Titmouse, Inc.

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Revision as of 23:17, 29 March 2024 by Dison (talk | contribs)



Background

Titmouse, Inc. is an American animation studio that develops and produces animated television programming, feature films, music videos, title sequences, commercials, and short films. It is named after the titmouse, founder Chris Prynoski's favorite bird.

The studio was originally founded in February 2000 as a small T-shirt company in Vancouver, British Columbia by couple Chris and Shannon Prynoski. However, upon getting more requests for cartoons than for T-shirts, they decided to abandon screen-printing in favor of animation. The Prynoskis moved to Los Angeles, California, and opened the revamped Titmouse, Inc. as an animation studio. Antonio Canobbio, who had worked with Chris Prynoski at MTV and both Prynoskis at Cartoon Network in L.A., was hired as creative director.

Today, Titmouse has offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, Melbourne, and Vancouver. Their productions include Metalocalypse, China, IL, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Big Mouth and its spin-off, Human Resources, and films such as Nerdland and Arlo the Alligator Boy, among others.

1st Logo (Early 2000s)

Visuals: On a black background, there is text that says "Titmouse Productions". Above the text is a picture of an actual titmouse.

Technique: Live-action photography.

Audio: Only the sound of a motorcycle revving.

Availability: It was only seen on an early pilot of Motorcity.

2nd Logo (August 6, 2006-)

Visuals: A cartoon tufted titmouse says "Chirp!" in a white circle on a black background. The screen then zooms out to the text "titmouse", with "INC." under "e", all in a stylized font with a protruding shadow on a blue background with sunrays. The titmouse's silhouette makes up the hole in the "o". The logo slowly zooms out a bit more before either cutting to black or the next logo after it.

Trivia: The titmouse seen in the logo made its first appearance on the official website in September 2000; it can be seen on the side of the website.

Variants:

  • Sometimes, the "INC." is replaced with ".net".
  • An animated long version exists. The logo starts out on a dark sky with many clouds. Then the bird from the logo flies onto the screen. Then he flies closer to the screen. As he flies, a moon appears behind him. Then a branch appears. The bird sits on the branch with the moon behind him. The background fades to black, the moon to a white circle, and the bird turns into its normal colors. The rest of the logo plays out normally, albeit without "INC." in it.
  • On T.O.T.S.: Tiny Ones Transport Service, a short version is used in which the logo quickly zooms out as soon as the titmouse says "Chirp" and the sound effects start playing sooner.
  • An in-credit version exists with inverted colors (black text and white bird and shadow) which, like the long version, lacks the word "INC.".
  • A version has the "INC" a bit more to the left and there is no dot point after it.
  • A still version exists.
  • Sometimes, it shares the screen with other logos.

Technique: Flash animation.

Audio: The bird saying the dialogue in a deep voice, and some strange futuristic noises (a laser zap and a rising swoosh) followed by a "BOP!" sound.

Audio Variants:

  • A version exists without the sounds after the voice.
  • On The Venture Bros., the voice is replaced with a different character (varies depending on the episode) saying the line, or a different word.
  • On the first five seasons of Big Mouth, the voice is heard, followed by one of the three vanity cards' sounds.
  • On the long version, it starts off with a loud timpani hit that echoes long after it is played, and then a synthesized chorus note plays. The rest plays as normal.
  • Sometimes, the end theme plays over it or it's silent.

Availability:

  • Seen on nearly all of its content produced since 2006. It can easily be found at the end of many cartoons like Star Trek: Lower Decks, Kiff, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart, Big Mouth, and T.O.T.S.: Tiny Ones Transport Service, among others.
  • It could also be seen on the Face Face (aka Space Face) and Menehunes shorts on the Nickelodeon website and YouTube, as well as the animated episode of Hot in Cleveland.
  • Some shows like Breadwinners don't use this logo as Titmouse only provided animation services.
  • The full version has so far only appeared on the film Nerdland. The still variant appears on the trailer.
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