Rio Films: Sonic Brand and Ident

The Challenge:

Rio films needed a unique, ownable sonic identity to unify their three offerings: a public cinema in Stockholm, a full service production company, and film distribution services. The ident is to play before every film shown in the public cinema as well as inclusion on films the company is distributing.

The Approach:

After an initial R and D phase, it became clear that Rio needed a sonic that broke free from the tropes of cinema idents, resisting the temptation to use big orchestral swells and risers. The name ‘Rio’ (River, in Spanish) provided a key direction of travel - can we invoke water and wildlife in a way that is recognisable? Is there something we can try around the phonetics of the word Rio (REE-oh) that could amplify recognisability?

The Solution:

I started by creating a palette of source material, recording water movements and selecting wildlife recordings that had an inherent musicality to them. I then used this pallette to sound design the visual movements, processing and shaping them to fit to the fluidity of the motion. Then for the melodic element, bird song presented an interesting opportunity. I sampled and manipulated bird calls into musical notation, crafting that phonetic REE-Oh for the final logo reveal.

I mixed the final ident in Dolby 7.1 at the Edit in Brighton.

The work was selected and featured on Brands in Motion, a collection of the best motion design branding from around the world.