Scott Free Productions

Background

Scott Free Productions (formerly Scott Free Enterprises and Percy Main Productions) is a film/television production company founded in 1970 by brothers Ridley and Tony Scott.

1st Logo (February 2, 1996-March 5, 2000)

Logo: On a black background, we see the text "SCOTT FREE", with the lower part of the letter "R" stretched a little longer and the whole text underlined.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the ending theme of the TV show.

Availability: The only film to use this logo was White Squall. It also appeared on the Showtime series The Hunger.

2nd Logo (September 25, 1998-)

Normal
Scope
Textless
Textless scope
Black and white textless
Open-matte
In-credit
In-credit #2
In-credit #3
RSA Films

Logo: On a black background, we see a man clad in monk-style clothing walking as a white light illuminates him. He lights up a cigarette, and a burst of light appears next to him. We then cut to close-up shot of the man as he runs away against a yellow spotlight. His arms turn into wings and he transforms into a bird that flies across a multicolored background. The text "SCOTT FREE", in the same font as before, slides in underneath the bird before changing into a more stylized font. The bird becomes a blue silhouette as the action freezes.

Variants:

On TV shows, the logo is cut to the last few seconds.
On some films starting with A Good Year in 2006, the "SCOTT FREE" text is absent.
At the end of Matchstick Men, the logo is still.
An in-credit version exists on The Pillars of the Earth and Jungleland.
The logo sometimes shares the screen with other logos.
On Life in a Day 2020, the logo is still, on a white background, and the text instead reads "RSA FILMS", Scott Free's parent company.
On The Last Duel (2021), the logo is dimmed down like the 20th Century Studios and Pearl Street Films logos.
- On Boston Strangler, the logo is darker again, only desaturated.

Technique: Oil paint/pastel animation by Italian animator Gianluigi Toccafondo, who also animated the Fandango logo, as well as the end credits sequence for the Scott Free film Robin Hood. Produced by Acme Filmworks.

Music/Sounds: We first hear dark whooshing sounds, accompanied by the man's footsteps and a match-striking sound. As the man transforms, we hear a soothing flute piece. This was composed by Claude Letessier and Jeff Rona. Otherwise, it's the opening theme of the movie, or in the case of Black Hawk Down, none.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On Stoker, the audio has been considerably stripped down: all we hear are the footsteps/match-striking and the flute piece.
On Acme Filmworks' upload of the logo on Vimeo, an alternate version of the audio is heard with different sound effects and a woman humming the theme.

Availability: It made its debut on Clay Pigeons and has appeared on the majority of the company's films since. However, it does not appear on Gladiator, Hannibal, or The A-Team. The short version can be seen on the TV shows The Good Wife, Numb3rs, and The Man in the High Castle, among others. The print logo for the company is a regular bird with "SCOTT FREE" in the same font as the last logo.