Paramount Pictures Production Company Deconstruction

Background information

·         Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving film studio in the world, and America’s oldest running studio.

·         It was founded in 1912 and its first film was a French silent film named The Loves of Queen Elizabeth (1912).

·         Paramount has produced films such as: Paranormal Activity 3 (2011), The Uninvited (2009), Terminator Genisys (2015) and Interstellar (2014).

·         It produces films in a range of all genres.

·         It bought DreamWorks SKG, in 2005, for $1.6 billion. However, DreamWorks became independent a few years later.

·         The mountain used in the Paramount Pictures’ logo has been used in the company’s logo since it was founded. It is the longest, existing, original icon used in the Hollywood film industry.

Production Company opening

The first thing we see during this opening is animated stars flying towards the screen as the camera begins to pan backwards.

The stars then fly past the screen and through the clouds. As the camera continues to zoom out some large letters appear on the screen. The typography used is similar to the style of the stars with a gold outline and a glass effect.

Soon we see the whole production company name ‘Paramount’. The camera still continues to zoom out and the stars form a line and circle the name.

The final image is of the production company name at the peak of a mountain with stars circled around it. The main colours used are blue, white and black. The typography used is san serif. The closer you are to the word the more transparent it is and as it moves further away it becomes opaque this is also the same for the stars.

The words A Viacom Company also appear which is an American mass media company.

Evaluation

• The word ‘mount’ in the production company name relates to the mountain used in the picture. Therefore, there are links shown in this opening.
• The stars used could represent America as they are similar to the ones shown on the American flag.
• I liked how the words were transparent at the beginning and then become opaque. This allowed the audience to see the journey of the stars at the beginning but also enabled you to read the production company name at the end.
• The music used was classical and upbeat. It also enables the audience to distinguish between different production companies.