Warner Horizon Unscripted Television

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Warner Horizon Television is a cable network and reality television production company formed by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. in 2006. Two divisions existed between 2006 and 2020: Warner Horizon Scripted Television (focused on production of scripted comedic and dramatic programs for cable networks and subscription-based streaming platforms) and Warner Horizon Unscripted Television (focused on production of reality television programs, documentaries and other alternative programming formats for broadcast and cable networks, and subscription-based streaming platforms). In 2020, Warner Horizon Scripted Television was merged into Warner Bros. Television as part of a restructure of Warner Bros.' TV studios at Warner Bros. Discovery. However, Warner Horizon Unscripted Television was not affected.


Warner Horizon Television

1st Logo (October 2, 2006-2018)

Visuals: The screen fades in to a light gray gradient background. As this occurs, the name "WARNER HORIZON TELEVISION" zooms out from the camera with "WARNER" in a big font that is cut off a bit at the bottom, emitting a shadow which animates like the Microsoft PowerPoint "Peek In" effect, "HORIZON" in spaced-out letters and a medium-sized font, and "TELEVISION" in a smaller font and also in spaced-out letters. The Warner Bros. print shield logo fades in as the words zoom out. When the camera reaches a comfortable distance, the Time Warner byline fades in below.

Variants:

  • On shows broadcast in widescreen, the logo is re-animated. "WARNER" doesn't animate while it zooms out in this version, and "HORIZON" and "TELEVISION" fade in while they are zooming out. The Time Warner byline is also placed further up underneath the shield.
  • On some shows like The Voice, "Distributed by" appears above the logo.
  • "In Association With" may also appear above on some shows produced in association with Warner Horizon.
  • On some shows, most notably ones from Warner Horizon Scripted Television from 2009-2014, the animation is slowed down.
  • Sometimes, the logo is bylineless. This occurs mainly on scripted shows.
  • Starting in 2013 for shows from Warner Horizon Scripted Television, a motion blur was added when the logo zooms out.
  • Sometimes, it has only the camera slowly zooming away from the finished product, or the logo may be completely still.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: None, generic themes and voice-overs on networks or the end theme of the show.

Audio Variants:

  • The 2017 revival of Love Connection and season 1 of Ellen's Game of Games have a loud whoosh that plays on the logo, right after the Telepictures logo.
  • On 500 Questions and American Woman, the deep whoosh from the next logo is heard.

Availability: Seen on Pretty Little Liars, The Voice, Dallas (the 2012 revival), Rizzoli and Isles, Marshal Law: Texas, Good Vibes, The Bachelor (and its spinoff The Bachelorette), Ground Floor, Sullivan and Son, Longmire, the 2013 revival of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and Oh Sit!.

2nd Logo (September 10, 2015-)

Visuals: Starting on a black background, the camera zooms out to reveal "WARNER" in the same font (and same style) as before, zooming out and rotating in CGI. "HORIZON", also from the previous logo, spaces in to fit the same space as before, then "TELEVISION", again from the previous logo, spaces in as well. As this happens on the same background as before, the WB shield is revealed to be in the background as the camera pans.

Bylines:

  • Mid 2018: A Time Warner Company
  • Late 2018-2020: A WARNERMEDIA Company (in the same font for the Warner Bros. Pictures logo and other WarnerMedia owned companies that have the byline, including New Line Cinema)

Variants:

  • "Distributed by" or "In Association With" appears above the logo on some shows.
  • The "Distributed by" Time Warner variant has a spelling error, where it reads as "Distibuted by". The error was corrected when Time Warner was renamed to WarnerMedia.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A deep whoosh as the text zooms out, followed by a synth drone, or none.

Availability:

  • Seen on shows like Fuller House and the fourth season of Longmire on Netflix, the first 3 seasons of Claws on TNT, and the first 4 seasons of Queen Sugar on OWN.
  • Despite the company being folded in 2020, the 2013 revival of Whose Line is It Anyway? continues to use this logo for unknown reasons.

3rd Logo (DCTV custom logo) (March 21, 2018-September 29, 2019)

Visuals: Same as the DC Entertainment/Warner Bros. Television combo since 2014, but the 2014 and 2018 Warner Bros. Television shield variants are either replaced by the Warner Horizon Television logo from the last two logos.

Variants:

  • Krypton: The logo is in green and is on a space background.
  • Pennyworth (Season 1): The logo is white and on a background of London.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Sound effects that correspond with the action, which varies from show to show.

Availability: Seen after the DC Entertainment logo on Krypton and the first season of Pennyworth (although the second season used the 2019 Warner Bros. Television logo instead). Used in tandem with the previous logo.

Warner Horizon Unscripted Television

1st Logo (October 13, 2020-)

Visuals: The logo starts with three close-up shots of the 2019 WB shield. After a split-second, the "W" lights up in neon purple, the "B" lights up in neon yellow, and the shield outline lights up in neon blue. Then there is a flash of light, which dies down to reveal the 2019 WB shield, in blue and white, zooming out to the left to make room for the words "WARNER HORIZON" (in the condensed bold version of WB's corporate font, Warner Bros. Sans) and "UNSCRIPTED TELEVISION" (in the heavy version of Warner Bros. Sans) to fade in. The shield then shines. Blue spotlights can be seen in the background.

Trivia: This logo is a homage to the neon signs from the now-defunct The WB network during the "backlot" era from 1995 until 2004, including the network's logo, shows and the Kids' WB block. Also, the neon colors of the WB shield's letters look similar to the Kids' WB logo.

Variants:

  • A short version exists, where there's only one close-up shot of the 2019 WB logo's neon lights turning on.
  • Some shows have "In Association With" or "Distributed by" appearing above "WARNER HORIZON".
  • Sometimes, the logo is still.
  • On The Masked Dancer, the aforementioned IAW variant appears next to the A Very Good Production logo.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A string note plays throughout. There are also click sounds as the WB shield lights up and a cymbal roll when it zooms out.

Audio Variant: Sometimes, the closing theme plays over it or none.

Availability:

  • It made its first appearance on the sixteenth season of The Bachelorette and later seen on returning shows such as The Bachelor, Ellen's Game of Games, The Voice, Bachelor in Paradise and Mental Samurai.
  • It also appeared on its specials such as Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, Friends: The Reunion and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now!, as well as new and future shows from the company such as The Masked Dancer, Finding Magic Mike, Family Game Fight!, Harry Potter: Tournament of Houses, True Story with Ed and Randall, The Bradshaw Bunch and Lotería Loca.

2nd Logo (January 22, 2024-)


Visuals: A bannerless 2023 WB shield with the text "WARNER HORIZON UNSCRIPTED TELEVISION" (in Warner Bros. Bold Condensed) below the shield zooms in on the same background from the 2023 film logo. No byline is present.

Technique: CGI from Devastudios. The CG elements were re-rendered using the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) color pipeline from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Just as before, like its movie counterpart, the sky and clouds were done using Terragen from Planetside Software.

Audio: An extended version of the current Warner Bros. Television fanfare, entitled "Classic Reflection" (a new rendition of "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca), composed and arranged by Jacob Yoffee, orchestrated by Nolan Markey and mixed by Jason LaRocca, recorded at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios.

Availability: So far, it debuted on season 28 of The Bachelor.

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