Entropy Films (Canada)

Background
Entropy Films was a film production company formed in 1985. It was formed by Ruth Dodd and Madelyne Dern, based in Steinbach, Manitoba. The company initially acted as a contractee by Sternwest Productions to film lower budget productions, but the agreement was dropped due to tensions between Dern and Phil Sterns. Entropy would close in 1989 and be subject to a management buyout led by British film producer and entrepreneur Rod Livermore. Producers Robert and Linda Dunn would join the company in 1999, merging their own company with Entropy in 2001, and would launch offices in Los Angeles and Liverpool. In 2009, producers Jason Piette and Richard C. Berman would also join the company, the former having left Spice Factory, a production company who collaborated on most of Entropy's productions. The company went dormant soon after, with Berman leaving time before, but they would resurface in 2017 before closing down. The name of the company has taken on different meanings between owners; it initially stood for a lack of certainty by Dern and Dodd over the company's longevity due to the film industry being perceived as male dominated, but later on took a meaning relating to the company's "wild card nature" for the scope of films they would help produce.

1st Logo (1986-1988)
Logo: We see a video of a pale muscular woman with a beastly face, snarling and moving toward the viewer. The video freezes as the text "AN ENTROPY PRODUCTION" is scrawled in.

Trivia: The footage was taken from the TV movie Betty: Fugitive of the Atom.

FX/SFX: The video and the text.

Music/Sounds: The sound of a roar or the closing theme of the program.

Availability: Appeared on the syndicated run of The Halloween Gang. It was removed on newer prints due to the aforementioned contemptuous circumstances and can only be seen on early VHS releases through Family Home entertainment. It also appeared on Betty: Fugitive of the Atom and the short-lived County Law.

2nd Logo (1989-1990)
Logo: We cut to the inside of a decrepit house. A woman in Victorian garb approaches a mirror and does some personal grooming. After kissing the mirror, she suddenly gains a more punk look before walking away. It cuts to the mirror where the kiss mark is sideways and some scuffs near it resemble a butterfly. “Entropy Films” is also scrawled onto the mirror in lipstick.

FX/SFX: It’s all live-action.

Music/Sounds: A hard rock tune, ending with applause.

Availability: Appeared on The H Word and Down to Size.

Editor’s Note: While the concept is bizarre, it ironically suits the name of the company; an entropy being something of an unpredictable nature. While having gratuitous nature, it’s surprisingly not to the same extent as more infamous logos like it.

3rd Logo (1995-2017)
Logo: A pair of yellow eyes rapidly appear and disappear on a black background. Suddenly, various white butterflies rapidly fly by as the eyes reappear along with an illusion depicting a creepy face. As the actions get faster, a butterfly fades in. Its wings feature a design that resembles an owl's face, with the butterfly's body further pushing the illusion by resembling its beak. "entropy" is below in a Courier New font, which jitters.

Variant(s):


 * From 1995 to 1997, an early version was used where the butterfly slowly zooms in on a black background, without any company indicator.
 * There exists a version of the main variant where after the logo is complete, the screen flashes to white and cuts to a dark blue test pattern screen, where we see the text "THIS IS NOT A TEST" between images of a human brain and a man's chest, which then switch to an eye chart and a speaker resembling a human ear, then a broken window and a bird flying, meant to represent an abstract "E" and "R" respectively. The screen flashes white again and reveals a URL on a blue background reading "ENTROPY.COM" and "Text FLIGHT to 5426515", the former jitters.

FX/SFX: The butterfly and the text.

Music/Sounds: A series of whooshes and static sounds, ending with a vibraphone reverb. The variant featured a static hum, along with a voice saying "This is not a test.".

Availability: Appeared on the 1995 remake of The Beast of Yucca Flats, Dog Catcher, Fisherman's Den, Inch to a Mile, Field Trip, Tonka: Search and Rescue and Channel 2, and was brought back for Elvis and the Devil; the variant appeared on the former two. The URL variant was set to appear on Channel 2, but due to delays in establishing their website, it was not used on the film; it was instead used on Entropy's YouTube channel as a means of promoting a free newsletter and recruiting independent filmmakers.