Castle Home Video

Credits

Descriptions by
gshowguy and billywws

Captures by
graaaaagh (Rexeljet), Eric S., MegaAveron25 and TR3X

Editions by
Michael Kenchington

Video captures courtesy of
dylan fagan and Owen Eisensmith

Background

Castle Vision (later Castle Home Video) was the video imprint of British independent record label Castle Communications, which went defunct in 2007 when its then-parent company, Sanctuary Records Group was sold to Universal Music Group (now owned by BMG Rights Management since 2013).

1st Logo (June 1, 1987-1993)

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Visuals: Against a live-action sky background, a white grid can be seen with its tiles advancing forward. This scene then zooms out to reveal that it takes place on a rich lilac-colored background. Once it's zoomed out all the way, the words "CASTLE" and "VISION" on black squares can be seen above and below the sky/grid scene respectively. The sky/grid scene then splits in two and a flash of bright light appears in the middle of the screen, causing the logo to disappear and leaving just the background when it dies down.

Variants:

• On a promo variant, the logo is shortened to when the grid splits in two and is silent, all before fading to the beginning of the promo. At the end, some of the titles are then shown on a still of the grid scene, all before finishing off with a slightly faster version of the logo.
• Sometimes, the logo would be extended for roughly another ten seconds.

Technique: Motion-controlled animation, live-action footage and chroma-key animation.

Audio: A synth-timpani plays throughout. When the sky/grid scene begins to zoom out, a harsh distorted guitar drone begins playing. When the flash of light appears, both the timpani and the guitar stop and a loud, dramatic orchestral sting plays.

Audio Trivia: The guitar drone was also used in the 1991-1993 opening of the Russian news programme Vesti, so the music was probably made from several stock sources.

Availability:

• Seen on all UK VHS releases with the Castle Vision label from the time-period until 1993.
• These include TUGS, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Raggy Dolls, the 1989 UK VHS releases of Tumbledown Farm: Vol 1 and Bright Sparks: Trains, Planes, Boats & Cars, the 1990 UK VHS release of Jennifer Capriati: The Making of a Champion, and the 1991 UK VHS release of You've Been Framed!, among others.
• It is also seen on international prints, such as the 1990 Danish VHS release of Hagar/Basserne (Beetle Bailey).

2nd Logo (October 19, 1988-1998?)

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Visuals: On a white cloudy background, three blue down arrows fly to the middle of the screen. A blue shaded square appears on the arrows, shading them and forming an abstract portcullis design, while the background fades to white. Then, a chrome ribbon circles around the portcullis, and a thin red line draws in from the left below the square. The text "CASTLE HOME VIDEO" appears under the line, then flashes.

Variants:

• Sometimes, "HOME VIDEO" would be replaced with "PICTURES".
• An alternate version of the above variant exists, where the logo is placed a bit higher; a filmstrip instead of the chrome ribbon covers half of the portcullis design, and two red lines are being drawn in from the left. "CASTLE" in Garamond, and "Pictures" in Laser Std Chrome, both in chrome, are enclosed between the lines and flash. The logo then cuts to black.
• The logo may cut off or fade out.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A dramatic synth note, which is a stock sound effect used in some horror films, coupled with three loud whooshes, a phaser-like sound and a reversed cymbal crash.

Availability:

• Seen on some of the company's titles from the time-period such as Through The Fire and Vampire Knights. Most releases, however, use the next logo.
• The variant with "Castle Pictures" is seen on the UK prints of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989).

3rd Logo (October 2, 1989-1999)

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Visuals: On a black background, a teal square with a blue, stylized, slightly slanted portcullis (the print logo for Castle Communications) appears. Below, there are the words "CASTLE vision" with "CASTLE" in teal, placed inside a black bar.

Variant: A white version exists.

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability:

• Seen on most UK VHS releases by Castle Vision from the time-period until 1999.
• These include the 1992 UK VHS release of Jingle Bells/Twas The Night Before Christmas, the 1993 UK VHS release of Popeye: Popeye at Sea, the 1994 UK VHS release of Captain Zed And The Zee Zone: Revenge of the Killer Bunnies, the 1995 UK VHS release of Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings, and the 1996 UK VHS release of Inspector Gadget: Tyrannosaurus Gadget, among others.
• This is notably also seen on a handful of English-dubbed Russian programmes co-distributed by Krupny Plan.

4th Logo (1990-1992)

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Visuals: Against a white/blue gradient sky with a reddish-white horizon and a midnight blue ground, a scarlet, an amber and a celadon green arrow, all with elongated tails and a black drop shadow fly down to the middle one-by-one and the tails shorten. Then two parallelograms with "CASTLE" and "VIDEO" in a modified Microgramma font slide in from the left and from the right respectively, forming the portcullis design, and the company name flashes.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Three loud whooshes as the arrows fly down and a slamming sound when the company name flashes.

Availability: It can be seen on a few releases, like Izzy & Moe: Bootleg Busters.

5th Logo (1999-2007)

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Visuals: Cutting in from the warning screen is a space background with the Earth and the sun in the distance. The screen pans over the lowercase letters "castle", as if the camera is standing on the letters, from left to right. Around the letter "t", the camera pans down and sharply turns in the opposite direction, then zooms out to reveal the text is rotating around the Earth (a la the Universal logo). As this happens, a series of rainbow light trails (a la Star Trek) cover the space background; after a couple seconds, the screen flashes white to reveal nothing but the words "castle" and "HOME VIDEO" on a rainbow-colored ellipse.

Technique: CGI animation.

Audio: A trance theme that ends with a guitar chord.

Availability: Seen on releases by the company from the time period until 2007.

• These include the 1999 UK VHS releases of Jimbo And The Jet Set: The Little Big Problem, Stoppit and Tidyup, and Jingle Bells/Twas The Night Before Christmas (both 1999 re-releases of the latter), among others.