Pacific Data Images

Background

Pacific Data Images was founded in 1980 by Carl Rosendahl in Sunnyvale, California (a suburb of Silicon Valley and San Francisco); his partners Richard Chuang and Glenn Entis wrote the company's computer software one year later on a DEC PDP-11/44, which transitioned into a DEC VAX-11/780, which was to be a part of the studio's goal to incorporate computer graphics into the entertainment field. Some of its early projects included the TV special The Last Halloween with Hanna-Barbera, the 1989 PBS logo with John LePrevost, the NBC "Let's All Be There" ID promotional film with Harry Marks, and the "Homer³" segment from The Simpsons S7 episode "Treehouse of Horror VI" with Gracie Films and Film Roman. In 1998, PDI collaborated with the feature animation division of DreamWorks SKG to produce the feature film Antz. The studio was purchased by DreamWorks in 2000 and was renamed PDI/DreamWorks, in which the two companies worked within a single entity, comprised of the original PDI studio in Redwood City and the DreamWorks campus in Glendale, which became DreamWorks Animation. On January 22, 2015, PDI/DreamWorks closed its doors as part of a restructuring of DreamWorks Animation due to the box office flop of Penguins of Madagascar. The studio's biggest hit was the 2004 film Shrek 2.

Contents

1st Logo (1985)	2nd Logo (1986)	3rd Logo (1987)	4th Logo (1988-1990)	5th Logo (June 5, 1989)


6th Logo (1992)	7th Logo (1992-1997)	8th Logo (1994-2000)	9th Logo (2000)	10th Logo (April 22, 2001-November 26, 2014)

1st Logo (1985)

Visuals: On a black-teal gradient background, there are 3 metallic constructs in the middle of the screen, designed to resemble the letters "PDI" all combined into one form, all rotating in unison. The 3 constructs eventually stop revolving together and then rotate around into forming the word "P D I".

Technique: Computer animation done by PDI themselves.

Audio: A repeating synth drumbeat with an oscillating tempo, with an series of synth buzzes played when "P D I" is formed up.

Availability: Only seen on a PDI demo reel from 1985.

2nd Logo (1986)

Visuals: The sequence starts on a first-person shot of a blue-purple-black gradient background environment with outline-drawn clouds with it's duplicate copies that are blurred out. There are cyan silhouettes of a rollercoaster and a ferris wheel, and a yellow balloon on the front. The shot leads downwards then to the right, leading to a salmon-dodger blue abstract TV design with a static background plastered inside it, where the shot gets near it and stops once closer enough. Inside the latter contains five red gradient triangles with a drop shadow in each of them, whereas four of them slide out of the screen, with one standing on-screen and rotating upside down on the left-most, where "Pacific Data IMAGES" condenses above the latter.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The additional sounds of the rollercoaster and the people shouting, as well as a whistle, leading to a sudden whoosh held out by three ascending synth notes and a glimmering synth sound.

Availability: Only seen on two PDI demo reels from 1986, one which can be found on TVArk.

3rd Logo (1987)

Visuals: On a light brown background with brown dots, there is a wavy blue line with a white stripe through the middle at the top of the screen, and what seems to be part of a sombrero at the bottom of the screen, all which resembles a beach setting. In between them, there is "Pacific Data" in white Italics and "IMAGES" in big, magenta letters. A small red triangle is shown below the words. Copyright information is below.

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: Only seen on two PDI tech demos from 1987.

4th Logo (1988-1990)

Visuals:

1988: On a marble background, there is a large rectangular black box on the left side of the logo. Within the box is a gold border surrounding a gold, kneeling stickman that is holding up an analog television, with "PDI" underneath the border in gold. On the right side, there's the text "Pacific Data Images" stacked in black with a line underneath. Below, there's "Presents" in small gold lettering.
1990: The logo is in the middle of a white background decorated with various company logos (such as the 1986 NBC logo) and other objects. "PRESENTS" is seen below in big, red letters.

