Cicada Films

Credits

Compiled by
Camenati

Background

Cicada Films was a British documentary production company founded in 1982. Around 2008, the company went defunct.

1st Logo (1990)

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Visuals: Against a tan wall background is a minimalist picture of a cicada inside a green oval with a tan and green outline. Underneath it is "A CICADA PRODUCTION" and a co-producer's name, typically a channel. A copyright notice can also be seen below, containing a channel's name (e.g. Channel 4).

Technique: Computerized graphics.

Audio: None or the ending theme of the programme.

Availability: It has so far only appeared on Baikal: Blue Eye of Siberia.

2nd Logo (October 30, 1994-2007)

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  First Out of Africa

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• The Call of the Beast

• Animated variant

• First Out of Africa

• Shortened hiss

• Tourettes On The Job

Visuals: On a black background, a stylized picture of an annual cicada is shown within an orange-green vertical box. Since the insect is shown on both sides, the colouring on the cicada is opposite of the background colour, depending on where the creature lies. Underneath it is the company name in orange with "A" added before it, one or multiple co-producer names (e.g. Channel 4 and Discovery Communications), and the copyright notice underneath.

Variants:

• An animated version exists, consisting of the orange and green pieces of the picture rapidly shaking with a motion blur effect before gradually stopping. Likewise, the font for this logo changed to Helvetica.
  • On First Out of Africa, after the sequence is complete, the pieces slightly shift towards each other.
• On The Lost Gardens of Heligan, the logo is paired with the Bamboo Productions logo.
• On Tourettes On The Job, both the logo and company name shake in.
• On the Equinox documentary "The Private Lives of Dolphin", an orange silhouette of a dolphin appears below the text disclaimers.
• In some instances, the logo is superimposed in the credits.

Technique: Computerized graphics. Motion blur effects for the animated variant.

Audio: None or the ending theme of the programme.

Audio Variants:

• For the animated variant, a high-pitched buzzing sound from a cicada is heard.
  • On The Volcano That Blew A World Away, the hiss is shorter.
• On The Call of the Beast, a short, ascending four note, and somber piano piece plays.

Availability: This logo appears on many documentaries of varying genres produced for channels such as Channel 4, BBC, ITV, etc. Their most common projects include nature documentaries which include First Out of Africa, Swamp Tigers, and The Lost Gardens of Heligan, all of which are available on home media under Parthenon Entertainment's distribution of the former two and VCI Entertainment for the latter. Some such as The Volcano That Blew A World Away and The Beast of Bardia have been archived on archival sites such as Screenocean. The animated variant debuted in 2001 and can be seen on the former documentary and the aforementioned Parthenon DVD-distributed titles.