CreditsCaptures by
Pingu
Video captures courtesy of
Little Wh*re Records, satmonk, LogicSmash, and In der Altmark zu Hause
Pingu
Video captures courtesy of
Little Wh*re Records, satmonk, LogicSmash, and In der Altmark zu Hause
VCL
From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum
VCL Communications was an international German home video company that was founded by Datty G. Ruth and Alan Judd in 1981 in Frankfurt. It primarily operated in Germany, the United States (through Karl-Lorimar Home Video, Heron Communications/Media Home Entertainment and later through Continental Video/Virgin Vision), the United Kingdom, Australia and Scandinavia. The company moved to Munich in 1983. Shortly afterwards, Richard Branson acquired a 53% stake through Virgin Vision, with Ringier AG also acquiring a 30% stake. In 1989, Ruth bought back both Virgin and Ringier's shares[1]. In 1990, LIVE Entertainment purchased an 81% stake in VCL. A year later, VCL went into Laserdisc distribution. By 1998, VCL was entering the DVD market. On 27 May 1999, VCL's stock went public with an initial share capital of €13.2 million and a per-share price of €15[2][3]. By the late 2000s the company was struggling financially in the wake of the German Neuer Markt's collapse (caused largely by the collapse of the dotcom bubble. In September 2010, despite reaching restructuring agreements with potential investors, the company commenced insolvency procedings[4].
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Visuals: On a black background, a blue glowing outline of a flattened Earth in the Van der Grinten style zooms out with a chyron trail effect, rotating while doing so. The letters "V", "C", and "L" wipe in one-by-one. All three have a moving "rainbow" effect to them. The world map in the background turns black, the background turns white, and "VCL" turns yellow.
Variants:
- On the VHS release of The Darkroom the logo plays like normal and then it flips to a gradient blue screen with the white text "EXCLUSIVELY DISTRIBUTED BY" in a Times New Roman font. Then it flips again to the Continental Video logo of the era.
- On international releases, the logo is completely formed with a yellow background/VCL text and black continents. The logo then fades to just the text and the yellow word "PRESENTS" in an old English font.
Technique: Traditional animation.
Audio: A calming 6-note synthesizer theme accompanied with drums (the first three of which sounds like a voice saying "Video"), then on the remaining three notes, a chorus sings the company name.
Availability: Seen on tapes like The Darkroom and Pacific Inferno. Also found on some titles distributed by Karl-Lorimar Home Video, Continental Video and Media Home Entertainment in the U.S.; Many of VCL's U.S. titles were later re-issued by Virgin Vision.
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Visuals: On a black background, there is a faint blue haze which widens and whitens as it opens from the top. The planet Earth with black continents and a sparkle on top rises from below, situates itself on top when it is in full view and starts to rotate. The white letters "VCL" swoop in from the left center and right sides of the screen respectively and settle beneath the earth. A grey rhombus with "COMMUNICATIONS" in red flips up and a red rectangle fades in on the left leg of the "V" and three lines shoot from it and stop on the opposing side. The rectangle becomes segmented as a result. Everything vanishes leaving a growing spark which gives way to a yellow circle. The earth from before appears and spins. The VCL logo from before fades in from its previous position and the "VCL" text rises to the middle and the yellow text "WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION OF VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT" fades in below.
Variants:
- A completely different version was found on international releases replacing the original logo with the previous VCL text in red with white, zooming in and stopping in the middle. "VIDEO", also in red with a white shadow, wipes itself in from the left. The animation carries on like before, only the text "WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION OF VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT" is in a different font and the VCL logo fades in above the text. The text then fades out, and the beginning of the globe animation plays in reverse.
- At the end of international releases, the finished product just plays in reverse. This ran silent.
Technique: Computer animation. The animation of the background are stock animations from Cascom.
Audio: A synth fly-by sounder with three deep drum notes followed by a long dark resonating drone and three light drum notes. A dark choir is then heard with more drum notes and rising synth notes. Then it goes to a triumphant theme with synthesized horns and drums.
Audio Variant: The international version has a slightly different mix of the theme, such as having quieter drumbeats.
Availability: The variant was found on a VHS release of Deathmoon.
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Visuals: On a black background, there is an orange CGI-like sphere and in front of it appears to be three lines in a blue-purple gradient color that seem to be in a somewhat direction. Beneath the logo, there is text in Trajan Pro that spell out the company name "VCL". The logo and the text are both in a rectangular box with a light blue-white gradient color with the outlines being in 2 layers with the inside a very thin black outline and the outside outline being a bit thicker white outline.
Technique: A still, digital graphic.
Audio: None.
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Visuals: Against a space background, with a blue and orange hazes on the top left and bottom right corners respectively, there is a chrome bar situated down below. A sphere then rises and the bar moves up and zooms back. Both meet in the middle and form the logo from before (albeit without the outline encasing it). The chrome text "VCL" zooms back and stops beneath the sphere and lines.
Variants:
- This logo exists in both fullscreen and widescreen formats.
- A filmed version exists.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A dramatic, epic orchestral theme with a choir, ending with three light chime beats when the text appears.
Availability: Seen on many of their German releases on DVD and VHS during the company's final years of operation. It also appeared on The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, but on current prints, it (along with DreamWorks Pictures) is plastered with the Quiver Distribution logo.
External Links
- VCL on German Wikipedia
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20101010014731/http://www.vcl.de/rw_e8v/main.asp?WebID=vcl2&PageID=16
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100925151318/http://www.vcl.de/rw_e8v/main.asp?WebID=vcl2&PageID=21
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20101010014731/http://www.vcl.de/rw_e8v/main.asp?WebID=vcl2&PageID=16
- ↑ https://variety.com/2010/biz/markets-festivals/germany-s-vcl-files-for-insolvency-1118024480/
Categories:
- Germany
- West Germany
- International
- Home entertainment logos
- Production logos
- Home entertainment logos from Germany
- Production logos from Germany
- Home entertainment logos from West Germany
- International home entertainment logos
- Logos with Cascom stock footage
- Artisan Entertainment
- Lionsgate Studios Corp
- German-language logos
- Defunct companies and labels
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