other boxes so the spaces between them form a stylized number "4".

Trivia: The animation is similar to Channel 4's 2004-2015 channel idents, in which a set of seemingly random blocks in live-action locales form the channel's logo when the camera reaches a specific perspective.

Variant: A short version exists where the lights have already been turned on.

FX/SFX: Live action.

Music/Sounds: Sounds of lamps going on, followed by the same music from the 4th logo.

Availability: Can be seen on films from the time.

Editor's Note: TBA.

6th Logo (May 15, 2016-2018)


Nickname: "The Filmstrip"

Logo: We start in what appears to be the inside of a building, with light coming through it. We then pan down to the same scene, with a red line. We keep panning down and it keeps getting faster, akin to a filmstrip. As we keep panning, the lines that make up the 4 appear, as well as the letters F, I, L, and M. Along with this, the light on the wall keeps moving. We then slow back down as we see the finished product; the Film4 logo, this time in negative space. The light is also shining on the 4.

Trivia: This logo was designed at ManvsMachine. The animation is based on Film4's current idents, in which a scene pans down in the same way as this logo, also forming the Film4 logo.

FX/SFX: The lines and letters moving in, the light moving. Wonderful work from MvM.

Music/Sounds: Starts with violins, then moves into a single piano note which repeats every time we pan down, then ends with violins and a single, deeper piano note.

Availability: Current. It premiered in front of American Honey and Free Fire. Can be seen in other movies from the time too.

Editor's Note: TBA.

7th Logo (2018-)
Nickname: "The Filmstrip II"

Logo: Mostly the same as the previous logo, except the logo that forms is different; the Film4 logo is now the Channel 4 logo with the word "FILM" put into it, with the Channel 4 logo in a deeper red than the "FILM" portion of the logo.

FX/SFX: Same as before except for the shape of the pieces.

Music/Sounds: Same as before.

Availability: Has not debuted yet, but was seen in the C4 Network Rebrand Reel, a video uploaded prior to the rebranding of the Channel 4 multichannel portfolio.

Editor's Note: None.