Film4 Productions

Background

FilmFour (also known as Film4) is a British film production company owned by Channel 4. The company was started as Channel Four Films and its first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears and released in 1982, though they didn't use a logo until 1993. After 1998, the company was rebranded as FilmFour, to coincide with the launch of a new digital TV channel of the same name. The company cut its budget and staff significantly in 2002, due to mounting losses, and was reintegrated into the drama department of Channel 4. The name "Film4" was introduced in 2006.

Channel Four Films

1st Logo (1993-1999?)

Nickname: "The Green Halved Number"

Logo: On a dark background, filled with greenish sun blinks, we can see the white text "CHANNEL FOUR FILMS" slowly zooming in. Then, the left side of a big "4" zooms from beyond and takes "FOUR" inside, making it black. The number is made from two bars and a dot.

Variant: There is a shortened version on Face Off.

FX/SFX: Parts of the logo moving.

Music/Sounds: A dark but good ambient soundtrack with ascending booming near to the end.

Availability: Uncommon. It's seen on Face Off, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Secrets & Lies.

Editor's Note: TBA.

FilmFour

2nd Logo (1996?-September 5, 1998)

Logo: On a black background, we see "FiLMFOUR" slowly zooming in, while in the background 2 shadowy copies of it move both left and right. "FOUR" is colored white. The dot above "i" is replaced with the Channel Four logo.

Variant: A version exists with "DISTRIBUTORS" in white stacked under "FiLMFOUR".

FX/SFX: The words moving.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. So far, it was only seen on Hillary and Jackie.

Editor's Note: TBA.

3rd Logo (1996)

Nicknames: "Boring FFd", "Filmstrip FFd"

Logo: On a black background, we see the abbreviation "FFd" on a filmstrip that zooms in, then the text "FILM FOUR DISTRIBUTORS" appears.

FX/SFX: The zooming in.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availabilty: Extremely rare. This logo was used in tandem with the previous logo. It was spotted on the trailer for Face Off.

Editor's Note: This logo was thought to be lost for a long time.

4th Logo (1998-2005)

Notice: this template has been replaced by {{Guidance}} and {{Guidance detail}}

Nickname: "The Flashlights"

Logo: There are light streaks, spots, and various effects appearing all over the screen, like in a police siren. They are colored blue and red. We can see the Channel Four logo appearing inside the flashing. Suddenly it all ends, leaving a red box with "FILMFOUR" inside ("FILM" in black, "FOUR" in white, and the "F" and "M" connected).

FX/SFX: The effects of light.

Music/Sounds: An industrial noise including wind-like squeal and booming sounds.

Availability: Seen on East is East, Jump Tomorrow, Sexy Beast, Charlotte Gray.

Editor's Note: This logo can give people epilepsy.

5th Logo (2006)

Nickname: "The Burning Firetruck"

Logo: We start in a very dark street. Suddenly a burning firetruck rolls from the left and stops. We zoom into the truck and then the logo zooms out, similar to the 4th logo box, but with bigger words inside.

Variant:

A short version exists starting from where the firetruck stops.
A long version exists, where the firetruck drives from the right, and goes offscreen to the left, then the firetruck comes in burning.

FX/SFX: This seems to be slightly edited live-action.

Music/Sounds: A somber music entry with dog barking sounds.

Availability: Seen on Isolation, Last King of Scotland, and Death of a President. It plastered older logos too.

Editor's Note: The burning firetruck and the quite sad music may get to some people, plus the burning firetruck is a case of irony gone wrong.

Film4

6th Logo (June 23, 2006-May 13, 2016)

Nickname: "The Film Studio"

Logo: We start in a dark room, where a bunch of lamps light on behind the screen. Then we move across the room to see the screen in front. There are many components of the logo standing in the room (in various distances). When we complete moving, they all form a logo, as it were flat. The logo shows a red box with "FILM" carved out in the bottom, and it is surrounded by other boxes so the spaces between them form a stylized "4".

Trivia: The animation is similar to Channel 4's 2004-2015 channel idents, in which a set of seemingly random blocks in live-action locations form the channel's logo when the camera reaches a specific perspective.

Variants:

A short version exists where the lights have already been turned on.
A still version exists (set on a black background) with the word "FILM4" duplicated in a different font right next to the logo.

FX/SFX: Live action.

Music/Sounds: Sounds of lamps turning on, followed by the same music from the 5th logo.

Availability: Can be seen on films from the time.

Editor's Note: TBA.

7th Logo (May 15, 2016-)

Nickname: "The Filmstrip"

Logo: We start in what appears to be the inside of a building, with light coming through it. We then pan down to the same scene, with a red line. We keep panning down and it keeps getting faster, akin to a filmstrip. As we keep panning, the lines that make up the 4 appear, as well as the letters F, I, L, and M. Along with this, the light on the wall keeps moving. We then slow back down as we see the finished product; the Film4 logo, this time in negative space. The light is also shining on the 4.

Trivia: This logo was designed at ManvsMachine. The animation is based on Film4's current idents, in which a scene pans down in the same way as this logo, also forming the Film4 logo.

Later Variant: Since September 27, 2018, the logo that forms is different: the Film4 logo is now the Channel 4 logo with the word "FILM" put into it, with the Channel 4 logo in a deeper red than the "FILM" portion of the logo.

FX/SFX: The scene panning down repeatedly like a filmstrip, the lines and letters moving in, the light moving. Wonderful work from MvM.

Music/Sounds: Starts with violins, then moves into a single piano note which repeats every time we pan down, then ends with violins and a single, deeper piano note.

Availability: Current. The 2016 version premiered on American Honey and Free Fire and could be seen on other movies before the rebrand. The 2018 version was first seen in the C4 Network Rebrand Reel, a video uploaded prior to the rebranding of the Channel 4 multichannel portfolio.

Editor's Note: TBA.