Independant film companies & distributors

WARP

Warp is an independent film company based in London (ENG), Sheffield (ENG) and Melborne (AUS). It was founded as a shop and record label in 1989 but has since branches off into several different independent companies: Warp Records, Warp Music Videos & Commercial and, of course, Warp Films. Warp films was launched in 2001 and has released an array of critically acclaimed and award winning films including ‘Rubber Johnny’, ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’, ‘This is England’, ‘Donkey Punch’ and ‘Four Lions’. Warp’s first film was called ‘My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117’, was directed by Chris Morris and won the Best Short Film award at the BAFTAs. Warp is closely associated with Chris Cunningham, who was responsible for Aphex Twin's videos ‘Come To Daddy’ and ‘Windowlicker’. He is responsible for an abstract short film called ‘Rubber Johnny’, which features the music of Aphex Twin and was released on May 23, 2005.

VERTIGO

Vertigo Films is a UK Media company founded in 2002 to create and distribute commercially driven independent cinema. It was founded by was created by Allan Niblo, James Richardson, Nick Love, Rupert, and Rob Morgan. 2010 was a sensational year for Vertigo with Europe's first 3D live action movie, ‘Streetdance 3D’, entering the UK Box Office charts at No.1 beating Disney's ‘Prince of Persia’ and becoming one of the most successful UK independent films of all time as it opened around the world. In addition, Vertigo's co-production ‘Ajami’ was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film and our genre busting ‘Monsters’ received exceptional buzz, acclaim and a host of awards including three British Independent Film Awards. In 2011 Vertigo produced and released a 3D feature film of the children's franchise ‘Horrid Henry’ which became a box office hit taking £6.5M and teamed up with Hammer Films to produce ‘Wakewood’ which became one of the best reviewed horror films in years. Films in production in 2011 include a big screen adaptation of the much anticipated ‘The Sweeney’, written and directed by Nick Love and starring Ray Winstone and Plan B as the infamous Regan and Carter. ‘Streetdance 2’ from the same team that brought you the original with glitzy European locations and the best dancers in the world. In addition to its production and distribution activity, Vertigo also owns The Post Republic, a state of the art post production company based in Berlin and is a partner in Protagonist Pictures, the international sales company joint venture with Film Four and Ingenious Media. Earlier this year, with LA based 3D experts Paradise FX, Vertigo set up PFXE, Europe's most experienced 3D facilities company.

MOMENTUM

Momentum Pictures (also known as Alliance Films UK), an Alliance Films company, is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year, with several stv releases. It was founded in London in 2000. In February 2011, Momentum Pictures won 8 BAFTA awards, more than any other UK distributor. 7 awards went to ‘The King's Speech’, including Best Film and Best Actor and ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ won Best Film Not in the English Language. Momentum's most successful theatrical releases include the Oscar, BAFTA and BIFA-winning ‘The King's Speech’,’ Amélie’, ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’, ‘ Lost in Translation’, ‘Control’, ‘Downfall’, ‘The Young Victoria’, ‘Defiance’, ‘Milk’, ‘Let the Right One In’, ‘The Illusionist’, ‘Just Friends’, ‘District B13 Ultimatum’, ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’, ‘Law Abiding Citizen’, ‘Glorious 39’ and ‘P.S. I Love You’.

STUDIO CANAL

STUDIOCANAL is the pan European film, production and sales distribution arm of French media group, Canal+ founded by Pierre Lescure. Canal+ owns the third largest film library in the world. The UK arm, formerly known as Optimum Releasing, has established a reputation for an innovative approach to distribution and has enjoyed success with a varied mix of film titles across all genres. A passion for film and commitment to creativity is central to all of STUDIOCANAL's activity. Established in 2004, STUDIOCANAL Home Entertainment has quickly become one of the leading distributors in the UK Home Entertainment sector, boasting an active catalogue of more than 1500 titles. With sales handled by its joint venture Elevation, consistently ranked amongst the top ten UK distributors, STUDIOCANAL Home Entertainment has aggressively grown its market share year on year by combining classic library titles with critically and commercially successful new releases. 2011 has seen the company enjoy its biggest ever box office returns in the UK. On the production front, STUDIOCANAL's plans remain ambitious. Rowan Joffe's ‘Brighton Rock’ starring Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough and Helen Mirren and Joe Cornish's ‘Attack the Block’, the first project to emerge from the pact with Big Talk, have been released. Nick Murphy's debut feature ‘The Awakening’ starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton will be released this Autumn. Mattias Hoene’s ‘Cockneys vs. Zombies’ is in post-production, while Ben Stassen’s ‘Sammy’s Adventures: The Secret Passage’ is in production.

This is the logo of WARP FILMS. The logo is a simplistic black and white – this maybe reflects the fact that they are a simple company, just about releasing films. The back of the image shows a spherical shape and the white lines through it remind me of latitude and longitude lines on a map. This could be inferred to mean that WARP FILMS is a global company, or at least trying to become one. The lightning bolt-like shape covering the sphere houses the company name. The use of the dynamic lightning bolt shape could be used to indicate that they are different to the norm but in an exciting way. And of course, the company name tells the viewer what the company is about though again difference is conveyed through the choice of the name WARP FILMS. Warp is not a usual word and so the viewer could imply that their films are going to challenge typical mainstream films both in storyline and popularity.


This is the logo of STUDIO CANAL. Like WARP FILMS, their logo is black and white, maybe to show simplicity or maybe to show that their films are clear-cut. The use of having the two words in different colour backgrounds could convey that their array of films is different or totally contrasting so their audience can choose from an array of genres. The text is white, bold and simplistic showing that the company are clearly in business – almost like they’re standing their ground. Being an independent film company, it is hard not to get beaten down by the more mainstream distributors such as Warner Bros and Columbia pictures. Their logo also gives away a bit about them, because the logo is so simple, it’s as if anyone could have created it on Photoshop in ten minutes. It reflects that they are a low budget company.