Abril Vídeo

Background

Abril Vídeo was the home video division of Grupo Abril, one of the biggest publishers in Brazil, founded in 1983 and a major VHS distributor of mainly Disney videos. Grupo Abril's ties to Disney date to 1950, as they are an official distributor of their comics in Brazil. Abril Video would later become the official distributor of 20th Century Fox and Playboy Home Video videos for years. The company, however, would be dissolved in 1999 due to Disney and Fox now publishing their own titles domestically, as well as the slow decline of VHS as a leading format.

Contents

1st Logo (1986?-1990)	2nd Logo (1988-1994)	3rd Logo (1994-1999)

1st Logo (1986?-1990)

Visuals: Over footage of fireworks at night, the Abril Video logo fades in with a white color and a barely-visible black drop shadow. The logo consists of a stylized tree with many outlined leaves, which is sandwiched between the text "abril vídeo" in a boxy font that's also segmented. The spaced-out text "apresenta" in a more generic font, quickly appears below after the logo fades in. After a few seconds, the logo and text fade out at different speeds, leaving the fireworks before they cut to black.

Trivia: The footage shown was filmed in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) during New Year's Eve.

Technique: Live-action and computerized 2D graphics.

Audio: Either the 2nd half of the 1986 Walt Disney Home Video logo's music, or a loud, triumphant synth fanfare.

Availability: It can be found on several Disney tapes from the time period, like Dumbo, Mary Poppins, More Tales of Pluto, and more. The 2nd music variant was spotted on Pato Donald no Oeste. It may have also possibly appeared on Fox and Playboy tapes.

2nd Logo (1988-1994)

Visuals: On a black background, the camera zooms out from a multi-colored metallic tunnel, changing colors as it reveals the Abril logo, now in green. As it zooms out, the inside turns blue, then silver, as several stripes retract. As the logo settles into place, the stripes reveal themselves to be the same "abril vídeo" text, of which the stripes turn green once they retracted. The tree then turns 2.5D (keeping a bevel effect) and the background fades to a dark grey background with barely visible Abril trees.

Technique: Zooming effects and CGI.

Audio: A descending synth "wah" sound, with laser sounds for the stripes, and then ending with a "bong". A variant had an announcer and the beginning of the 2nd international Walt Disney Home Video logo.

Availability: It debuted on a tape of Mickey's Christmas Carol before fully debuting 2 years later. It can be seen on all tapes from 1990-1994, like The Little Mermaid, as well as more Fox and Playboy tapes.

3rd Logo (1994-1999)

Visuals: On a rotating and zooming space background, 2 large stone filmstrips fly across the top and bottom of the screen, each embossed with a white background with a filmstrip going up at an angle, as well as having a translucent green Abril logo on them. Upon reaching the end of the filmstrips, an additional one comes down from the top and shows a 3D Abril logo, colored in silver with green faces, coming up from the bottom of the screen and flying up. As it zooms into the screen, 2 additional silver/green monoliths come in from behind the camera and rotate down to reveal themselves as the same "abril vídeo" from before, but without any stripes in them. The tree then rotates a full turn before everything settles into place, the filmstrip background taking up the whole screen.

Variants:

A short variant exists, with just the animation shown on the filmstrip playing. The logo is also a bit smaller.
Starting in 1998, the company would be referred to as Videos Abril. The name would be updated to be reflected as such, and the text is now placed above the Abril logo in a stacked formation. The text also comes in from the left and right sides of the screen as well.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: An upbeat synth pop tune, with a guitar playing in the middle of the logo. The short version has it abridged.

Availability: Seen on a Brazilian VHS release of Demon in the Bottle, among other Disney, Fox, and Playboy tapes.