Let's begin our roundup of case studies on individual production logos with a love letter to possibly the most genteel and non-threatening logo of them all, The Ladd Company's "Tree of Life".
Founded in 1979 by a trio of disgruntled ex-20th Century Fox executives - former Fox president Alan Ladd, Jr and his buddies Jay Kanter and Gareth Wigan, The Ladd Company is best-known for producing the Ridley Scott sci-fi classic Blade Runner (1982), along with historical space drama The Right Stuff (1983) and the first two entries in the Police Academy series, and for handling the US distribution of the Best Picture-winning British flick Chariots of Fire (1981). For its first five years of existence, The Ladd Company had an exclusive distribution deal with Warner Bros, but a string of financial failures (aside from Chariots of Fire and Police Academy, The Ladd Company couldn't claim many runaway box office success stories) led to a breakdown in their relationship in 1984, after which the company faced nearly a decade of stagnation while Alan Ladd, Jr had his hands tied up working with MGM/UA. In 1993, Ladd signed a new production deal with Paramount which, while fairly short-lived, enabled The Ladd Company to get their fingers in yet another Best Picture-winning pie with Braveheart (1995). Soon after, The Ladd Company went quiet yet again, but had another fleeting re-emergence in the mid-00s, its most recent production being the Ben Affleck-helmed Gone Baby Gone (2007), which was distributed by Miramax.
For their logo, the company chose the rather striking image of a magnificent green oak tree which, in the animated version accompanying their productions, materialises onscreen against a white (or, in some variations, black) background from the top down in the manner of an early computer graphic, while a stirring John Williams fanfare plays in the backdrop. This simultaneous evocation of artificiality and nature makes it an uncannily apt tone-setter for the themes explored in Blade Runner, but what is it about this digitalised oak that makes it such a universally appealing symbol to front just about any picture?
When asked about the significance of the logo in an interview recorded in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, October 19th 1979, Ladd was fairly vague on the matter: "...you can say it has a tie to the tree of life. Trees grow. Trees live. Trees do all kinds of things." Wigan's response was equally vague, but a lot more tongue-in-cheek: "They do everything movie companies do, except make movies. They last a long time. They're living things. They're strong. They provide protection. And fruit. And growth."
As arbitrary as their reasoning might sound, Ladd and Wigan were definitely onto something in recognising the conciliatory power of the tree as a symbol. There is something about the sight a majestic spreading oak tree that speaks directly to our most basic of emotions. Trees are nurturing. They provide oxygen, food, shelter and the building materials of civilisation. They represent life, longevity, nature and durability. The "tree of life" to which Ladd refers is a recurring feature of many world religions and mythologies. Seeing this familiar form etched into being in The Ladd Company logo, it relaxes our senses and tells us that we're in good hands. It's calming, reassuring, pleasing to the eyes and ears - in other words, it's everything that the Screen Gems logo isn't. I feel quite confident, therefore, in declaring The Ladd Company's "Tree of Life" logo to be the Anti-S From Hell.
Oh, and incidentally, I do have a review of one of The Ladd Company's lesser-known films in the works right now. Stay tuned.
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