Entropy Films (Canada)

Background
Entropy Films is a film production company launched in 1981 by Madelyne Dern and Ruth Dodd as "Entropic Productions", and based in Steinbach, Manitoba. The company produced a number of low budget b-movies/softcore pornography before getting acquired by Sternwest Productions to take advantage of cheaper filming in Canada. Sternwest's ownership was considered toxic, as Dern and Dodd were left without any control in the company. Sternwest would sell it off after the failure of its last film in 1990. The company would get acquired by British businessman and director Rod Livermore in 1992. Dodd would work with Livermore on a television film in 1992 before leaving the company (see Those Characters from the Coast for more information.) They would rebrand as Entropy Films in 1994 and open an office in Lichfield, Staffordshire. In 1999, Entropy acquired Dunn Films, who were hired to assist in American co-productions and its founders became co-operators. Dennis Friedman would join as well and help acquire and open a new headquarters in Emeryville, California, adding to their expansion. Entropy's business model lied on arthouse and genre films, often shot or produced in the United Kingdom. Their best known film, in spite of its poor performance at the box-office was The Hunchback. Entropy was set to be acquired by Relativity Media, but due to the company facing bankruptcy proceedings the deal was called off. After releasing two more films in 2017, the company became dormant. Livermore faced scrutiny for comments criticizing Tyler Perry and Byron Allen, though this was over the quality of their productions perpetuating negative stereotypes. Entropy resufraced in-name only to help produce an independent project and released a film in-cooperation with The Daily Wire. The Dunns had left the company previously to form I'm With Stupid, who co-produced the aforementioned two projects.

1st Logo (1982-1986)
Logo: We zoom in toward a woman who appears to be topless (actually wearing a brassie that's the same color as her skin), as she does a vocal action (varying from appearance to appearance). After the camera is close enough to her face, the text "ENTROPIC" and "PRODUCTIONS" appears in front of her in red.

FX/SFX: Live action. Either the woman howls, screams, gargles, hisses, or whatever. On one tape she does nothing, and there is a delay of the text appearing, which she gestures toward.

Music/Sounds: Sounds corresponding to the actions, followed by a snare beat.

Availability: Seen on a number of softcore pornographic films and b-movies released straight to video. These fetch high prices on the collection market.

2nd 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 ENTROPIC 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.

3rd Logo (1989-1990)
Logo: We see a woman from the chest up wearing nothing but a giant feather hat sitting against a black backdrop. She slowly turns toward the viewer as "ENTROPIC FILMS" appears in a green script font. Suddenly, the woman's face turns demonic and the screen cuts to black.

FX/SFX: It’s all live-action.

Music/Sounds: A quiet piano tune, ending with a loud scream.

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

Editor’s Note: Seemingly made as a parody of the famous Gainsborough Pictures logo. The screamer at the end is certain to catch people off guard.

1st Logo (1994)
Logo: We fade in to footage resembling an old film projection. Suddenly, we see letters in the word "Entropy" zoom out while spinning and leaving a trail effect. "films" does the same, but whole and without the trail effect. Both shift toward the bottom of the screen as the background turns blue and a butterfly appears by the word "Entropy". and turns green, while the open section beneath everything wipes away leaving a more defined blue color.

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: An ambient theme with a harp glissando.

Availability: Appeared on The Milkman.

2nd Logo (1997-2001)
Logo: Basically an in-credit logo. It is a white box containing the right half of a butterfly, which contains half of an owl’s eye. “ENTROPY” is below the box and the “N” in the word is mirrored. This was often included with other logos.

Variant(s): At the end of Keeper of the Crypt, we see the logo next to that of Winchester Films and Working Title Films. Above it is the text "A WINCHESTER FILMS/WORKING TITLE FILMS/ENTROPY FILMS co-production" and below them is the text "for CHANNEL 4"

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None, or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: Seen on Keeper of the Crypt, Fisherman’s Den, Tales from Under the Influence and The Hunchback.

Editor's Note: This was used primarily on early co-productions with Spice Factory, before they adopted their own on-screen logo.

3rd Logo (2003-2009)
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.

FX/SFX: The butterfly and the text.

Music/Sounds: A series of whooshes and static sounds, ending with a vibraphone reverb.

Availability: Appeared on Field Trip, Tonka: Search and Rescue and Channel 2. Was first seen on Sundown.

4th Logo (2017)
Logo: We fade in to a street corner at night. A truck that's on fire pulls in, and in its bed it contains a large portrait of a group of characters. We zoom in to the face of one of the characters and it zooms back, now cropped in a butterfly-shaped frame and resembling the previous logo, before becoming like it. "ENTROPY" appears below in a bold font.

FX/SFX: The flames.

Music/Sounds: A somber music entry with fire crackling sounds, ending with an echoing clang.

Availability: Seen on on Elvis and the Devil and 7 Deadly Tales.

Editor's Note: This logo marked Strange's inclusion in the company. He had designed the logo himself.

5th Logo (2019-)
Logo: On a black background, we see a white line draw in a capital "E". The line goes down and slowly forms letter that spell the word "entropy" before going into a perpetual squiggle. The bold white text "ENTROPY FILMS" then zooms forward.

FX/SFX: The line.

Music/Sounds: A descending theme, with sounds of water falling and chatter playing alongside it. It then ends with the sound of a crow caw played in a low tone.

Availability: Appeared on the independent film The Secret of Beauty and the Beast. It later appeared on the film @Dead.