Guild Film Distribution

Background

Guild Film Distribution was the theatrical division of Guild Home Video.

1st Logo (1985-June 25, 1993)

Visuals: On a blue background, orange bar segments fly in from the left and right of the screen, syncing with the music, while they sparkle and zoom out. Eventually, the bars start forming the Guild logo. When the logo is fully formed, "GUILD Film Distribution" in white and in the Belwe Bold BT font fades in below the logo.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: A synth note is held throughout, with a synth bass line (composed on a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer) that speeds up slightly near the end, followed by a synth fanfare in E♭ minor. A female chorus hums during this section, ending in them shouting "Go Guild!".

Audio Variant: In its last year of usage, it used a lush orchestral remix of the 1993 home video theme.

Availability:

Seen on VHS releases of Guild's first cinema releases, such as Cliffhanger, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Fourth War, Universal Soldier, and Rambo III.
The later music variant was found on a trailer for Bad Lieutenant, which can also be found on the Blu-ray release thereof from Fabulous Films.

2nd Logo (1993-August 2, 1996)

Visuals: Against a black background, there is a director's chair in a blue spotlight. The camera pans around the chair, and both parts of the Guild logo slide from both sides of the screen in a tilted position, then "GUILD" appears underneath when the screen zooms into the chair.

Trivia: This is basically a modified version of the 1993 Guild Home Video logo. The footage of the director's chair is windowboxed and the end logo result is more stretched than normal.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A mystical pan-flute tune, complete with a synth whoosh and an orchestra at the end. For trailers, normally silence.

Audio Trivia: The music was composed using the Korg M1 workstation from 1988.

Availability: It can be found on any of Guild's theatrical releases right until Chargeurs' demerger of Pathé in 1996.

This version of the Guild logo was never found on VHS tapes, instead, those went with the standard fullscreen Guild Home Video logo.
- However, it does appear before the Cinergi Pictures Entertainment logo on the UK trailer for Judge Dredd, which can be found on a few Guild VHS releases from the time.

Guild Film Distribution

Guild Pathé Cinema

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