Hokushin Audio Visual

(1979-1984)
Logo: On a white background, two red lines move towards the middle of the screen from opposite directions, peaking to make two small mirrored mountains that form an "M". A "V" moves downward from the top of the screen and lines up with the "M". Underneath, in quick sucession, is the name "VIDEO MOVIES" with each letter spelled out one by one. Following that is another red line swiped from left to right and the byline "from Hokushin" zooming in under the line.

Early Variant: The background of the logo is red, the lines and name are in yellow, and the "from Hokushin" byline is in white. This logo is pre-empted by a blue warning screen.

Technique: The lines forming the top logo, lettering, underline, and the zoom-in of the byline are done in quick succession. Probably done on Scanimate.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: A trumpet solo with a loud brass stinger near the end. This was actually a variation of TG1's opening music. The voiceover in the early variant has a man with a Maltese accent (Joe Gatt, the company's founder) and mentions that the VHS is a "special arrangement of the producer and the distributor". The later one has a voiceover in which a man with a British accent is reading over a VHS legal disclaimer.

Availability: Rare. Seen on 1970s-1980s UK VHS releases of Gregory's Girl, For the Love of Ada, Q: The Winged Serpent, The Buddy Holly Story, Queens of Evil, Going Steady, Shark's Cave, No Place to Hide, Sex Diary, Island of Death, Evil in the Deep, Fatty Finn, Lemon Popsicle, Loose Shoes, Jungle Burger, and Mean Streets.