Interscope Communications

Logo descriptions by Eric S., Hoa and Logophile Logo captures by Eric S. Video capture courtesy of Eric S.

Background: Interscope Communications was founded in 1982 by film producer Ted Field. For the first several years of its existance, it did not use an on-screen logo until the late 1980s. Field sold his company to PolyGram in 1993. While the film production part of Interscope eventually was made a subdivision of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, its record label (which Field created in 1989 and was originally distributed by Atlantic) still exists as the Interscope/Geffen/A&M unit of the Universal Music Group.

1st Logo (1987-199?) Interscope Communications (1989)

Nickname: "Flipping Interscope"

Logo: On a blue background, we see a white circle made of lines with an "i" inside it flipping as it zooms in at us. The letters "INTERSCOPE COMMUNICATIONS" also are flipping to us with the logo.

FX/SFX: The logo flipping.

Music/Sounds: Silent.

Availability: Ultra rare. Seen on some TV movies from the era made by Interscope, such as Everybody's Baby:The Rescue of Jessica McClure, Murder Ordained, and The Father Clements Story, among others.

2nd Logo (199?-1992?) Interscope (1991)

Nickname: "Sliding Interscope"

Logo: On a black background, three pieces of the stylized oval with the lower case "i" ease in towards the screen. They slide together to form the logo. As this happens, the word "I N T E R S C O P E" in white slides in from the right and a red line slides in below from the left.

FX/SFX: The oval pieces flying in and sliding together, the "I N T E R S C O P E" and red line sliding in.

Music/Sounds: Just the closing theme of the program.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen on TV movies from the time from Interscope, such asShoot First: A Cop's Vengeance.

3rd Logo (January 7, 1994-February 18, 2000) InterscopeInterscope Communications (1993)Interscope Communications (1997)

Nickname: "The (CGI) Interscope Studio", "The PolyGram Era Interscope"

Logo: The logo starts off inside a movie studio complete with a camera, a boom, a director’s chair and several lights, shown in a purple hue. The camera scrolls down-left and heads towards one of the lights. The hue turns orange and the word “INTERSCOPE” appears and heads towards the light. When the camera goes into the light, the light changes to an oval and the background changes with a flash to purple. As the camera eases back a bit, “COMMUNICATIONS” appears under “INTERSCOPE” and the oval shines into a stylized oval with a lower case “i”. After the shining stops, the 1993 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment logo appears underneath.

Variants:

Later in its life, "A PolyGram Company" in the company font appears underneath instead. On some prints of Pitch Black, it lacks any PolyGram indication text.

FX/SFX: The camera scrolling, the lights, the stylized "i" forming.

Music/Sounds: None, or the opening theme of the movie.

Music/Sounds Variant: On Terminal Velocity, a synthpad theme with whooshing sounds was used.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on films such as Terminal Velocity, Operation Dumbo Drop, The Tie That Binds, The Associate, Kazaam, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, What Dreams May Come, Gridlock'd, and Pitch Black. Don't expect to see this on Jumanji. On current prints of Gridlock'd, this is plastered by the 1997-2012 Universal logo.

Editor's Note: A nicely-animated logo for the time.