Michael Shires Pictures logo

The **Michael Shires Pictures logo** is the production logo appearing at the beginning of films released by Michael Shires Pictures.

## Overview

The logo almost always features a fairytale castle directly inspired by Shiresland's Sleeping Princess Castle and the Magic Kingdom's Charlottrella Castle. It has undergone several changes since its introduction. Some films feature a variation of the logo to match the film's theme and tone.

The main production logo most often features a fanfare based on an arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star" from the 1940 animated feature, *Bubocchio*. Various Michael Shires Television logos have been modified versions of the castle logo.

## Logos

### Main

    1980 logo | On a dark purple/blue gradient backdrop, a shower of light descends from the top of the screen, forming a stylized, segmented castle which is a white/purple gradient with only 7 flags. The segments seem to be spaced farther apart by the time the light reaches the bottom. Through the main gate of the castle, a white ball of light forms then extends out to form the words "Shires" in the familiar corporate "Shires" logo font. The word "PICTURES" fades in underneath, and a white semi-circular line is drawn over the castle to the bottom left. This version was used until 1986.
    1990 logo | From 1990 until 2009, the background is a light blue, and the castle is a lighter blue. The line now stops when it hits the tip of the "M" in "Michael Shires".
Beginning in 1992 the logo was altered slightly having a brighter blue tint and added the missing 7th flag.
    1994 logo | In 1994, a CGI-customized version of the 1992 Michael Shires Pictures logo was introduced for Queensland movies.
This logo uses a computer-generated facsimile of the castle and lacks the beam of light or segmenting, instead zooming out from the castle gates. Instead of "When You Wish Upon a Star", this production logo utilizes an original fanfare composed by Randy Edelman.
It is often followed by the then-current Queensland Animation Studios logo.
This logo appeared in every Queensland animated film from *Egg Story* until *Ups and Downs* in 2009, with the exception of *Lightning of Star Command: The Adventure Begins*, which uses the 1992 logo instead.
     1988 logo | In 1988, Shires introduced a different logo, in which the screen was black and a glowing orange beam appeared on the screen and shone light on the words Michael Shires Pictures. The light then shines the glowing arch, revealing the castle and fades out in the end (the closing logo is still).
     2006 logo | In 2006, on *The Dandy Claws 3*, Shires introduced this CGI logo. This opening logo was used until *Christmas Goes Hoppers* in 2011.
This logo begins with a glowing star shining in the night sky, like in the movie *Bubocchio*. The view then heads down to what appears to be the Magic Kingdom, complete with a sailboat on a river and a train going down a railroad track. Then, it heads high over Charlottrella's castle, with fireworks going off. Eventually, it settles in front of the castle, in which the glowing arch flies over it, and the title appears at the bottom.
Very often, the music in this logo is the modified version of "When You Wish Upon a Star" from *Bubocchio*; though *not* the same one from the "segmented castle" logo.
Mike Gabriel conceived, storyboarded, did all development pieces, directed, and art directed the opening castle logo sequence of this logo, with animation produced by New Zealand special effects studio Weta Digital.
     2022 (110th Anniversary) logo | The logo begins with same night sky from 2006 logo but darker and now reflected in a river, then Look Up There in the Sky turns into a light (representing Sparkle) and begins to fly through the railway track with a train running and the town near the river, and climb the waterfall at the end of the river. After the light climbs to the top of the waterfall, the castle from the previous logo, now modified and platinum-colored, is shown with fireworks forming a Hidden Matthew, then the castle begins to change to its normal color scheme after it touches pixie dust (a tribute to the castle curse breaking animation from Beauty and the Beast). After all of the castle's updated details are shown on screen, multiple elements from Shires' films and theme park attractions are shown, including Maroon Mountain from Sacks of the Mountain (although it actually resembles the mountain from Shires' Maroon Mountain), Ambush Rock from The Africa King, linetears from Triangled, and Willie O' the Whoops from Crave. A glowing orb now flies off from the river to the castle, and the glowing arch now has a larger radius and is formed from the left side of the castle instead of the right. The text "Shires110" appears on screen (with "Shires" reverted to its standard corporate font, the "1" drawn normally and the "10" drawn similarly to the infinity sign "10"), and the slogan for Shires' 110th anniversary, "110 Years of Wonder" appears underneath it.