MPL Communications

Credits

Descriptions by
DreamMechanic

Editions by
thehugetvfan

Video captures courtesy of
EnormousRat

Background

MPL Communications is the umbrella company for the business interests of former Beatles bassist Paul McCartney. Established in February 1969 as Adegrove Limited, the company handles McCartney's post-Beatles work, as well as a wide range of other music material. Interestingly, the acronym "MPL" stands for McCartney Productions Limited.

1st Logo (November 26, 1980)

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Logo: Inside a yellow box with a thin outline is the tubular text "mpl" with the letters' ends touching the outlines of the black oval underneath.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the film.

Availability: Only seen at the end of Rockshow, which was kept on restored prints of said movie as well as on VOD prints.

2nd Logo (July 29, 1982-)

Animated Variants

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Print Variants

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Nickname: "Planet Juggler", "The Paul McCartney Logo"

Logo: On a white background, we see three planets, one resembling Saturn (the rest being ordinary planets) bounce about and we see a hand clutch one of the planets. The camera zooms down as we see a man (possibly Paul McCartney) juggling the planets. He then juggles the planets into the correct position and the man and planets fade into silhouettes, which causes one of the rounded planets to turn into a crescent moon. The white background fades into a snowglobe on a black background and "mpl" in the same format but in an outline as before fades in the snowglobe, in front of the juggler's legs.

Trivia: This logo was animated at Shootsey Studios in London and directed by Len Lewis, based on a hand drawn animatic by Ravi Swami. The logo was initially made in CGI to map out its appearance. The juggler is hand drawn, but the planets and the movement of the camera was mapped out as 3D models, then drawn on animation cels to perfectly match what was generated.

Variants:

• A print version exists consisting of just the juggler and the text, now filled in.
  • The size of this variant may vary, sometimes being big and other times really small.
  • Occasionally, the logo is seen within a vertical white box.
  • Its earliest appearance has the logo orange.
  • On Paul McCartney: In the World Tonight, the stacked, written text with a white shadow "Production ©1997" is shown underneath the logo. Plus, the juggler has no facial details.
  • On Paul McCartney: Live at The Cavern Club, the text appears within the juggler's chest. Plus, the man himself is black with an orange shadow and a copyright notice reading "© 1999 MPL Communications Ltd./Inc." is shown below.
• A version has the logo in black and white, the snowglobe with more detail, the juggler smaller, and the text "©2007 MPL Communications Ltd" underneath.
• On the "When Winter Comes" music video, the logo is smaller and cropped, resembling the 16:9 aspect ratio. Not long after the logo is finished, it zooms out and fades away.

FX/SFX: The three planets bouncing about, the hand clutching one of the planets, the camera zooming down, the man juggling the planets, the man and planets fading into silhouettes, the snowglobe and "mpl" fading in. Very nice animation; see Trivia above.

Music/Sounds: Some creepy synthesized music, a held note when the logo animation becomes the print logo and three drumbeats at the end. After it, the music ends with the note morphing into some Turkish-like guitar music.

Availability: Uncommon.

• Can be seen on films produced by Paul McCartney, which usually consists of concert films, documentaries, short films, and several more. The animated variant is rare and isn't used on that many films or music videos. The earliest film to use the animated logo was Paul McCartney: Put It There from 1989 and was later seen on the 2007 DVD release of The McCartney Years, Wings Over Seattle, and most recently, the "When Winter Comes" music video.
• The print logo is easier to find and first appeared on the short film The Cooler. The standard version of this logo can be seen on McCartney 3,2,1 and some recent live Paul McCartney concerts at The Cavern Club in Liverpool and New York City. The box variant can be seen on The Love We Make.

Legacy: The bizarre music and animation could startle some, however it is a very nice logo all around, with a memorable soundtrack and very high quality animation for its time.