3M Video (UK)

Background
Founded as the Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing (3 names starting with the letter M) Company in 1902 in Two Harbors, Minnesota, 3M is one of the most well-known conglomerate manufacturing companies. 3M competes in many product industries, including automotive repairs, commercial solutions, communications, design and construction materials, electronics, health care and transportation, among others. They also had a video production division from the late '70s to the early '80s.

1st Logo (European Variant) (1978-1984)


Nicknames: "Slit-Scan Wormholes and Outer Space Subject Matter", "Space Glass Model"

Logo: On a black background, a weirdly-textured tunnel is seen, coming at full speed (a la the Star Gate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey). At a certain point in time, the tunnel reaches its end point, which is in space. After the tunnel clears up, an outlined 3D Model of the 3M logo comes toward the screen, flashing in many different colors. It fixates at the center of the screen, and the words "3M VIDEO", outlined in blue, zooms in via a chyron trail effect.

FX/SFX: The tunnel from the beginning (which was stolen from a slit-scan demo animation used by Robert Abel & Associates in 1973 that can be seen here) and the 3M logo. Typical Scanimation for the time.

Music/Sounds: A catchy disco sounder when we fly through the circular tunnel, which is actually a song called "This Time Is Running Down" by Cerrone, then it segues into an outer-spacey tune which is another song called "The Fun Cry", also by Cerrone. The music fades out, leaving the silence for a few seconds.

Availability: Seen on many early releases from the company in France (possibly in other countries like Switzerland and Belgium).

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (UK Variant) (February 1983-January 1984)
Nicknames: "Project 3M", "Saturday Morning Cartoons With A Twist"

Logo: In darkness, the screen brightens up into a light blue background, we see an animated cylinder with a plain facial expression. Suddenly, a man with an all-white suit and a triangular head walks in from the right and excitedly paints the cylinder yellow, much to the surprise of the cylinder itself, and carries it to a row of rainbow colors made up of circles. The man places the cylinder in an empty socket on the yellow row and hammers it down with a mallet. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, he grins while leaning on the mallet, then the background turns black, and the rows glow their respective colors and zooms back to reveal it is part of an inverted triangle with the top section cropped. Then the 3M logo in its corporate font appears in white. The text "V I D E O", also in white but in a much smaller font appears in a gap in the triangle.

Variants:


 * A still version of the finished product, with thin rainbow lines and the 3M logo made up of what appears to be TV static, was also shown.
 * A sped-up version also exists.

FX/SFX: Everything in the logo.

Music/Sounds: A Moog jingle that ends with a long-lasting synth note with "BOOM!!!" sounds in sync with the animation. The short version used a cartoon-like sound effect that sounds like a yodel.

Availability: Rare. Seen on many pre-cert releases from the company around the UK.

Editor's Note: None.