Film Production Logos

Working Title is a British Film production company founded in 1983. Some of the recent films it has produced include the film adaptions of Anna Karenina, and Les Miserables. It also produces Television series, such as Birdsong, and the Borrowers. It tends to only produce films with a budget of up to $35 million, and it is linked to NBCUniversal. The working title logo is very simplistic, as all it features is the title, and a circle behind it. The circle could connotate the way that the company produces all kinds of movies, not just mainstream ones.



BBC Films is probably the best known film producer in the United Kingdom. BBC Films co-produces around eight films a year, working in partnership with major international and UK distributors. BBC Films used to be under the full control of the BBC but has since left to start its own film production company. It has produced films such as An Education, Made in Dagenham and Now is Good. The BBC Films logo is recognisable all over the world. It includes the BBCs logo, which is used for everything owned by the BBC.

Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established. It used to be called Channel Four Film ands FilmFour International, but was later re-branded as FilmFour.  The name "Film4 Productions" was introduced in 2006 to tie in with the relaunch of the FilmFour broadcast channel as Film4. Films it has helped make include Shame, and Wuthering Heights. The logo is simplistic with the white on red, which makes it stand out. The '4' cups the 'Film', and is easy to see.

Introduction, Semiotics and Anchorage

I took Media Studies as one of my four AS Levels this year. I am very interested in the media, and particularly in films. I think that Media Studies will help me to understand more about how films and things in the media are made. I believe that looking at other aspects of the media will help me expand my understanding and knowledge of how things in the media work.

In lesson we learnt more about symbolism and 'codes' and how semiotics is the science of signs. For example, you could take a picture of a spiders web on a red background.

The spiders web would suggest that a spider would be near by, which could be seen as a symbol of warning, danger or fear. The red background could be a connotation of fear or danger, making the spidersweb warning more urgent. However, if you put a rose on a red background, the red would signifry lust, or of love, which the rose would emphasise. This shows how something reasonably small would change the entire effect of symbol.

The same would apply to films and things in the media. Something as seemingly minor as background music can change the entire effect of the piece, giving it a dramatic or relaxing feel.

Anchorage is used because the viewer/audience is said to be "all at sea" in a media world full of potential meanings... there is no such thing as a "fixed meaning". The best a media producer can do is to anchor the audience around preferred readings. The most obvious form of anchorage is a caption.