Centron Corporation
Eric S., TheMovieLogo Database, Poocian Debbie official
Background
Centron Corporation was a leading industrial and educational film production company, specializing in classroom and corporate 16mm films and VHS videocassettes. Although a slightly smaller company than its contemporaries (Encyclopædia Britannica Films, Coronet Films and Learning Corporation of America), it was nonetheless very successful from the late 1940s through the early 1990s, gaining added fame with the Academy Award-nominated Leo Beuerman in 1969.
1st Logo (1970-1977)
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Prototype
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B&W version
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Color
Visuals: On a blue background, the letters "CEF" in a blocky font fade in one-by-one, while a red circle, a blue triangle, and a yellow square fade in with the letters, in-sync with the music. The shapes overlap each other, with the yellow square pushed to the back. "p r e s e n t e d b y" fades in on top in a stretched bold font, and "CENTRON EDUCATIONAL FILMS" fades in below in a outlined Haettenschweller font.
Variants:
- Sometimes, the blue is replaced with black (may be due to film deterioration).
- A black & white version exists. Sometimes, it's spliced a bit on Roosevelt and U.S. History: 1882-1929.
- A prototype version exists where the text doesn't appear.
- There is an off-center variant.
Technique: Motion-controlled cel animation.
Audio: A 3-note synthesizer; each note is played to the notes on a music scale (C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C). They may be off-sync due to film deterioration.
Availability: It was seen on the educational film, Analyzing Advertising, as well as others from the time period. Of course, films like these almost never air on TV after screening, and will only likely exist on 16mm prints, which are heavily deteriorated, and can be seen on Internet Archive, but other releases of the period is listed in WorldCat.
2nd Logo (1978-1981?)
Visuals: On a black background, seven yellow outlined rounded vertical rectangles appear in a row, which then revolve around 180 degrees clockwise, leaving neon trails with each frame. The colors of the copies that appear are, in this order: orange, red, hot pink, white, violet, cyan, sky blue, green, and then lime. Each frame then disappears one-by-one before the text "a CENTRON FILMS p r e s e n t a t i o n" in the Microgramma font, zooms out in white, before the entire logo changes colors. "a" and "p r e s e n t a t i o n" change to sky blue, the frames turn white, and then the following colors fill in the frames: forest green, dark blue, bright red, denim, daisy yellow, light blue, and hot pink.
Variant: A black & white version exists.
Technique: Cel animation.
Audio: A remix of the last logo's jingle, this time with four notes: G,C and E are played note by note, then F is played after a brief pause.
Availability: So far, this only appears on Ears: Have You Heard The Latest? and again, other films from the time period.
