CIC Video

Background
CIC Video was a home video distributor owned by Cinema International Corporation (CIC) and its successor United International Pictures (UIP), and operated in some countries by local operators. Outside of the United States and Canada, it distributed films by Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures, UIP's partners. DreamWorks films were added to the company output in 1998 (which were distributed under DreamWorks' home video branch), as the fledgling studio had a worldwide video distribution deal with Universal.

In 1999, CIC Video was dissolved when Universal purchased PolyGram and reorganized its video division under the Universal name. Paramount Home Entertainment became CIC Video's successor after acquiring full ownership and merging it into Paramount's video division. That same year, Columbia TriStar Home Video signed an international video distribution deal with Universal to release movies and TV shows on DVD internationally.

1st Logo (January 1981-1986)
Visuals: On a cloudy (or purple) background, "CIC" in a fat font with the "S"-patterned chain link from the film logo on the "I" and the word "VIDEO" in Aero Extended font slowly fades in.

Variant: On early releases, the logo has no "chain".

Technique: Fading effects.

Audio: None.

Availability:
 * It's seen on (at least) PAL VHS releases in the United Kingdom and Germany and PAL Laserdisc releases in the United Kingdom, such as Airplane!, Beverly Hills Cop, Rough Cut, Raiders of The Lost Ark, and Airwolf.
 * The prototype variant is usually found on tapes that have the print CIC Video logo without the chain on the packaging (usually the very first releases on the label), such as the UK pre-cert releases of Jaws, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), The Thing, and also on the 1984 UK pre-cert VHS releases of Woody Woodpecker and His Friends Vol. II and Flashdance (1983), respectively.

2nd Logo (1983)
Visuals: A star in a pink-ish tone twiches from left to right. A couple seconds later, rainbow colored stripes blast from the star, forming the logo in the same pink-ish color tone, with a shiny specular all around the logo.

Technique: Computer animation (possibly Scanimate).

Audio: The main theme of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, albeit with the pitch raised slightly. A male announcer can be heard talking over it.

Availability: Only known to have been used at the beginning and ending of a trailer tape.

3rd Logo (1986-1994)
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Visuals: Set against a black- gradient background, the three pieces of the chain (the outer two in light blue and the center one in white) fly from the edges of the screen, forming the chain. The "I" then flies in from the top of the screen, stopping were the chain is, and the two C's draw themselves in, starting from the bottom up to the top. All three letters are made of metal. "VIDEO" then flies in below, stopping under the CIC logo.

Variants:
 * On UK, German, Australian, Brazilian and Argentine VHS releases, just before the logo settles in place, a white flash is seen, and the logo is now set against a light blue background.
 * Some releases have the logo zooming out to the top as a light blue marquee with white lines fades in below reading "GREAT FILMS", along with "from the Hollywood studios of PARAMOUNT & UNIVERSAL", which would lead into sneak previews of upcoming movies.
 * Another background variant of the above has the logo zooming out to the top, but cuts to black; it can be found on the 1986 UK VHS re-release of Woody Woodpecker and His Friends.
 * A still variant simply consisting of the logo in white on a light blue background is known to have been seen on some Japanese tapes, VCDs and LaserDiscs, as well as VHDs (basically the country's version of CED).
 * One variant has the CIC Video logo (blue background version) "morph" into the 1986 Paramount logo (with a smaller Paramount Communications byline), which then morphs into the 1971 version of the 1963 Universal logo. This was only seen on some Brazilian tapes as the beginning of a promotional music video, celebrating 1,000,000 copies of CIC videotapes sold in Brazil.
 * A 1991 trailer tape had the common blue background variant flash into this particular variant. The 1986 Paramount logo also does not morph into the Universal logo.
 * At the end of the Spanish VHS release of Earthquake, an extended variant appears, where titles of movies scroll from bottom to top. After that, the logo starts playing, while the last piece of the text starts scrolling up. Once the logo finishes playing, the text "PARAMOUNT Y UNIVERSAL" stops scrolling and appears on top of the logo.
 * On an Italian promo, the logo is cropped, only leaving the CIC part of the logo playing.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: An ascending synth-choir note, ending with four synth notes that rise in pitch (sounding like 'doo-doo-doo-doo') and a loud hit containing two more notes.

Availability: Best place to check is in a place like Europe, Australia, or South America. VHS releases in Asia and Africa may also have this logo, too.
 * Examples include the original UK issues of The Naked Gun and Back to the Future Part II.
 * One tape that had the blue background variation was Police Squad: Volume One.
 * This logo may also come after a home video logo from that country (such as AVH in Argentina, HVH in Greece, and ITI in Poland).
 * The blue background variant with the marquee appears on some tapes from the era such as the original UK retail releases of Saturday Night Fever and Back to the Future.
 * It was also spotted on the Japanese laserdisc of Back to the Future, although it hasn't been translated through subtitles.
 * Other releases to have this include Back to the Future Part III, Ghost, Kindergarten Cop, Top Gun, Twins, The Naked Gun 2 1/2, Coming To America, The Godfather Part III, Beverly Hills Cop II, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Hunt for Red October and Stepping Out, among others.
 * It was also spotted at the end on a late 1990s TNT airing of American Graffiti with the movie's end theme playing over.
 * It was also spotted at the beginning of a 1994 Brazilian VHS release of Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994), a Full Moon film released by Paramount, with the 6th logo appearing afterwards.
 * The blue background variant also appears on the 1988 UK VHS release of U2: Rattle and Hum.

