SF Studios (Sweden)

Background: SF Studios is a Swedish film production company, distributor (both Swedish and international) and movie theatre chain, currently owned by the Bonnier Group. It was established on 27 December 1919 as Aktiebolaget Svensk Filmindustri or Svensk Filmindustri (SF). It produced most of the films made by Ingmar Bergman, as well as a long list of films by other Swedish filmmakers. The majority of film adaptations of the works by children's author Astrid Lindgren have been produced by SF. SF also distributes foreign films in the Nordic countries and has deals with New Line Cinema, Summit Entertainment, Spyglass Entertainment and Revolution Studios in the United States. 1984 it was bought from Bonnier Group.

1st Logo

(1930's-1946)

Nickname: "Sunset In Stockholm", "The Early SF"

Logo: On a real-life background depicting Stockholm at sunset, we see the SF logo (a circle with two fancy, serif, letters) flipping from left to right. Then the whole set fades out.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The logo flipping, plastered onto a real-life urban background. Pretty neat for its time.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Can be spotted on some Swedish silent films, like "The Phantom Carriage"

Scare Factor: Low to high. The dark environment lighted by a solitary street lamp combined with the lack of music and large, ghostly logo rotating can make anyone run in fear.

2nd Logo

(1946-1964)

Nickname: "Still Rotating SF"

Logo: Just a still white version of the previous logo, but modified, notably a different S and a smaller, 2nd ring on the inside, on a black background.

FX/SFX: Just SF logo rotating.

Music/Sounds: Possibly the opening theme of the movie or silence.

Availability: Extremely rare or possibly extinct. It's unknown if it actually appeared on any films.

Scare Factor: None to medium. The white logo on the black background may spook some, especially with an ominous opening theme.

3rd Logo

(1964-1986)

Nickname: "Trippy SF", "The Jester"

Logo: On a black background, a red laser quickly moves upward and briefly twinkles, bringing forth multiple lasers pulled upward to the top (like a curtain) which brings forth a background of smiling diamonds, which sometimes change color, but are mostly white. A circle (with another circle in it) flips towards the viewer and inside the second circle is a masked jester that dances before the circle fully flips in and removes his clown mask to reveal several comedy and drama masks. When the last mask is removed, he reveals his face and turns around as the circle flips again and turns around showing the same jester, albeit facing his back at us and juggling the masks while moving his legs in odd places. The circle flips around once again and reveals the same "SF" from before in yellow, which is Svensk Filmindustri's logo.

FX/SFX: The laser drawing, the curtain animation, the strange background, the jester removing its mask, the circle flipping, the mask juggling, etc.

Cheesy Factor: The logo is quite childish, there's no reason for the jester to turn his back on us, the background is quite trippy, and why do the diamonds smile at the end? Did someone making this decide to ruin all the team's hard work for no reason? Why did this last more than 20 years?!

Music/Sounds: A circus-like tune with horns, flutes and a solo synth-clarinet.

Trivia: This was also used on 1959 onwards when the company distributed journalism. ( You can see the logo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O9syMmXM3w )Also, this would set the precedent for the music the company's future logos up until the present day.

Availability: It could appear on TV repeats of films distributed by the company when that logo was used on TV networks in Scandinavia (or at least Sweden).

Scare Factor: Medium to high; the color-changing background, loud atmosphere and animation may not sit well with some people. Low for those used to it. It seems rather odd that people would see a somewhat childish intro before an adult oriented movie. However the scare factor may be higher for those who either have coulrophobia (fear of clowns) or a fear of jesters.

4th Logo

(1986-1999)

Nicknames: "The Blue Laser", "SF", "Soothing Synth"

Logo: On a black background, a blue laser slowly travels upward from the bottom-center of the screen in a straight line up to the top. Multiple blue lines start appearing, with some coming from the left of the laser and some coming from the right, which eventually reveal a red circle with another inside it that has the SF logo inside the second circle. The circle is shining, but stops when "SVENSK FILMINDUSTRI" appears below.

Variant: In 1994, the company celebrated their 75th anniversary by surrounding the logo with a blue ring with the company name and the years of service.

FX/SFX: The laser drawing, the lines moving, the "SF" circle shining and "SVENSK FILMINDUSTRI" appearing.

Cheesy Factor: Well, the logo itself is fine, but "SVENSK FILMINDUSTRI" suddenly appearing is pretty much cheesy. 1980s effects, by the way.

Music/Sounds: A reworked version of the first theme. A synthesized "wah" sound rising up slowly in pitch and a 6-note trumpet tune and a synthesized drumbeat, followed by some synthesized ding notes and another trumpet, and a longer horn tune with 4 timpani beats.

Availability: Seeing as this company is Swedish, this might be available on Swedish prints of films distributed by the company, like maybe some PAL tapes of films during the time this logo was used.

Scare Factor: Low; the darkness of the logo, text appearing below suddenly, and sudden change of the music may spook some, but the logo is a favorite of many.

5th Logo

(1999-2016)

Nicknames: "SF II", "The Return of Svensk Filmindustri", "Rotating SF"

Logo: On a black background, a blue light glows from the bottom and reveals a "SF" logo that rises up, surrounded by two rotating circles and eventually settles into place as the blue glow apepars right behind, and "SVENSK FILMINDUSTRI" fades in.

Variant: There's a brand SF Norgefor distributing theatrical movies in Norway, it uses the last seconds of animation (the shine) with the corresponding name below.

FX/SFX: The "SF" zooming out, the circles rotating, and the text fading in.

Music/Sounds: Majestic brass tune that contains the 6-note trumpet used in the previous logo.

Music/Sounds Variant: In some cases, it uses an abridged version of the theme in the previous logo.

Availability: Current and very common in Sweden and other countries of Nordic region. Actively plasters old logos on current re-releases.

Scare Factor: Minimal. The darkness may spook some, but it is a good follow-up to the previous logo.

6th Logo

(2016-)

Nicknames: "SF III", "The Majestic Return of Svensk Filmindustri", "SF From Underwater"

Logo: Underwater, we see blue and red rays shining and water rippling. We see bubbles rise up and fly freely. We pan up and zoom in (with some visible water spots) to reveal the full setting to be a forest at sunrise: there are pine (and other type of) trees with a few houses in front with grass and other trees and mountains in the background. We see red haze (explaining the red rays) swiveling through all this on the right, and the camera tilts a bit so the sun stays shining on the horizon. On the sky, we see a flock of birds flying west (from our perspective). The haze now shows up to the right and moves like the filmstrips in the 1997 Medusa logo. The haze forms the "SF" logo from the previous logos and also "STUDIOS" below. The haze disappears and the logo shines.

FX/SFX: Mind-blowing CGI!

Music/Sounds: We hear strings and 15 mallet notes, then we hear a reorchestration of the same music as above.

Availability: Brand new. Can be seen on the company's newer releases.

Scare Factor: None. It's an amazing logo.