Filmax (Spain)

Background: Founded in 1953 and based in the city of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (neighbouring Barcelona), Filmax is a veteran production and distribution (more than 800 films distributed throughout their history) company, and one of the few Spanish cinema companies that has acquired some international recognition. For further info, check http://www.filmaxentertainment.com/ or http://www.filmaxinternational.com/.

Note: Not to be confused with the Mexican film distribution company Filmex.

1st Logo

(1960's-1970's?)

Nicknames: "Filmstrips in Space","Filmax...Presenta", "Filmax Filmstrips" "Apple Films' Spanish Cousin" "Great, Now I'm Blind!" "Whoa, I Can't See the Background!" "Apple Films' Cousin" "Filmstrips of Doom" "2001: A Filmax Odyssey" "It Seems To Be Quiet In Here...." "Wow, The Filmstrips Scared Me!" "A Proof That Cheesy Logos Are Scary"

Logo: We see a blue background emitting a starfield zooming in the background. There are millions of stars over it. A star, from the middle, is shining more than the others, and we see a golden cursived, with filmings over it's details, minuscule text which says "filmax" zooms in  towards the viewer. It stands there for a couple of seconds, and then fades.

FX/SFX: The zooming in of the background and the golden text.

Cheesy Factor: This goes beyond goodness. A filmreel isn't such as this golden, The background is psychedelic, The fanfare shouldn't be sudden, The silence is unnecesary,  And for that we know on it's era, this logo is too epileptic that it could be more than a feast for the eyes.

Music/Sounds: A fast drumroll (which adds to the silence and the scare factor), then a 5-note bombastic fanfare, then the drum rolls again, and one last, brief note is heard. To conclude it, An announcer says "Filmax, presenta...".

Availability: Almost extinct. Seen on a few movies from it's time, but it's unknown that most of it's movies got out of print.

Scare factor: Medium to nightmare. A lot of Spaniards cannot stand the psychedelic background, and the sudden fanfare and announcer without warning can startle more than just some people. Continuing with that, the logo is so bright, it burns your eyelashes. That combined with the cheesiness of this logo makes this one of the scariest logos ever made. It's lower for those who used to it.

2nd Logo

(1985-1987)

Nicknames: "Un producto... ¡Filmax!", "Zooming Filmax", "Filmax Filmstrips II"

Logo: On a white background, we see the same "filmax" text from the first logo, but refined. It stays still as a very deep voice says "Un producto... ¡Filmax!". When he says "Filmax", the logo quickly zooms in until disappearing. This short logo was a bumper that preceded the trailers for the upcoming attractions from this company.

Trivia: The announcer is Constantino Romero, famed TV/radio journalist and dubbing and stage actor. He was the Spanish voice, between others, of Clint Eastwood, James Earl Jones (Darth Vader and Mufasa included), the T-1000, Nexus 6, Roger Moore's James Bond, Apollo Creed (and Clubber Lang as well), the announcer on Meet the Feebles, and many other characters. He was the Spanish, English, and German-language announcer for the 1992 Olympics opening and closing ceremony as well.

FX/SFX: Just the zooming out.

Cheesy Factor: One wonders if it was that hard to add some colors to the background.

Music/Sounds: Just the voiceover, and some whooshes at the end.

Availability: Almost extinct.

Scare Factor: Medium, due to its sudden appearance and Mr. Romero's voiceover. Keep in mind that many Spaniards praise Romero's interpretation of Darth Vader's voice being far scarier than the original James Earl Jones voice.

3rd Logo

(1987-1996)

Nicknames: "Filmstrips in Space Are Back", "Filmax Filmstrips III", "Filmax...Presenta II"

Logo: On a space background, a gold filmstrip zooms in while moving a bit. As it keeps zooming in, it reveals itself as a handwritten "L", which for its part reveals itself to be part of the word "filmax". While the word places itself in the center of the screen, a silver trail zooms in to reveal the words "GRUPO IVEX" in white. Then, Constantine Romero says "Filmax presenta...".

FX/SFX: Simple but professional 80s CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: An ominous-sounding fanfare with synths and drums, plus Mr. Romero saying "Filmax, presenta..."

Availability: Slightly more common than the previous logo, but still very rare. Spanish VHS tapes with the Ivex label tend to have it.

Scare Factor: Medium to high; the dark atmosphere, the eerie music, and the voiceover may startle many first-time viewers.

4th Logo (1996-)

Nicknames: "Candy Globe", "Filmax...Presenta III"

Logo: On a space background, a blue star shines on and starts moving while leaving a trail, revealing itself to be a comet. The comet moves to the left, while three of the little sparks in its trail move to the right and start writing the word "filmax": one writes almost the entire word, another one dots the "i" and disappears, and the third one completes the x. The two sparks merge together and explode to form three comets: a yellow one, a red one, and a blue one, which rapidly move together towards an earth globe and circle around it. The globe shines, turning white with yellow, red, and blue spiral stripes (resembling a piece of candy) and moves backwards to let the handwritten and shining word "filmax" take its place in the center of the screen. Then the word "PRESENTA" fades in, shining as well.

Variants:

On foreign releases, "INTERNATIONAL" fades in instead of "PRESENTA". There's a variant for Filmax Animation which is described in detail here.

On REC, the logo is much smaller and completely still, and is shown in the opening credits, only to be interrupted by static.

There is a print version with some copyright info shown on the the NDS game of Donkey Xote.

FX/SFX: Comets forming, shining trails, complex camera angles, and a good-looking globe. For something made in 1996, it looks beyond ahead of it's time. A very good logo.

Music/Sounds: Begins with a "bling" sound when the star shines and a fizzing sound when it starts moving. All the while, a nicely rearranged version of the fanfare from the previous logo (with synths, drums, strings, and horns) starts sounding. Wind sounds can be heard when "filmax" is written by the sparks, and a ricochet sound when they merge. Finally we hear the same voiceover from the last logo.

Availability: Very common, as this is the current Filmax logo.

Scare Factor: Low; a few can be intimidated by all the lighting, dramatic fanfare, and voice-over (and for being another "armageddon-like" logo), but it's very well done, and moreover, the finished logo resembles a nice piece of multi-colored candy.