Constantin Film is a German film production & distribution company founded on April 1, 1950 in Munich, Germany by Waldfried Barthel & Preben Philipsen. The company is best known for producing Der Untergang (Downfall), the Resident Evil film series, and the Fantastic Four movies.
1st logo (1962-1980's, 2011)
Nickname: "The Sunburst", "The Proud Sunbeams", "The Bombastic Sunbeams", "Sunburst of Doom" (for later variant: "The Sunburst 3D")
Logo:
- June 19-September 28, 1962: A rotating sunburst pattern, with gradient rays and its origin point set at the lower center, fades in turning clockwise, while another sunburst rotates behind it in an opposite direction. From the center of the sunburst, the text "Constantin" zooms in 3 parts in sync with the fanfare, written in a soft cursive font. The text starts off black for a few frames, then grey with a black outline, and finally light grey with a 3D white trail, although "tin" appears as black first and then becomes a trail first before its grey copy catches up into place. After a few seconds, the serif text "FILM" fades in below as "Constantin" turns white with black trails, and "bringt" appears below in the same font as "Constantin".
- 1962-1982: A recreated version of the previous logo. 2 layered sunbursts, made with blue and white rays, slowly rotate in counterclockwise and clockwise directions respectively, with the origin point set in the lower center of the screen. From the center light, "Con" quickly zooms up to the left colored red with a black trail, before gaining a yellow gradient and shading upon stopping in place. This is followed up by "stan" and "tin" in sync with the music, creating "Constantin" in a script font that matches closely to the previous logo. Below, "FILM" in a gold serif font, fades in below, followed by "bringt" in the same font popping in.
- 2010-: A CGI recreation of the logo. A blue light flare glows just below the center of the screen, and a pair of layered ray patterns fade in, rotating in opposite directions of each other and colored dark blue and white. The "Constantin" text, now in the same font as the 1996 logo and colored white with a dark blue trail, zoom in the same way as before, and "FILM", now in the same style as "Constantin" zooms in from underneath the logo, and then the characters "3D" zoom in below it, floating freely around. The logo then fades out a few seconds later, followed by "3D". Later on, the fade in at the beginning doesn't occur, and "PRÄSENTIERT" zooms in below in place of "3D".
Variants:
- The proportions, colors, and tint are known to be slightly different across different films.
- On The Door with Seven Locks, its possible first appearance, the logo is darker overall and "bringt" is replaced by "zeigt" in Rockwell, which fades in below. The Constantin logo and background are also set far lower than usual, causing them to overlap "zeigt".
- A B&W variant of the later 1962 version has the "Constantin" text in white with a beveled appearance, "bringt" is larger, and the entire logo seems to have a black outline.
- A B&W variant of the regular logo is also known to exist.
- Sometimes, the background is shown in a darker tint, though this might be due to film deterioration.
- When the company was relaunched in 1979, the red text "neue", in Arial Black, fades in to the top left of "Constantin", and the entire logo has a yellow tint to it.
There is another variant where the logo is still for a few seconds, then the logo shakes in a stop motion manner.
FX/SFX: The rotating sunbeams, the syllables zooming up.
Music/Sounds:
- 1962-1982: Cellos playing out, followed by a bombastic string/brass fanfare in the key of B-flat, played in 3 key sections for each of the syllables zooming in before finishing in a dramatic flourish. There are 2 known versions: the regular version, and one with a more dramatic tone and a flat timpani roll replacing cellos. This was composed by Peter Thomas Music.
- 2010-: A bell sound and a short string entry, followed by an ascending orchestral fanfare in the key of A minor, played in 3 key sections with the first two accompanied by four timpani beats for each of the syllables zooming in, before finishing in a somber descent.
- Sometimes, the logo is silent.
Availability: Very rare in the United States, but Uncommon in Europe and Germany. Seen on distributed or produced films of the time. As for the later variant, it was only seen on the German 3D theatrical print and 3D Blu-Ray of Resident Evil: Retribution.
Editor's Notes:
- Original Variant: The fanfare and the "in-your-face" zooming.
- Earlier versions has more different text.
- For the silent variant, as we still have the text zooming in.
- Later Variant: Since the zooming concept is still there, it may still give people bad dreams, but at least the fanfare used on here is different and tamer. It is a worthy successor to the classic variant.
Scare Factor: Medium to nightmare. The loud booming music is very scary. But music standards for 1930s until 1989 can be very loud and scary
2nd Logo (1984-1996?)
Logo: On a black background, we see "NUE CONSTANTIN FILM" fade in from black and fade out when finished.
FX/SFX: The text fading in and out.
Cheesy Factor: This is a still logo, nothing special about it. Also "NEUE" is spelled as "NUE" for some reason.
Music/Sounds: Silent.
Availability: Very rare. Was seen on German prints of films produced or distributed by Constantin Film, such as The Neverending Story and In the Name of the Rose. Currently seen on the German Blu-Ray of the former.
Editor's Note: This is said to be the worst and lamest logo of Constantin Film.
3rd Logo (1996-present)
Logo: On a dark blue background, we see a dark roll of film zoom fast to the left, with "Constantin Film" in white, and an underlined cursive font. A light flashes and the roll of film (still moving) turns upward and "Constantin Film " appears in the film strip blinking. The blinking slows down, and we zoom in to the film strip so all we see is "Constantin Film", in red, and in the same font with the same underline.
Variants:
- Starting in probably 1999, the logo is completely white. Sometimes the URL www.constantinfilm.de is added below.
- There's an in-credit closing variant.
FX/SFX: Very good CGI animation. Sometimes, it's still.
Music/Sounds: A string-and-horn-driven, triumphant orchestral piece. Sometimes, it is silent, or the opening theme of the movie.
Availability:
- Original Variant: Very rare. Seen on German prints of films produced or distributed by Constantin Film.
- Later Variant: Current. It is the easiest logo to find from this company, since they released and co-produced more popular films such as the Resident Evil franchise and released foreign films released in the U.S through Sony Pictures Classics. Version with URL is seen mostly on German releases and prints.
Editor's Note: The music and dark atmosphere might give someone the shakes, but this is much mellower than the 1st logo from the company.
4th Logo (September 10, 2004-)
Logo: A blue flare of light runs across the screen from left to right, illuminating the silhouette of "Constantin Film" as it does, all on a cloudy space background. After the light runs off-screen, the logo brightens up from right to left in a light blue tint, gaining depth as it slowly zooms in.
Variant: A black background variant exists, with a flatter white logo used instead.
FX/SFX: Basic, but yet very nice CGI.
Music/Sounds: A five-note horn theme, sounding very similar to the end of the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo, or the opening theme.
Availability: Current. Seen on almost all of the Resident Evil movies in North America.
Editor's Note: None.