Background[]
Paramount Vantage is a production label of Paramount Pictures. founded in 1998 as Paramount Classics, Inc. it's purpose is to distribute films with a more "arthouse" and/or foreign feel than its parent company, as well as occasionally distributing content from Paramount's other labels. In 2006, the Paramount Vantage brand branched off from Paramount Classics, which was relaunched in 2007 as a distributor of "smaller, review-driven films including foreign-language acquisitions and documentaries. The label was later shut down after the release of Nebraska.
Paramount Classics[]
1st Logo (March 12-November 12, 1999)[]
Logo: Over a black background, the logo starts with the Paramount Classics print logo, which has the Paramount gate entrance with opened gates leading to the mountain. The light blue words "PARAMOUNT CLASSICS" are seen below.
Trivia: This is the second time that Paramount uses their gate entrance as a logo design. they previously used it as a design for their budget video division Gateway in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Variants:
- On the trailer for Trekkies, the logo in an iris-in shot.
- On the trailer for Cabaret Balkan, the logo tinted in sepia.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen on the trailers for Where's Marlowe?, Trekkies, Get Real and The Adventures of Sebastian Cole. Due to the general obscurity of the films in question, it's unknown if this logo appears on them (though Trekkies uses the standard Paramount logo of the time).
2nd Logo (March 10, 2000-2007)[]
Logo: As the camera spins around in a blue/pinkish cloudy sky, there is a white light illuminating a blue-tinted Paramountain from the 1986 Paramount logo without the stars, text, and byline. After working its way to the front, the camera then zooms out to reveal the Paramount gate entrance. The gates then open to reveal the mountain and the words "PARAMOUNT CLASSICS" fade in below.
Trivia: The Paramountain's rotating animation is based on a 1998 CGI version of the 1986 Paramount logo (animated by Pittard Sullivan) that was used on a few movie trailers in 2000-2001. It also briefly served as a home video indicator from 1998-1999.
Variants:
- Girl on the Bridge has the logo in black and white.
- It exists in 1.85:1, 2.35:1, and windowboxed versions.
- On some uncropped 35mm film scans of films, the logo is in open-matte, revealing more of the cloudy sky at the top above the Paramount gate entrance and more of the green field at the bottom below the "PARAMOUNT CLASSICS" text.
- At the end of movies, the logo is shortened to the point before the text fades in.
- A still version of this logo exists on TV spots for films.
FX/SFX: CGI animation. A digital graphic for the still variant.
Music/Sounds: A majestic piano/string theme (composed by Michael Kamen) with wind sounds at the end, the opening theme of the movie or none.
Availability: Seen in all films made by the company, such as Mad Hot Ballroom, Northfork, Sunshine, Mean Creek, The Triumph of Love, The Virgin Suicides, and An Inconvenient Truth, among others. It debuted on Deterrence and last appeared on Beneath.
3rd Logo (August 17, 2007-2008)[]
Logo: Over a black background, the logo starts with black ink lines drawing on a white paper sheet. They form a brush-drawn version of the Paramount gate, taken into a box, with the company name below. The logo zooms out with a white background.
Variant: On The Kite Runner, the logo is still and takes place on a black background.
FX/SFX: CGI animation.
Music/Sounds: None. or the opening theme of the movie.
Availability: Only seen in 3 films. Arctic Tale, Shine a Light and The Kite Runner.
Paramount Vantage[]
Logo (October 27, 2006-December 21, 2012)[]
Nickname: The Label
Logo: We start on a black background, before the camera suddenly moves to a white wall with a black embossing label with "PARAMOUNT" on it in white sticking to it. The camera moves a bit erratically and goes in and out of focus several times. Below it, another label is being made letter-by-letter, with "VANTAGE" on it. The label then sticks onto the wall and we see that one of its corners is bent. The corner is then pushed down by itself, and we suddenly cut to black.
Variant: In some trailers, the logo is still on a black background.
FX/SFX: The labels being made, the camera's movement and focusing. this seems to be made either with CGI, live-action, or both. The logo was animated by BLT & Accessories.
Music/Sounds: Several clicking noises as the label is made. Most films have it silent or have the opening theme to the movie.
Availability: Common. Seen on all of Paramount's Vantage films from the era, such as Babel (the first film to use this logo), Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men, Revolutionary Road, There Will Be Blood, and The Foot Fist Way. The last film to use this logo was Not Fade Away. This logo wasn't seen on Nebraska, since this film used an old Paramount Pictures logo instead.