Alliance Entertainment Corporation

Background
Alliance Entertainment Corporation (also known simply as Alliance) was a Canadian film distribution and television production company, founded in 1984 from a merger of RSL Entertainment Corporation and International Cinema Corporation, though the 2 companies operated separately until 1986. In 1990, it bought Montreal-based distributor Vivafilm Lteé, making it its French-Canadian division as "Alliance Vivafilm", and merged its film releasing division Alliance Releasing with the television division. In 1998, the company entered a joint venture with Atlantis Communications, forming Alliance Atlantis.

1st Logo (January 31, 1985-January 7, 1988)
Visuals: On a shady blue gridlined background, the metallic stylized text:

ALLIANCE

set in New Zelek, appears in the center of the screen, and the underlined text " ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION " uncovers below it. The "ALLIANCE" shines.

Variants:
 * During 1985-1986, the logo had the joint byline "An RSL • ICC Company" written below " ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION ". The byline slides down as well as "ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION" from "ALLIANCE" meanwhile the name is shining on this variant.
 * In Diamonds, the logo already has " ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION " below the initial logo, as it only shows the logo shining.
 * A still variant has the logo on a background, with the text chromed and the "E" being slightly altered.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: Seen on the earliest episodes of Night Heat from the 1980s, as well as Diamonds.

2nd Logo (September 22, 1987-July 25, 1991)
Visuals: On a black background, a bright ring of light expands outwards, revealing a black- gradient background, a single star in the upper left, and the word "ALLIANCE" in the same style as before, and then " ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION " fades in below. The logo shines.

Variant: A warp-speed variant exists.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Seen on reruns of Night Heat on DejaView, and should be intact on all other Alliance shows of the period whenever reran.

3rd Logo (September 1, 1991-1999)
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Visuals: After starting off on a black screen for a few seconds, it then fades to a large mountain range with snow-capped peaks at night. As the camera pans around the mountains, a light gleams in the distance, and as it grows larger, it then fades to the source of the light: a mass of silver crystals with a strangely wide and rectangular gemstone in the center. With the camera settling into position, this large gemstone starts to rise out of the ground and into the sky as it fades to a more golden hue. The camera then fades to a shot of the gemstone turning against a cloudy morning sky with rainbow shines coming off of the sides, and then to a wide shot of the gemstone rising up into a triangle shape with a deep gold color. A ping glides from bottom to top on the right side and, halfway up, flashes brightly to change the gemstone into an wide, boomerang-like "A" shape made up of 2 triangles, along with bringing in the text "Serif" written below in Matrix Wide. The light remains at the tip and shines a bit before stopping.

Variants:
 * On French-language theatrical films and VHS tapes, the text "Serif" appears under the Alliance logo.
 * 2 short versions exist: one starting with the rising gemstone, the other starting at the light shining brightly.
 * A still variant also exists.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Wind blowing, followed by a ding alongside a humming sound effect. Then, as the gemstone rises in the air, we hear a lush fanfare with synth string notes and a hit at the end with a ding. Composed by Sylvain Jacob.

Audio Variants:
 * On the filmed version, there is an alternate mix of the fanfare where the electric piano has more presence.
 * The short versions have part of the fanfare with a more powerful hit and a ding.
 * In other cases, the opening/closing theme will play (like on Fox Kids reruns of Beast Wars before the compressed credits) or, rarely, it'll be silent.
 * On Black Circle Boys on Tubi, a strange ominous theme plays, and when the spark flies from the bottom left of the triangle, a low whoosh is heard as it turns into the boomerang-shaped A, a light whoosh is heard as it streaks.

Availability:
 * The short version appears on TV shows such as Beast Wars, Due South, Once a Thief, ReBoot, and many other shows from the era. The short version also appears at the end and (sometimes) the beginning of films aired on Canadian TV, as well as some Canadian VHS releases.
 * The long version appears on theatrical and some TV movies, like Crash, The Sweet Hereafter, the Echo Bridge Home Entertainment DVD of Curtains (part of The Midnight Horror Collection: Bloody Slashers), and is used as a de-facto home video logo on many Canadian VHS releases of U.S. films (mainly New Line Cinema, Fine Line, Dimension, and Miramax titles, among possible others).
 * The version with the "Vivafilm" name is only seen on French language versions of films and VHS releases distributed in the Quebec market.
 * It also appeared on an Echo Bridge Home Entertainment DVD release of No Contest as part of Abraxas: 4 Bonus Movies.
 * This logo is plastered by other logos on current prints.
 * It was also spotted on an AT&T U-Verse Screen Pack print of Chili's Blues.
 * This logo is retained on reruns of Due South on CMT Canada. However, DejaView reruns plaster it with the 1999 Alliance Atlantis logo.