Virgin Video (UK)

1st logo
(1982-1986)

Logo : Against a black background, the word "Virgin" (in red, and in its corporate script font) zooms out from the top left of the screen with a residue-trailing effect and stop in the center of the screen, "flashing". "VIDEO", in a small plain red font, zooms out from the bottom right corner with another residue-trailing effect, stops, and flashes. It later fades out as a glowing "Presents" fades in.

Variant : On Rupert and the Frog Song (U.K. VHS [Closing]) and the U.S. release of UB40: Labour of Love, "Presents" isn't shown. In addition, the former title also has the logo on-screen longer.

FX/SFX : Computer Graphics.

Music/Sounds : A very deep, distorted electric guitar tune with heavy bass, composed by Mick Karn of the band Japan.

Availability : Extremely rare. It can be seen on some old music tapes (including the UK releases of Genesis: The Mama Tour and Depeche Mode: Some Great Videos, as well as Public Image Limited: Videos, U2: Under a Blood Red Sky, and the Japan videos Instant Pictures and Oil on Canvas) and cult films from the period. UK pre-certs released by Virgin may have this logo.

 Editor's Note : None.

2nd Logo
(Mid 1980s)

Nickname : "The Gongman"

Logo : We see a muscular, shirtless man hitting a silver vinyl record, labeled with the Virgin logo on it, as if it were a gong (like the Rank logo). It explodes, and as the pieces fly away, sparks appear and write the familiar "Virgin" logo, which is stylized for a moment before flashing to its normal corporate font. "FILMS and VIDEO", stacked, appear on the bottom right of "Virgin", and "presents" fades in underneath. All the text is in white.

Variant : Another variant exists only on older international prints of Electric Dreams. 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 through it. We pan across the puzzled man as the airplane makes smoke trails that form the normal "Virgin" text, which flashes as the stacked text "FILMS PRESENTS" appears below it.

FX/SFX : All the animation in the logo.

Music/Sounds : Silence, or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability : The normal version appears on some VHS releases from this time period. The variant only appears on older international prints of Electric Dreams.

Scare Factor : Low to medium. The man hitting the gong may surprise some, especially the airplane variant, but it's a lot tamer than the last logo.

3rd logo (1986-1991)
 Nicknames : "The Beams", "The Virgin Beams"

 Logo : Against a black background, a set of revolving tri-colored light beams (red, blue, and green) shoot out toward the screen and bounce back and forth three times in a backwards "Z" formation. As it hits the center, various circles wipe in to from the Virgin logo, glowing various colors as it rotates upward. A light grows under it and it fully turns into white circles forming the logo, while it fills with red. The light then engulfs the background, becoming blue, followed by white, then mostly blue.

 Variant : In the United States, a different end result is used, with slightly cheaper animation, a blue background and drop shadow on the Virgin logo, and "VISION" sandwiched between 2 red lines. A version with the logo already formed, shining twice, also exists.

 FX/SFX : Computer Graphics.

 Music/Sounds : Chimes as the beams bounce around and a synth horn fanfare when the logo rises up, accompanied by a descending synth sound when "Virgin" fills red.

 Availability : More common than the previous logo. Seen on VHS releases of films such as Retribution, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2, Edge of Sanity, Checking Out, How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, The Banker, Fear (1988) and Destroyer, among others. Also seen on British tapes of Paris by Night, Robocop, The Terminator and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), among others. In Canada, some tapes from this company have the Cineplex Odeon Home Video logo appear before the Virgin Vision logo. Likewise, on some tapes in Argentina, the Transmundo Home Video logo would appear before this logo (and MCEG's) on PAL tapes. In the UK, on some tapes, the MCEG logo will appear before the logo.

Editor's Notes : None.