Umbrella Entertainment

Background

Umbrella Entertainment is an Australian-owned distributor of home entertainment in Australia and New Zealand. Since 2001 we have dedicated ourselves to distributing films that we are passionate about across Australia and New Zealand. 20 years later and we have a back catalogue of over 1,500 titles across cinema releases and television programmes. The library boasts the largest collection of celebrated Australian films & TV shows in the country – one of the most dynamic selections of genre, foreign language, art house films, and TV shows produced. Umbrella specializes in a wide range of content for theatrical exhibition, home entertainment, TV broadcasting and online download platforms.

1st Logo (2001-2014)

Logo: We fade in on an animated backyard with the umbrella figure hanging up on a spinning clothes-line drying off, the clothes-line then stops and we see the umbrella figure with a small insect flying around him/her, the insect disappears and the logo starts to fade to black, with the umbrella and close-line only still shown, we then see a white line with the words:

umBrella entertainment

sliding out of the white line vertically, the logo then fades to black.

Variant: There's also a variant with the words "UmBrella aussie DVD", the white outline, the still artwork and the URL.

Technique: Again, all CGI.

Music/Sounds: The sounds of children playing are heard and birds chirping also. When the logo fades to the words "Umbrella Entertainment", a relaxing piano riff plays.

Availability: Seen on most DVD releases that are under the name.

2nd Logo (2005)

Logo: We see a CGI version of a yellow anthropomorphic umbrella walking down the street, it then starts to rain, much to the mascot's disdain, then the logo suddenly rewinds, this time he gets out an umbrella and keeps walking, we then see a neon sign of the company's logo at the time and the background fades out to leave the sign as s URL fades in below.

Technique: Fairly cheap CGI effects reminiscent of basic SketchUp models.

Music/Sounds: A funky tune (which contains the drum break from "Impeach the President" by The Honey Drippers), rain sounds, rewinding sound effects when the logo reverses itself and flickering sounds at the end.

Availability: Seen on a very few Umbrella DVDs.

Legacy: A noticeably cheap early effort from Umbrella, though this would set the tone for the company's logos over the next decade.

3rd Logo (2004-2012) (UK titles only)

Logo: We see the Umbrella mascot trying to position a TV aerial on an old-fashioned TV. As it does this, we see flags of different countries show up including Italy, Japan, France, the United States and Turkey. The umbrella finally stops moving the aerial when the TV shows a signal from the UK. We then fade to the Umbrella Entertainment logo of the time with the yellow umbrella and his TV next to the logo.

Technique: Again, all CGI.

Music/Sounds: Static and miscellaneous sound effects as the Umbrella tunes the TV, then a chime from Big Ben as the TV finally settles on the signal from the UK. Finally, we hear the same calm riff from the end of the previous logo as the Umbrella logo fades in.

Availability: Seen on Umbrella DVDs of UK programs, such as compilations of Kenny Everett material.

4th Logo (2008-2014)

Logo: We fade in on a dark thunderstorm. A light breaks through the clouds and the yellow umbrella mascot falls down from above the clouds. As he falls the sky becomes clearer. Eventually, the umbrella opens and drifts to the ground, as if it was skydiving. The umbrella then shakes off the water from the thunderstorm and stands proudly with hands on hips. We then cut to the logo appearing via a cheap transition effect.

Technique: Once again, CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: Thunderstorm effects at the beginning, a heavenly harp trill as the sky opens and the umbrella falls into view. We then hear wind effects as the umbrella falls. Throughout we hear vocal effects from the umbrella itself including a "whoooo" sound as we see it fall into view and a satisfied "hmm" as it stands proudly at the end of the logo.

Availability: Seen on movies distributed by Umbrella during the late 2000s-early 2010s.

Legacy: Another quirky logo from Umbrella, though much improved visually compared to its predecessors, presumably due to this being used for movie distribution.

5th Logo (2014-)

Logo: We see a cluster of black umbrellas. The one in the middle of the screen is highlighted in yellow. Then we fade to the updated Umbrella logo.

Variant: A short variant just has the Umbrella logo fade in.

Technique: Either live action or CGI. It's unclear which.

Music/Sounds: Just a thunderstorm sound effect.

Availability: Currently seen on Australian movie releases distributed by the company.

Legacy: Much less effort here compared to the previous logos. The animation is a series of fade effects and the yellow highlight effect on the centre umbrella looks like somebody just painted it quickly with the brush tool in Photoshop.

6th Logo (2021-)

Logo: TBA.

Technique: CGI animation overlaid with footage from previous movies.

Music/Sounds: A soft orchestral piece with rain and thunder sound effects.

Availability: Brand new. Can be seen on the company's YouTube channel.

Legacy: The logo's animation is far better than in the previous logo, and is a great way to celebrate the company's 20th anniversary.