Action International Pictures

Background: Founded by David Winters, and brothers Ted and David A. Prior. Started in 1986, but did not release videos until not too long afterwards. The company closed its doors in 1994. Currently, with some exceptions, most of the film's output is now owned by FilmRise.

1st Logo (Late 1980s)

Action International Pictures - CLG Wiki

Logo: On a shooting starfield, 2 bright lines, possibly representing shooting stars, appear. The long lines cross with a laser sound and the picture bulges in, which is the beige floor lit by the spotlight in the darkness with the AIP logo, which is the arrow pentagon shape pointing to the right made out of thin black bars with the red "AIP" in the blocky font, with the midsection cut off and replaced with "HOME VIDEO, INC." in serif font, standing on the floor. The rest of the logo is still.

FX/SFX: The starfield, the lines crossing, and the logo bulging in.

Music/Sounds: Silent on the first seconds, then laser sounds, and then a small portion of Escape Club's "Wild Wild West" with a male announcer (presumably Brian Cummings) saying "AIP Home Video".

Availability: Found on some video releases from the time like Dead End City and Shooters.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1989-1994?) AIP Studios prototype logo (1989)AIP Studios (highest quality possible)AIP Studios (dark variant)AIP Studios (1992)

Nicknames: "AIP from Hell", "AIP Over Red Lines"

Logo: We see many red vertical lines coming from the right of the screen. They later turn horizontal, and then two giant shapes leaving residue behind appears zooming out. The camera zooms out, revealing the shapes to be the words "AI" with a "P" next to it, revealing "AIP". The camera turns to an angle to reveal the word "STUDIOS" below the "AIP" text.

Variants:

Starting in 1991, the logo is shown in a letterbox format. There's a prototype variant with slightly cheaper animation, wider FOV, and without the word "STUDIOS", used around 1989. There's a dark variant with slightly slower animation, used around 1990. There's also a variant where the logo is seen on a close-up.

FX/SFX: Decent animation for the time.

Music/Sounds: A haunting synth chord accompanied by the drum fill (two claps, tom-toms and a clap), followed by a synth bass note, accompanied by a whoosh when "AIP" appears. On a few occasions, the whoosh isn't heard.

In most trailers, an announcer, often the one from the previous logo, would say the following:

"AIP Studios presents..." This was heard in the trailers for Alien Space Avenger, Armed for Action, Cold Heat, Dark Rider, Escape from Survival Zone, Firehead, Homeboys, In Gold We Trust, Kick or Die, Lock 'n' Load, Lust for Freedom, Maximum Breakout, Savage Instinct and White Fury. "Coming soon from AIP Home Video." This was heard in the trailers for Black Snow, Blood on the Badge, Bounty Hunter 2002, Death House, Demon Possessed, Desperate Crimes, Dirty Games, Ex-Cop, Extreme Vengeance, Fist of Steel, Gang Justice, Hellmaster, In the Eye of the Snake, The Satan Killer, Street Hitz, Sudden Thunder, Taxi Dancers, Teenage Exorcist, Trapped Alive and Triple Impact. "Coming soon from AIP Studios." This was heard in the trailers for Enemy Unseen, Lethal Games and Night of the Kickfighters. "AIP Home Video presents..." This was heard in the trailer for Wilding: The Children of Violence. "Coming soon from AIP." This was heard in the trailer for Rapid Fire. "Direct from theatrical release, coming late summer from AIP Home Video." This was heard in the trailer for Center of the Web. "Direct from theatrical release, AIP Studios is proud to present..." This was heard in the trailer for Double Threat.

Availability: Found on VHS releases and trailers from the time.

Editor's Note: None.