Guild Home Video: Difference between revisions

Guild Home Video was one of the earliest and most successful independent video companies in the United Kingdom, formed in 1979. In its early years, Guild was known for the high quality of their releases and having a large catalog compared to other companies of the time, and being a distributor for other companies' titles helped them survive the 1984 Video Recordings Act, which caused many other video companies at the time to go out of business. Guild remained strong in the 1990s when video became dominated more by major studios as opposed to indie labels until 1996, when both Guild Home Video and [[Guild Film Distribution (UK)|Guild Film Distribution]] merged with [[Pathé (France)|Pathé]] to form [[Guild Pathé Cinema (UK)|Guild Pathé Cinema]]. In 1998, Guild Pathé Cinema was renamed to Pathé Distribution, thus ending the Guild name for good.

 

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'''Logo:''' On a {{Font color|darkblue|dark blue}} background, a {{Font color|gold|gold-yellow}}, hexagon-formed "{{Font color|gold|G}}" with a square underneath it zooms in downward, a la RKO's 1983 logo, leaving behind a residue trail. When it gets to the center, the "G" and the square turn from solid to segmented, and a line draws what looks like a TV tube, surrounding it. Both parts of the logo zoom in, and we quickly fade to the same logo, only smaller, and with "{{Font color|gold|GUILD HOME VIDEO presents}}" (in a {{Font color|gold|yellow}} Helvetica font) underneath.

'''Variant:''' A rare still variant with "{{Font color|gold|video is alive – live with it}}" shown below was used at the end of Guild tapes.

 

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'''Logo:''' In the top-left corner of a black background, we see a bright light flashing before our eyes. The light reveals the same "G Over Square" logo, but colored cerulean. Again, the TV tube is drawn around the logo, but underneath a light draws a teal/dark pink line that starts downward, then upward, and then straight. When the line is finished, another flash of light reveals the words "Guild Home Video" above the line, and below it another reveals "Quality Video Entertainment". The logo then sparkles a bit.

'''Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variant:''' Sometimes, this is accompanied by an announcer saying "Before you enjoy our main feature, here's a trailer from another major release from Guild, which is available at your local stockist now.". Oddly, the announcer has an American accent, despite Guild being a British distributor (the same announcer is heard in Guild's trailers, as well)!

'''Availability:''' Extremely rare. Check an old VHS or Beta PAL tape for this logo. An example is the UK pre-cert release of ''Cujo''. It is also seen on the first ''Thomas & Friends'' tapes. Some prints use the Central Video or The Video Collection logos.

 

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'''Logo:''' On a {{Font color|blue|blue}} background, {{Font color|orange|orange}} bar segments fly in from the left and right of the screen, while they sparkle and zoom out. Eventually, the bars start forming the Guild logo (without the TV tube and the square on the bottom). When the logo is fully formed, this fades in below the logo—

 

GUILD<br>

Home Video

 

in white.

 

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'''Logo:''' Set on a white background, many of the rectangular parts of the Guild "G" fly in all directions. When two parts of the G meet in the middle later on, it zooms out, and extra rectangles that make the stem of the "G" fly in. "GUILD Home Video" fades in below, and the logo shines with a "wipe" effect.

'''Availability:''' More recent and easier to find than the previous logos, but still rare. Seen on the 4Front Video re-release of ''First Blood'', and the original rental releases of ''The Wizard'' and ''Total Recall''.

 

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Guild Home Video (1988), Theater.png

Guild Home Video (1988), Title.png

Guild Home Video (1990).png

*Before Trailers: On a black background, we see a glowing outline of a movie theater with little flashing lights inside. Two sets of red and yellow light streaks slide up, the last set flashing and bringing forth a white Guild Home Video logo. The streaks zoom out to outline the theater in blue with a ticket box in the front, little light blue "chaser" light windows on the sides, yellow "<<<>>>" lights on the marquee sides, pinkish lights surrounding the center of the marquee, and more yellow lights on the top.

*After Trailers: Same as above, but "SOLID GUILD", in golden yellow, zooms out like a roller coaster out of the door. All, except the text in gold, fades into blue.

'''Variant:''' In 1990, a 10th anniversary variant was used, which has the theatre fade out and the Guild logo zoom forth and turn gold. A number 10 at the top surrounded by a round banner with stars and the years "1980" and "1990" on the sides fade in. "TEN YEARS OF" and "independence" are shown below. The logo shines with a few pings.

 

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</gallery>{{YouTube|id=https://youtu.be/JkEp_o4Y1To|id2=U9qNfOUSiPM}}

 

'''Logo:''' Against a black background, we see 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 we zoom into the chair.