Penta Film
Background
Penta Film was a joint venture between Italian film producers Mario & Vittorio Cecchi Gori and Silvio Berlusconi, the owner of Fininvest. It was formed in 1988 after Fininvest purchased Medusa Distribuzione and demised in 1994, effectively reverting back into Medusa. They also had a short-lived American branch called Penta Pictures.
Logo (1988-1994)
Visuals: On a dark blue gradient background, 5 glass spheres are seen with a color dot inside of them along with them resting on color-coded rings below them. The colors are green, yellow, red, blue, and teal, in no particular order. The camera then zooms through the 5 orbits, passing by the spheres as they revolve around their rings. As they pass the screen, a golden pentagon rises up, along with 5 trapezoids to surround it and formed a beveled edge, and the similarly-styled letters "PENTA" fly in as well as they tilt to face the screen. As they settle into place, the word "FILM" appears below. The gold parts also constantly shine.
Variants:
- For films they distributed, "DISTRIBUZIONE" appears below one-by-one by a light.
- An alternative variant refines the sphere animations with better movement and more realistic textures. The metallic sheen of the gold is also different.
- On the film Mutande Pazze, the word "FILM" is replaced with "DISTRIBUZIONE" and the logo is still.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A whirling synth drone plays at the beginning, before a triumphant fanfare plays after it.
Audio Variants:
- Sometimes, a rearranged version of the fanfare that ends early plays in a higher pitch.
- On some versions, a more proud-sounding fanfare plays instead, which is the same as their home video division, Penta Video.
Availability: Can be found on Italian films, such as Mediterraneo and Dimenticare Palermo. Usually was plastered over with the Miramax logo on US releases, but sometimes retained.
