Australian Video

(1983-1985)
Nickname : "The Token and Flag", "The Aussie Anthem"

Logo : Against a starry sea blue/black background, several bright stars of different sizes zoom out, with one moving downwards from the rest. This causes 2 stars to pulse apart and a silver token rotates towards the screen, shining along the edge and on the face so brightly, the entire face becomes white. When the shine dies down, it reveals that the token reads "AUSTRALIAN VIDEO" printed on it (with "AUSTRALIAN" being in a typewriter font and "VIDEO" in the Arial font). There also appears to be a strange version of the WWF logo above it (which is actually the former logo for the South Australian Film Corporation) and a difficult-to-read byline that reads "South Australian Film Corporation" (this is more visible in the print logos). While the token turns, a orange 4-pointed star appears and draws a wavy line before going down and underlining the entire bottom of the token before going up to its origin. As this happens, a distorted Union Jack appears in the upper left corner and the section fills with blue, and the stars die down to reveal 7-pointed stars and 1 5-pointed star. This, of course, is the Australian flag, and the background continues to move after it finishes forming.

Variants :


 * At the end of previews, this logo plays while an announcer says "Be sure to watch more Australian previews coming up right after this movie."
 * At the end of a 1984 VHS of Breaker Morant, the finished logo moved to the top left quarter on the screen with the words "DISTRIBUTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH" beside it. The Star Video logo then plays in the bottom right of the screen.

FX/SFX : The stars zooming out, and the logo turning into place.

Music/Sounds : A synthesized "whoosh", then, a series of warbly synth notes repeat for the remainder of the logo as what sounds like a synth version of Australia's unofficial national anthem (Waltzing Matilda) is heard. A whoosh can also be heard at the end. The end variant uses a beeping synth fanfare.

Availability : Extremely rare. Can be seen on old PBV tapes, as well as CEL tapes. One tape that had this was Hoodwink. It is unknown if this appeared on the Embassy laser videodisc of Breaker Morant, which was co-branded with Australian Video for some reason.

Editor's Note : None.