Al Jazeera Productions

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

This is the production arm of media conglomerate Al Jazeera.



1st Logo (November 28, 2006-January 16, 2020)

Visuals: On a white background, the gold, Arabic text "الجزيرة‎" is stylized like a water droplet. Underneath it is the text "ALJAZEERA".

Variants:

  • The color of the text may vary.
  • Sometimes, the size of the logo is small.
  • On Enemy of Enemies: The Rise of ISIL, the logo is black.
  • A variant exists reflecting the channel's mass media company, Al Jazeera Media Network. Both its Arabic and English name are displayed.
  • Sometimes, the logo is placed on a dimly lit white background.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: The ending theme of the program.

Availability: This logo has appeared at least once on every program they have produced from this period. The shows that mainly use this logo include 101 East, People & Power, Al Jazeera Investigations, and Inside Iraq. It also appeared on early documentaries from Fault Lines and Al Jazeera World. These shows, alongside the logo itself, are intact on the network's English YouTube channel, website, among other sources. The final documentary to use this logo is "Beyond the Wall Part 2: From Germany to Bulgaria, What Happened to Hope?" from the People & Power series.

2nd Logo (November 28, 2006-)

Visuals: On a white background, the logo from before is on top of a blue bar consisting of a co-production disclaimer, reading "A (co-producer's name) Production for Al Jazeera". The logo is aligned to the right to make room for the co-producer's logo on the left.

Variants:

  • Over the years, the logo has went through several slight redesigns from alterations of the bar's shade color to the font of the co-production disclaimer.
    • The first version consists of a nearly pure blue bar with text set to Arial Black. This version was used until February 22, 2015.
    • The 2010 version has a blue bar of varying shades (usually in rhino) and the text is in Helvetica.
    • The 2012 version uses a dark blue bar and text set to a thin font. Additionally, the company name is within an outlined rectangular box in the same color.
    • Several documentaries in 2015 and one in 2016 use a cerulean bar and text in Arial Bold, plus a shadow underneath.
  • On Al Jazeera World, a copy of the water droplet logo is positioned in between both its and the co-producer's logos. Underneath it is the company name, sometimes with "Documentary" added, in Arabic.
    • A variant exists where the left copy is textless.
    • Sometimes, the Arabic text may read "Al-Jazeera Channel". The latter word is not bolded unlike the channel name.
    • The Arabic text may also be accompanied with "DOCUMENTARY" underneath.
      • On a few documentaries, it is entirely in English.
    • On From Lebanon to Africa, the English and Arabic logos swapped places.
    • In some cases, the Arabic logo is more aligned to the left.
  • Sometimes, only the Al Jazeera logo is shown where it is centered.
  • The disclaimer may include an individual's name (e.g. Ashraf Soudy).
  • Sometimes, the Al Jazeera logo is on the left side of the screen.
  • On some documentaries such as The Mortician of Manilla, the Al Jazeera logo is shifted more towards the right. This is because it uses the same layout from the Al Jazeera World variant but with the left copy removed.
  • On The Dentist from New Jersey, a thin, vertical bar is seen on the right section of the white section of the logo.
  • On Broadband Bruce: Fighting Canada's Digital Divide, the logo is slightly squished.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: The ending theme of the program.

Availability: Can be seen on most documentaries from the Witness and Al Jazeera World series. However, some such as "Photographing the Exodus, Avalon" use the previous logo.

