Gativideo

Background
Gativideo S.A. was formed on April 1, 1987 when Aries went into financial troubles, to be headed by Manuel Pablo Venacio, Luis Saverio Fortunato Scalella, Luis Alberto Scalella and Jorge Horacio Scalella, which are the company's brothers. with Legal Video and Videoman Internacional serving as brands of the company. This was expanded in 1988 by signing an agreement with Disney to bring their titles to the Argentinian market. Those brands phased out in 1989, and Gativideo began using its own logos. Its primary purpose was to distribute 20th Century Fox, Disney, and until 1991, MGM/UA Home Video titles for the Argentina market. In 1992, the owners created a sister label for low-budget films, Intercom Entertainment, even though it was dissolved by two years, and Gativideo would be the second most important label, becoming one of the most successful majors. Gativideo, along with rival LK-TEL Video was dissolved by itself in 2009 due to low sales and demand, and a new company Blu Shine S.R.L. began to take over distribution of the titles previously held by Gativideo, as well as Columbia TriStar's output, the venture lasted until 2017.

1st Logo (Fall 1985-Spring 1986)
Logo: On a pink background, we see the Legal Video logo wiping in. It consists of a white box with the words "LV" cote-out in pink on top, and "LEGAL VIDEO" in a futuristic pink code-out font on the left, and standing on the right, we see a pink cote-out box with the word "SA" on it.

Technique: The wiping of the logo.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on earlier Legal Video releases from the era.

2nd Logo (1986-1988?)
Logo: On a black background, a very pixelated Chinese dragon inteal/green/yellow/orange scrolls downwards. As it scrolls, a metallic rectangle flips in, zooming in as well. There is the text "LEGAL VIDEO S.A." in a very "futuristic" font, along with a large cutout in the lower right corner, as well as the large letters "LV" taken out of the top right. After the dragon leaves the screen, the logo glitches out for a second, causing streaks from the bottom edges to streak across the screen. The streaks would later fade at the end.

Variants: On children's releases, a lime green circle with the text "Video Niño" (or "Video Child" in English) fades in. At the top of this circle are icons representing two smiling faces.

Technique: Early mixer effects, with the computerized scrolling of the dragon, the model of the logo turning in, and the Video Feedback trails. Very cheap animation, even for its time.

Music/Sounds: A futuristic synth theme with zaps and xylophone notes.

Availability: Extremely rare. This was found on a Argentine video of Secret Squirrel. The original version was found on Futureworld and the 1st edition of Predator. The "Video Niño"" variant was seen on Yogi's First Christmas.

Legacy: The logo isn't really pleasant for children with the strange animation, pixelated dragon, synth music, and even the symbol (which just looks more like a strange frog), possibly because this wasn't really designed with children in mind.

3rd Logo (1988-1989)
Logo: On a black background we see a pair of woman's eyes. After at least four seconds a yellow grid moving upwards and a light-bulb with a faint flame both fade in. As the logo progresses sparks move through the light-bulb then numerous animated flames appear to form a silhouette of a conveyor belt carrying some boxes and vanish after a yellow flash with a white solid 8-point star in the middle appears. The Legal Video text from before in white flips up zooms out and settles beneath the eyes and the grid/light-bulb fade out. The prototypical Gativideo logo in yellow fades in on top and stays on for ten seconds before finally fading to black.

Technique: The flames (which were done in traditional cels), the grid, the text. Similar techniques to the 1st logo, but it looks like an improvement from before. Then again, it still looks cheap.

Music/Sounds: An excerpt of "Generando" by Pastoral, combined with a thunderclap and an explosion sound.

Availability: Seen on later releases from the company. It appeared on Spanish prints of My Science Project with the Touchstone Home Video logo of the era following suit. This also appeared on some Walt Disney Home Video releases such as Rock n' Roll Mom.

Legacy: It's definitely apparent that this was not created with children in mind. With the very weird and in-your-face nature, ideas that aren't suited for a logo, and incredibly cheap and strange effects (including the fact that the woman's eyes get smaller when the grid fades in, and come back at the end), it can certainly give a child nightmares.

1st Logo (1986-1988?)


Logo: On a black background with a yellow haze, a grid emerges from the haze and the Videoman Internacional logo ("Videoman Internacional") with the words stacked on top of each other in a Times New Roman font in white inside a white rectangle appears and flips around before finally settling in the middle.

Technique: 1980s computer effects.

Music/Sounds: A 70s-esque disco theme.

Availability: Presumably seen on older releases from the label.

2nd Logo (1988-1989)


Logo: On a black background, a black sun with an orange outline appears with a yellow glow (it looks similar to the Schick Sun). As the sun appears, a white, glowing "ray" of sunlight fades in after it that later changes to a green-black striped color. Two copies of the "Videoman Internacional" logo, from a tilted angle, zoom in from the top of the ray of sunlight to the bottom of the screen at a very slow pace; with the second logo tilting forward to a comfortable viewing position and the first logo staying tilted, to give the appearance of a "shadow effect" to the first logo. As the second copy of "Videoman Internacional" stops at a comfortable distance from the screen, (the first copy of the logo continues scrolling off-screen), a prototype version of the Gativideo print logo appears at the bottom. During the second half of the logo's duration, several strikes of lightning appear through.

Technique: 1980s computer effects.

Music/Sounds: A futuristic new-age theme ("Message From The Cosmos" by Kitaro) with the sounds of three thunderclaps in sync with animation.

Availability: Ultra rare. It's found on the 1987 film, Munchies.

1st Logo (1989-2006)


Logo: On a blue space background (Milky Way), we see the metallic text "GATIVIDEO", in a font similar to the FHE '82 logo, flying all over the screen, leaving a trail of sparkles. When it stops in the center, sparkles can be seen.

Technique: 1980s computer effects.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic fanfare, which is part of Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man".

Availability: Uncommon, at least in Argentina. This logo can be found on old Argentine PAL/N VHSs like Touchstone's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Song of the South and other films from Disney, MGM and 20th Century Fox like the Home Alone series, Die Hard, and Predator 2 (the 1st is edited with the Legal Video CBS-FOX Brand license).

2nd Logo (1999-2001?)
Logo: On a space background, we see a 3D wireframe version of the Gativideo logo from the previous logos zooming out, then it rotates and a bright blue light fills the wireframe Gativideo logo in a solid blue 3D color. The logo shines, and then the Gativideo logo zooms in.

Technique: The rotating and zooming.

Music/Sounds: A weird distorting synth theme, with some chines and a distorting zoom sound at the end, which trails it off to black.

Availability: Seen on early Gativideo DVD releases, like Manuelita.

3rd Logo (2001?-2003)
Logo: TBA.

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Seen on Gativideo DVD releases, like Daddy is My Idol (Papa es un idolo).

4th Logo (2003-2009)


Logo: Against a red space background with planets (Earth, mars and the Sun), we see the Gativideo logo from before, only in 3D, zoom out and stop to face us. Then, the DVD logo, also in 3D, zooms and flips out below it. A lens flare shines on the DVD logo

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: Same as before, complete with "zoom" like effects.

Availability: Extremely rare. This was the last logo before their closure due to piracy. Found on Argentine DVD releases of Nightmare on Elm Street (New Line Cinema) collection (2003), CSI: Miami and Critters 4.