4th Logo (1986-1992)
Visuals:
 * Opening: The sequence begins with the blue background variant of the previous logo. After it turns, it zooms out onto a scrolling chrome filmstrip and "dissolves" into its respective space. The filmstrip has three boxes in it. The left has the Paramount print logo (with the Gulf+Western byline) engraved in it, the middle box has the CIC Video logo in it, and the box on the right has the Universal print logo of the time (a wireframe globe inside a stylized U with "UNIVERSAL" below) in it. The word "PREVIEW" scrolls past, then the screen is taken up by a white flash.
 * Closing: The sequence starts off with the white flash disappearing, revealing the filmstrip with the "PREVIEW" text on it. It then flips over to reveal the 3 boxes in it. Suddenly, the CIC logo turns full color (that is, blue and white) and zooms up, taking up the entire screen.

Technique: CGI.

Audio:
 * Opening: The music from the 3rd logo, then a deep bass sounder with a laser-like zap noise, and finally the 'doo-doo-doo-doo' noise and the loud hit.
 * On Chilean tapes released by Video Chile, a voiceover is used.
 * Closing: The laser-like zap noise, with the deep bass sounder playing in the background, followed by an abridged version of the 'doo-doo-doo-doo' noise and loud hit.

Availability: Seen on rental tapes (mainly in the UK) from CIC Video, used in tandem with the 3rd logo.
 * These include the 1987 UK VHS release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), among others.
 * It can also be found on plenty of South American tapes as well, particularly NTSC-formatted tapes from Blancic Video in Venezuela, Kyron Home Video in Colombia, and Video Chile in, of course, Chile.
 * It can be also seen on Aussie releases as well such as Stepping Out.

5th Logo (1990's)
Visuals: On a lavender background, a filmstrip passes by at an angle with "CIC VIDEO" on it. Suddenly, one of the CIC Video logos rises from the filmstrip and faces the screen. The "chain" flies forth and brings forth the Portuguese words "", then bounces around and lands in the I of CIC.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The opening variant of the previous logo.

Availability: This was seen on Brazilian NTSC-formatted tapes from the time.

6th Logo (1991-1998)
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Visuals: On a black- gradient background, lights draw in the metallic CIC logo, the chain appears in the "I", and the word "VIDEO" turns in place. Once it's done, one of the following happens:
 * On Paramount movies, the logo zooms out to the left in a box against the same type of background. Then, in another box to the right, Paramount's 1986 logo animates.
 * On Universal movies, the logo zooms out to the right in a box against the same type of background. Then, in another box to the left, Universal's 1990 logo animates.
 * On Aussie releases, the logo zooms up to the top, and two boxes play the Paramount and Universal logos below it. Then, the CIC Video logo zooms in again towards the viewer.
 * The tail end of this variant (starting where the boxes with the logos fade out while the CIC Video logo sits on the center of the camera) was also seen on another Brazilian music video from 1991, this time celebrating 2,000,000 tapes sold.

Variants:
 * On some Czech tapes, the logo is shorter, and also doesn't zoom out.
 * One variant seen on a promo tape for The Naked Gun 2 1/2 has the CIC logo draw in as usual, except the word "NEWS" appears below "VIDEO". This variant uses a generic uplifting orchestral piece, which is part of the promo's soundtrack.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: A peaceful synth-orchestra tune.

Audio Variant: On some tapes including Star Trek: The Next Generation: Volume 22, the tune is higher in tone.

Availability: Seen on many PAL tapes in the UK and Australia.
 * Titles include The Nutty Professor, True Lies (Universal had the rights to the film internationally at that time), The Naked Gun 33 1/3, Forrest Gump, Clueless and Jurassic Park, among others.
 * Strangely, this can also be found on Tom & Jerry: The Movie in Australia despite distributed internationally by Turner Pictures Worldwide (there is no change to the logo).
 * CIC tapes released in the UK between 1993 and 1997 do not have any logo.

7th Logo (1997-1999)
Visuals: Over a - aurora background, the CIC logo in light blue zooms in towards the viewer. Suddenly, the chain glows, causing a flash to appear and reveal the word "WELCOME" below the CIC logo. The logo then zooms in quickly, causing the screen to turn white.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A peaceful chord-like tune, followed by a whoosh sound.

Availability: Seen on Paramount, Universal and DreamWorks releases at the time, mainly in both the UK and Australia from 1997 until 1999.
 * Examples include most Rugrats VHS releases and Mission: Impossible (1996), among many others.
 * The UK VHS release of Beavis and Butt-head Do America might have this logo as well.
 * It also appears on the 1997 UK VHS release of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper: Volume 1 and the 1997 UK VHS re-release of The War of the Worlds (1953), among others.