  • The standalone version can be seen on "An Iraqi Refugee's Search for His Missing Son", "Sudan's Forgotten Films", "Um Sultan Jordan's Matchmaker", among many others. The double logo variant with no co-producers is about as easy to find as the regular standalone version; it can be found on "Death of Aleppo", "Divorce in Lebanon", and "Egypt Made in China", all from Al Jazeera World.
  • The 2006 variant was seen on late 2000's documentaries from aforementioned series, one of which being "China Orphans" from Witness. The last documentary to use this variant was "Poland: Bartek's Getaway Bus".
  • The 2010 variant is the easiest to find out of all the versions, having been used for approximately a decade. It debuted on the Al Jazeera World documentary "Looting the Holy Land" and replaced the above version on most documentaries beginning 2013. Prior to that year, this variant was found on the standalone versions, most notably Al Jazeera World's on documentaries such as "Curse of the Sands".
  • As for the 2012 variant, it debuted on the Al Jazeera World documentary "Srebrenica massacre: Women Who Refuse to Die" , but was rarely used prior to 2020, when it became the main variant used on all documentaries from Witness and Al Jazeera World. Currently used, it is seen on recent documentaries including "Dispatches from Sudan's Revolution", "Mapuche: Teen Rap Queen", and "Land or Death", among others.
  • The 2015 variant was short lived; it was first seen on "Defendant 5" and lastly on "Bulgaria In the Valley of Guns and Roses". It appeared on several documentaries from said year and was used in tandem with the 2010 variant.

3rd Logo (December 7, 2009-December 13, 2014; July 12, 2018)

Visuals: On a light blue background with a radial white gradient in the center, the Arab text from before in a changing gold-gold gradient is seen forming through a spinning animation with letters getting absorbed into the sequence. Already formed below is the text from before.

Variants:

  • In its early appearance, the logo is closer to the screen and has its English website link added underneath the company name.
  • When the logo briefly returned in 2018, the background is now purely white and the text animation almost plays out the same as the next logo's text sequence. In this variant, the text wipes in.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: The ending theme of the program.

Availability: The logo first appeared as an opening logo for some Fault Lines documentaries such as "Health Care Reform". It would become the main logo used for Al Jazeera Correspondent from 2012 to 2014 (2011 episodes use the 1st logo). It has also appeared on Orphans of the Sahara.

4th Logo (2011-February 9, 2018)

Visuals: On a black background, the animation sequence from before plays with the logo in white. Shortly before it finishes forming, the company name fade in one letter at a time, followed by the copyright year.

Variants:

  • Starting in 2013, the copyright year was removed.
  • On a few documentaries, the website link was added underneath the logo.
    • On The Stream, both the link and the copyright year are seen.
  • An American variant exists where "America" is added underneath the company name. Underneath it is the copyright disclaimer reading:
©(year) Al Jazeera America, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
(program name) is a Trademark of Al Jazeera America, LLC.
  • A still, in-credit version exists.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: The ending theme of the program.

Availability: It can be seen on Fault Lines documentaries from 2011 to 2014 such as "This is Antifa". It also appeared on some Witness and The Big Picture documentaries like "Return to L'Aquila: Broken Promises" and "Dream on Hold" for the former series.

5th Logo (March 19, 2014?-December 19, 2019)

Visuals: On a black background, various warped Arabic letters in a metallic texture wipe in and are drawn from there. They are also slightly moving to fill up the droplet shape. Before this sequence ends, the company name fades in.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The ending theme of the program.

Availability: It was used on most documentaries from Fault Lines in the mid-to-late 2010's such as "Chasing Bail". In its last few months, it replaced the 1st logo on 101 East and People & Power documentaries starting August 1, 2019 such as "China: Smuggling For Survival", "Cambodia's Casino Gamble", and "Top of the Class: Inside Singapore's Education System", the latter of which is this logo's last appearance.

6th Logo (January 9, 2020-)

Visuals: At the end of the program, a rectangular cut-out mask crops out the last shot by shrinking, revealing a white background. Before it almost disappears, it becomes a blue, wide rectangle and opens itself, revealing the company name in the same style as the previous logos. It slides down, allowing the water droplet symbol to fade in. Lastly, the company's website link fades in below.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: The ending theme of the program.

Availability: It replaced the previous logo on recent documentaries from 101 East and Power & People as well as appearing on Al Jazeera Correspondent. It debuted on the 101 East documentary "Thailand's Master Forger".

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