Magna Home Entertainment
Background
Starting in 1985, Magna Home Entertainment has been distributing various tapes and DVDs into Australia. In 2009, Magna Home Entertainment was bought by the Beyond Group. The label mainly distributes children's animation, movies such as Dances With Wolves and it was the current distributor of the English dub of Pokemon. In 2011, it was folded into the Beyond Group to become part of Beyond Home Entertainment.
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Magna Vision
Logo (Late 1980s?-Mid 1990s?)
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Visuals: On a black background, the following text fades in, formatted like this:
THE FOLLOWING EXCLUSIVE
FOOTAGE HAS BEEN RECORDED
ON A HIGH QUALITY
MAGNA
V I S I O N
VIDEO CASSETTE.
The "MAGNA V I S I O N" text is actually the company's logo, with "MAGNA" being a metallic silver-blue color and bars extending down from the "M" and the second "A", of which "V I S I O N" is in a bar connected to the aforementioned letters. The logo shines once before it fades out.
Footage of a male Victoria's riflebird, residing in a jungle setting, then fades in, followed by footage of a female perched into a tree, as a black transparent bar fades in below, reading "THE AUSTRALIAN "RIFLE BIRD"" in white with a black drop shadow, before fading out several seconds later. The footage continues to show the mating ritual of the riflebirds: The male chirps loudly before expanding his plumage, and dramatically opening up his wings in an arch shape while opening his mouth. The female is captured in his spectacular display and flies off towards him. She lands onto the stump he's resting on and begins to watch his dances in awe, before she does the same thing in a mating dance-off. The female, in defeat presumably, flies off, and then the male dances happily in winning her over.
Finally, the footage shows the male bird spreading his wings and opening his beak again, but the footage freezes and fades to a evening sky background, with a drawing of the bird shown exactly before the footage transitioned. The Magna Vision logo then zooms in below the rifle-bird, and begins to shine on its edges until the logo slowly fades out.
Technique: Live action footage mixed with 2D animation.
Audio: A didgeridoo tune with strings in the background and wildlife sounds, as well as the loudly enhanced whooshing of the riflebird's wings (which can be heard in real life). At the end, a male announcer says "Magna Vision, Australian owned, Australian made".
Availability: Probably seen on their earlier VHS releases; for example, an early 1990s VHS release of The Jungle Book (1942 film).
Magna Pacific
1st Logo (Mid 1990s?-2002)
Visuals: On a white background, a different riflebird drawing is seen in the same pose as the previous logo's drawing, but with the head repositioned and various green/sky blue/purple shades colored all over its feather. Below the logo is the following text formatted as shown:
MAGNA
PACIFIC
ENTERTAINING
& INFORMING
"MAGNA PACIFIC" is in a antique-looking font.
Variants:
- On earlier releases, the logo is styled after the previous logo, and has a smaller, more vertically stretched version of the riflebird. The text is colored in a teal/white tricolor gradient, and the bar is now deep sky blue with "P A C I F I C" in a different font from before. The logo is also centered.
- Sometimes, the logo is positioned horizontally, with the riflebird on the left and the "ENTERTAINING & INFORMING" text all in one line. The logo is also noticeably stretched.
- A version with a black background exists.
Technique: Possible hand-painted work for the riflebird, computer graphics for everything else.
Audio: None.
Availability: Seen on VHS tapes and early DVDs (such as their first DVD release of Dances with Wolves and FairyTale: A True Story) by the company. The second variant can seen on their DVD release of the 1996 film adaption of Emma. The black background variant was seen on their 2000 VHS release of Dungeons and Dragons.
2nd Logo (2002-2006)
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Visuals: On a grey background, a blue spotlight sweeps up from the bottom left corner, followed by another from the bottom right, and the 2 sweep across the screen. In the middle, strange bulges start to poke out of the center of the screen, resembling a donut with 2 lines below it. The bulges then turn into the Magna Pacific logo from before, but all in black and with the riflebird being merely an outline, as they emit blue light. Then, all of the spotlights sweep away and turn the background black, before a lens flare appears and turns the logo into a blue relief version, which slowly gets brighter.
Variants:
- On some VHS releases, the URL "www.magnapacific.com.au" is cheaply tacked on beneath the logo.
- There is a short version that can be found at the end of their releases.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: Soft synth droning. followed by zapping sounds for the revealing for the logo. A dramatic stinger follows and a glass sound is heard for the shining at the end.
Availability: Seen on all Magna Pacific releases during this period, such as their releases of Sheeep, Bratz, Winx Club (4kids dub), Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4Kids dub) and Totally Spies!. It also appears on the Australian release of the Pingu DVD "Pingu Forever!".
3rd Logo (2006-2009)
Visuals: The camera starts off within green-tinted water, floating up to the gleaming surface. When it emerges, it reveals a sepia-colored galleon floating about with a cloudy black sky looming overhead, and the camera starts to revolve around it. The ship rocks back and forth, various ropes swinging freely, as the camera pans across its main mass and onto the other side, where the sun's rays start to intensify and turn the background white. The new Magna Pacific logo then fades in, consisting of a "waving" red square with a white silhouette of the main mast on it, and "MAGNA PACIFIC" below in a different font then before.
Variant: A still version exists.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: Various water and creaking sounds coming from the ship with a light orchestral theme which sounds a bit like what one would hear on Pirates of the Caribbean.
Availability: Seen on all Magna Pacific releases from 2006 to 2009.
Magna Home Entertainment
Logo (2009-2011)
Visuals: Just the "MAGNA" text from before, along with "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" below in a generic font, colored white.
Technique: A still graphic.
Audio: None.
Availability: Seen on all releases by Magna after 2009 before its demise.
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Magna Home Entertainment |
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