Background: Pyramid Films is a Santa Monica, California-based film studio formed in 1960 by husband-and-wife duo David and Lynn Adams. It initially produced CPR and other training videos before branching out to educational, PSA and parody films, such as Powers of Ten, Hardware Wars (the first film to be a direct parody of Star Wars, and a favorite of George Lucas himself), Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind (spoofing Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind), and Porklips Now (spoofing Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now). So far, the studio has produced nearly 700 titles to its name. It did not use a logo until 1967.
1st Logo (1967-1978)[]
Pyramid Films (1973)
Nickname(s): "The Rainbow Trail"
Logo: On a black background, the words "Pyramid Films" appear in four separate trail sections (green, blue, pink, and red) from the top of the screen, zooming in to the bottom and fading out before the next section comes. When the final trail reaches the bottom, the text stays put and a large, yellow 2D pyramid structure fades in above.
Variants:
- A black-and-white variant exists.
- Depending on film quality, some colors can appear extremely faded, or are almost identical to one another. The pyramid may also appear white or pink.
- For the black-and-white variant, the pyramid itself can either be similar in shade as the bottom text or be significantly darker, almost to the point where it is nearly invisible.
SFX: The text trails coming down, the pyramid fading in.
Music/Sounds: None usually.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- On Skateboard Safety, it uses a mysterious sci-fi sounding piece.
- On one film, a male voiceover can be heard saying, "The following film is for use with supplementary instructions."
Availability: Extremely rare.
- It can mainly be seen on 16mm prints of their earlier works.
- The black-and-white variant can be found on Bambi Meets Godzilla, and is preserved on the Warner Home Video compilation VHS Hardware Wars and Other Film Farces.
Editor's Note: A fairly simple logo, although their next logo would be much more notable and extraordinary...
2nd Logo (1978-Present)[]
Nickname(s): "CGI Pyramid", "70's CGI Pyramid", "The First CGI Logo", "Wait, this was made in the 70's??!"
Logo: Over an ocean sunset, a large, glass-like 3D pyramid is seen floating over the water rotating clockwise. As the sun starts setting, the camera slowly pans under the pyramid, and a rainbow spectrum suddenly appears and shines toward the viewer. Once the spectrum clears the screen and the sun fully sets, "PYRAMID" fades in below, the background darkens, and the pyramid stops rotating, morphing into the 2D pyramid as seen in the previous logo.
Trivia: Although the 1981 test animation film Carla's Island is cited as the first to introduce CGI water waves, this logo predates that film by a few years, though the waves seen in this logo are actually rippling 2D images laid out on a flat surface.
Variant: One later variant of the logo has the near-completed logo fade to a different 2D image where the background is completely black.
SFX: The pyramid rotating, the spectrum appearing, the waves moving in the water. All done in CGI by Information International Inc., which is a very extraordinary and impressive feat for the late 70's!
Music/Sounds: A dramatic string build-up, which gets louder once the spectrum appears. It ends with a two-note violin sounder as the spectrum clears the screen, with the final note held out for the remainder of the logo's duration.
Music/Sounds Variant: On Information International Inc.'s 1982 demo reel, the final note at the end of the logo is held slightly longer, and crossfades into the next demo on the reel. The audio is also out-of-sync with the visuals.
Availability: Current. Seen on both their educational and parody films since 1978.
- Some notable parody films that have this logo include Hardware Wars, Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind, and Porklips Now, although 80's HBO airings and most uploads of these films on YouTube edit the logo out. However, all of these films can be found together on the Warner Home Video VHS Hardware Wars and Other Film Farces, with this logo appearing three times, once before each film.
- On educational films, this can be found on Two Soldiers, Butterflies, Beethoven: Triumph Over Silence, among others.
- Also seen on current prints of Powers of Ten, a 1977 film showcasing the theory of magnitude, and one that is still shown in American classrooms to this day.
Editor's Note: A very interesting logo, noted as one of the very first CGI logos. This is clearly a contender for one of the most technically impressive logos of its time, and even though it is dated by today's CGI standards, it still looks good over 45 years later.