Showbox Entertainment
From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum
Background
Showbox is a film distribution company in South Korea, and the main film division of Mediaplex, an entertainment company owned by Orion Holdings, Lee Hwa-kyung and China Media Capital. It was first formed in 1996 as "Media Flex Co., Ltd", but was renamed to its current moniker in 2002.
Logo (December 12, 2002-)
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Visuals: The screen fades in to see a yellow cube on a blue-curtained stage. Then, a white ball bounces into the screen and jumps onto the cube, which now has an exclamation point on it, and the camera zooms up to the ball, which gets a playful look on its face. It bounces on the floor, and gives a mocking sort of face to the cube, which looks at it with a question mark. The circle bounces again and smiles, then turns around and looks at the cube. Then the circle bounces around crazily as the cube spins around, making it dizzy. The circle looks at us, bouncing and blinking its eye. The ball bounces into the cube, which expands, and then "blows up" onto a black background. The cube becomes more stylized, with it broken into "pieces"; the top part shows a question mark, exclamation and apostrophe, the left shows the jumbled word "SHOW", and the right has "BOX", all in white. A spotlight is shone on the cube, which emits some particles, and the text "SHOWBOX" appears with a trailing effect underneath.
Variants:
- An enhanced version of this logo first appeared around 2006. While the basic concept remains the same, the animation (particularly the ball's movements and faces) is smoother and cleaner. There's also a byline added underneath the company name, reading "A MEDIAPLEX COMPANY".
- Some late 2010s movies have the logo bylineless.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: Playful orchestral music is heard throughout as we hear cartoonish sound effects correlating to the on-screen actions (like baby noises whenever the ball moves or make faces). The box's explosion is scored by an orchestral hit, and it ends with an echoing male voice saying "Showbox!".
Audio Variant:
- From 2006, a few movies would have the score rearranged with additional sound effects.
- On some rare occasions, like A Frozen Flower, the "Showbox!" voiceover doesn't echo.
- Sometimes, the "Showbox!" voice sounds funny and has a different voiceover.
- There are high and double high (PAL) and low pitched (NTSC) versions of this theme.
Availability: Seen on the company's films, starting with Sex is Zero.
