Caravan Pictures

Background
In 1992, Caravan Pictures was created by Joe Roth and Roger Birnbaum as part of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group of The Walt Disney Company for producing films for film units Hollywood Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, and Touchstone Pictures. Their first movie was The Three Musketeers, while their last film was Inspector Gadget. In 1994, Roth became the head chief of Walt Disney Pictures and left Birnbaum in charge, while in 1998, Birnbaum himself left the company and formed Spyglass Entertainment with Gary Barber. The company closed down in late July 1999 after the release of their last film, Inspector Gadget.

Logo (November 12, 1993-July 23, 1999)
Nickname: "The Walking Man", "The Caravan"

Logo: On a black background, we see a dark setting with blue hills and a road. A man with a fedora walks down the road, and the setting brightens. A box zooms out around the area with the man, and "CARAVAN PICTURES" appears above and below the picture, respectively.

Trivia: The logo and company name is most likely a tribute to the 1941 film Sullivan's Travels, about a filmmaker who sets out to make more meaningful movies. He travels on foot in a similar shot. At the end of the film, he describes his life as a "cockeyed caravan". Joe Roth is reportedly a fan of Sullivan's Travels director Preston Sturges, and his former company, Morgan Creek Productions, is named after another Sturges film, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. Also, the logo was designed and created by John Kehe. The logo was animated by REZN8.

Variant: On John Kehe's demo reel, the logo animates at a slightly smoother rate.

FX/SFX: The man with a fedora walking down the road, the setting brightening, the box zooming out around the area and the man, and the CARAVAN PICTURES text appearing on above and below the picture. Good CGI.

Music/Sounds: A nice keyboard jingle which makes the logo somber and gloomy at first. After the keyboard stops, the sky and everything else lightens up, we hear a gradual increase of the volume of the orchestrated part ending with a triumphant fanfare sounded out by trumpets and brass. There are two versions of this theme, one more bombastic than the other, both of which were composed by Randy Edelman.

Availability: Can be found on films produced by the studio such as Angels in the Outfield, Heavyweights, While You Were Sleeping, Angie, Dead Presidents, I Love Trouble, Metro, Six Days Seven Nights, and Inspector Gadget.

Editor's Note: None.