Vision Video Ltd.
Background
Vision Video Ltd. was a British home video distributor and former production company that was founded in the early 1980s as Virgin Video. In July 1989 the company was acquired by Jonathan D. Krane's Management Company Entertainment Group from the Virgin Group and renamed it to Virgin Vision. However MCEG was filed in chapter 11 bankruptcy as they sold 85% of the company to GE Capital with the remaining 15% stake acquired by the Virgin Group but then it later sold the remaining 15% to GE Capital making it full ownership of Virgin Vision. The company scaled down it's operations to video distribution only in the UK and GE Capital later renamed the company to Vision Video Ltd. However in early 1991, GE Capital announced that Vision Video Ltd. (at that time Virgin Vision) was up for sale and in January 1993 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment had acquired the company with it's operations merged with it's home entertainment arm PolyGram Video making it a label. But in December 10, 1998 Polygram was sold to Seagram & Sons (the former owner of Universal Pictures which is now part of NBCUniversal). Currently Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer owns the majority of Vision Video's library through the pre-March 31, 1996 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library which had brought back in 1999.
Virgin Video
1st Logo (1981-1986)
Nickname: "The Gongman"
Logo: We see a muscular, shirtless man hitting a vinyl record labeled with the Virgin logo on it, as if it were a gong (like Rank logo). It explodes and as the pieces fly away, sparks appear and white the familiar "Virgin" logo which is stylized for a moment before flashing to it's normal corporate font. The text "FILMS and VIDEO", stacked appear on the bottom right of "Virgin", and "presents" fades in underneath. All the text is in white.
Variants: In an extended version we see the man from before about to hit the record again now in gold, but it shakes and he runs away as an airplane comes crashing though it. We pan across the puzzled man as the airplane makes smoke trials that form the normal "Virgin" text which flashes as the stacked text "FILMS PRESENTS" appears below it.
FX/SFX: The man hitting the vinyl record and breaking it into pieces then the sparks appearing from the Virgin logo, the Virgin logo writing itself in and flashing, and the text appearing.
Music/Sounds: Silence, or the opening theme of the movie
Availability: Depending on the variant:
- Normal: Very rare. Appears on some very early pre-cert concert VHS releases from this time period such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - The Best of OMD.
- Extended: Ultra rare. Only appears on the original international print of Electric Dreams and retained on the 1984 UK VHS from the company although some releases plaster it with the next logo while the US release plasters it with the 1984 MGM/UA Entertainment Co. "Diamond Jubilee" logo.
Editor's Note: None.
2nd Logo (1982-1986)
3rd Logo (1986-1992)
Nickname: "The Beams"
Logo:
Variants:
- There is another version exists where the logo is already formed then it shines twice
- A filmed version also exists.
FX/SFX: The light beams and the logo turning upwards, and the coloring which are very nice computer effects from the '80s.
Music/Sounds: A sound of synthesised horn notes accompanied by chimes as the beams bounce around a decent synthesise sound when the logo rises up played over a synth horn and at the end we hear strings.
Music/Sounds Variant: On some tapes the jingle ends rather quickly than usual.
Vision Video Ltd.
(1994-2003)
Logo: From black, in a story exture the camera pans away from an orange background to reveal it is actually an orange scribble reminiscent of a tornado on a dark blue background. Then two white lighting bolts strike as the middle black pillar emerge and rises from the middle of the scribble with electric shocks around it. Then the pillar shoots lightning and two dinagical black pillars then emerges from the bolts rising from the left and right respectively as the camera continues to pan away from the orange scribble. When the camera is nearly at bird's eye view, the three pillars get struck by a flash of lightning as the text "VISION VIDEO LTD" fades in below the bottom of the screen and the pillars stopped rising and now gained shadows to form the initials 'VVL'.
FX/SFX: The pillars rising, the electricity, and the background. All CGI effects.
Music/Sounds: A dramatic fanfare plays while the black pillars rise from the orange scribble, ending in a final chord when the lightning strikes. After that, an eerie synth piece is heard in the background.
Availability: Extinct in the UK - Can be seen on all VHS releases from VVL. For its final few years in service, this logo would follow after the Universal logo - this logo can be found on Universal's budget VHS releases.
Editor's Note: The dramatic fanfare and hit can get to some people - but otherwise it's harmless.
