Nan Hai Film Company

Background

Nan Hai Film Company (南海影業公司) was a Chinese film company established in 1981 by the China News Service. At the time of its establishment, it was the only film company in mainland China that was not a state-owned film studio. It has cooperated with Hong Kong film companies, mainly Hua Wen Film Company, to make cultural films.

Logo (April 14, 1984-1993)

Visuals: On a red background, there is an animated ocean wave (similar to the style of the famous Japanese painting "The Great Wave off Kanagawa"). The wave splashes, the splash of water turning into a white abstract design as the background fades to black. Then, a giant letter "N" outline zooms out with a blue trail and flashes, turning into a blue "N" with the abstract wave design within. Four diagonal white lines wipe in from the wave design, then flashes, leaving the tilted Chinese characters "南海" in white. The company name in Chinese "南海影業公司" appears flashing, then flashes again with the English text "Nan Hai Films Company" appearing and also flashing.

Variants:

There are two still variants, each presented with a cooperating Hong Kong production company's logo, namely Lok Fung Film Company and Hang Hing Films Co..
On Xue ji huang sha zhen, the logo is shortened, starting after the "N" is formed.

Trivia: Being a mainland Chinese logo from the 80s, it's quite different from the simplistic logos used by the state-owned film studios of the time, having much more in common with Hong Kong logos with the effects and the logo design.

Technique: A combination of traditional and backlit cel animation.

Audio: None or the opening theme.

Audio Variants:

The still variant with Lok Fung used a bombastic fanfare.
The short version used a different short fanfare.

Availability: Seen on some of Nan Hai's films such as The South Shaolin Master and Xue ji huang sha zhen (many of their films just used an in-credit notice).