Institution Research

DreamWorks Animation SKG –

· Started in 1994, by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen(their last name forming the SKG visible on the bottom of the DreamWorks logo) so that they can control 72% a Hollywood studio.

· The logo of the boy sitting on a crescent moon while fishing was the brainchild of co-founder Steven Spielberg, who wanted a CG image but Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren ( of Industrial Light and Magic - ILM) suggested a hand painted one by Robert Hunt, worked on both versions but Spielberg liked the CGI one.

· Logo’s model was Robert Hunt’s son William

· 2004, DreamWorks became the first company to produce two CG animated feature films in a single year.

· 2010, the first company ever to produce three CG animated films in a single year - How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After and Megamind which were all in 3D.

· DreamWorks has released 23 animated feature films including the Shrek franchise, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon.

· With each of their films, the DreamWorks team” strives to tell great stories that are fun and comedic, told with a level of sophistication and irreverence that appeals to the broadest audience possible and captures the imaginations of all people regardless of age”.

Aardman Animations Ltd. –

· British Animation studio based in Bristol, UK. Known for making films using stop-motion clay animation, e.g. the plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit.

· Founded in 1972 as a low budget project by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, wanted to realise each of their dream in producing an animated motion picture.

· The Companies name is taken from its early character, a superhero in Vision On in 1972, and back then Aardman had been a cell-animated company instead of the Claymation production.

· “Aarde” is a Dutch word meaning “Earth". However, "Aardman" is more commonly translated as "Goblin”.

· Created a few animated sequences for the BBC series for deaf children Vision On.

· 1975 “Greeblies” was the inspiration for Morph a simple clay character.

· Entered the Computer Animation market with their 2006 success Flushed Away.

· Supplied animation for the Peter Gabriel’s memorable music video, Sledgehammer.

· Nick Park’s short, Creature Comforts, was the first production from Aardman to win an Oscar. Park also developed the clay modelled shorts featuring Wallace and Gromit.

· A Grand Day, 1989. The Wrong Trousers, 1993 and a Close Shave, 1995 short films featuring Wallace and Gromit and the latter two won Academy Awards.

· In December 1997, Aardman and DreamWorks announced of their companies team up to co-finance and distribute Chicken Run, Aardman’s first feature film which had been already in pre-production for a year.

· 1999 October 27, Aardman and DreamWorks signed a $250 million deal

· 2005, after ten years of absence, Wallace and Gromit returned in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit which won an Academy Award.

· 2008, Aardman with Channel  4 and Lupus Films launch a user-generated content animation portal called 4mations, a website which allows people to upload, view and share animated films and games.

·  Curse of the Were-Rabbit was a rare example of a US/UK co-production in which the British film makers and the director Nick Park fought hard against their American partners to retain artistic control over the film. Aardman was refusing to compromise their distinctively English humor, characters and narrative situations to suit a more American audience. However some of the villains are aristocratic buffoons, a type recognizable no matter where the audience is from. Even though the relationship between these two has been an unhappy one it is still a profitable one for both companies.

BreakThru Films - 

· Is film Production Company based in London, Warsaw and Dublin?

· Mostly focuses on the production of short and feature film, animation, documentary and live-stage shows.

· Founded in 2002 by Hugh Welshman, producing a number of short films before diversifying into theatre based, feature and animation projects.

· 2007, produced Alex a stage show based comic strip from the Daily Telegraph, which combined live performances and animation, premiered in London West End in autumn 2007.

· 2008, BreakThru animated short, Peter and the Wolf won an Academy Award for the best short animated film.

· Also produced a number of live- action films such as Scratch and the Last Thakur, as well as the upcoming The Flying Machine, a film which combines animation with live action and stars Heather Graham and Lang.

· BreakThru have served as visual effects producers for La Vie En Rose

· Also BreakThru were the UK distributor for the 2006 animated film, Free Jimmy.

EDIT 02/03/2012

The creation of my Institutions and their logos would have been quite difficult had it not been for the research that I had done before hand, which was quite helpful since I gained background knowledge on each company as well as necessary information that I later on applied to the creation my own,  Institutions.
By researching into each of these Companies and then applying the knowledge that I gained from them into the creation process of my own Institutions helped me producing sketches and designs for my own and eventually ending with something that I can actually be proud of and present in my own trailer.