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: None, or the opening/closing theme of the demo reel.

Availability: Only seen on the 1988 and 1990 demo reels.

5th Logo (June 5, 1989)

Visuals: On a black background, there is a golden 19th century decorated design of the words "PACIFIC DATA Images" with "PACIFIC" in an arc and "DATA" inside a scroll. Underneath it, there is "presents".

Technique: Computer animation from PDI themselves.

Audio: The opening theme of the short.

Availability: Seen only on the CGI short Locomotion.

6th Logo (1992)

Visuals: Against an optical azure background with what looks to be road footage and water surfaces on certain parts, there are 6 rows of duplicate text reading "SPECIAL EFFECTS" on the right-most with shades of turquoise on the lateral faces, with a transparent turquoise rectangle behind on the 3rd row of the text. There is the PDI logo colored in aquamarine with said footage masked over it, that slowly slides from the left to settle in. A cyan ball of light passes over the rows of text that lighten up.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The opening theme of the reel.

Availability: Only seen on the 18th demo reel.

7th Logo (1992-1996)

Visuals: On a black background, three rows of separated text "PACIFIC DATA IMAGES" flip into view, followed by the stretched out "presents" underneath.

Variants:

At the near-end of some reels, the logo is still with "presents" being absent.
On the November 8th of 1993 and one of the 1994 reels, the text is all in a straight line and are colored white.
On the 1994 demo film, the vertical logo from the 4th logo (but with the television replaced with a film camera) fades in briefly before fading out, playing the animation sequence as usual.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The opening theme of the reel.

Availability: Seen on various reels at the time.

8th Logo (1994-2000)

Visuals: There is a stickman jumping in and somersaulting. He lands on a floor with white dots and causes the wooden letters "PDI" to shake. A film camera drops from above, which the man then catches, making him kneel, and the dots fade out.

Variants:

Sometimes, the logo is still.
There is a variant where the logo is featured as a large statue colored in gold with the company name stacked in front of it colored in green. Two (or three, may be colored) spotlights orbit the logo in different directions. This appears on their 1994 and 1995 Demo #20, #21, #22 and "D" reels.
- On the aforementioned 1995 Demo #21-#22 reels, the logo is in warp-speed.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: None, or the opening/ending theme of the demo.

Availability: The regular version only appeared at the end of Antz and it's 33rd promo reel. The other variants were seen on demo reels at the time.

9th Logo (2000)

Visuals: On a dark gray background with subsequent lights of purple and cyan emitting from the left-most, the text "P D I / D R E A M W O R K S" with a large number "20" following it, fade in. A ball of light passes through, causing the text to fade out and for the number to darken, with a glimpse of it being shown before abruptly disappearing. The PDI logo from the era, with the "PDI" text changed to serif, is shown between an arched ribbon banner reading "TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY" above, and the years lifespan from then, below it, altogether to fade in.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The opening theme of the reel.

Availability: Only seen on the 2000 demo reel.

10th Logo (April 22, 2001-November 26, 2014)

Early Version
Later Version

Visuals: An in-credit logo. The words "PDI" and "DREAMWORKS" appear next to each other in the DreamWorks font. The words are separated by DW's "Moon Boy" symbol, which is rotated to the right in this logo.

Variants:

On the 2002 demo reel, the remaining texts are colored blue.
Starting with Shrek the Third, only the PDI text is used, and the logo is now centered and larger.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: None or the closing theme of the movie.

Availability: The original version appears at the end of Shrek (the logo's debut), Shrek 2 and Madagascar as well as the short film The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper. The later version is seen on the later films from the studio, starting with Shrek the Third and ending with their final film, Penguins of Madagascar. This variant also appeared on the short films Megamind: The Button of Doom and Rocky and Bullwinke as well as the television special Shrek the Halls. This logo does not appear on Shrek Forever After or Puss in Boots, as they were not produced at PDI, but rather at the main DreamWorks studio in Glendale.