Mokran Video

Background

Mokran Video (목란비데오) is a state-owned home entertainment company from North Korea, founded in December 1992. Mokran Video retains the distribution rights of every single audiovisual works from the country, such as films, documentaries, TV shows, music and stage compilations; as well of foreign productions. They have also recently dubbed and distributed some international content (which had previously been unavailable in North Korea), most of it being animated films like The Lion King (1994), Ratatouille and the Shrek film series.

Contents

1st Logo (December 1992?-Mid 1990's)	2nd Logo (Mid 1990's-)	3rd Logo (Late 1990's-)

1st Logo (December 1992?-Mid 1990s)

Visuals: On a space background, a magnolia flower appears with its petals folded. Then the petals unfurl as a golden TV screen border fades in. Green, blue and red stripes appear from the magnolia, and the Korean company name in moving rainbow letters appears letter-by-letter.

Trivia: The magnolia flower shown is the Magnolia sieboldii, North Korea's national flower.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on early VHS releases of national movies such as Snow on a Spring Day.

2nd Logo (Mid 1990s-)

Visuals: On a blue background, a globe is shown rotating on the bottom of the screen. Above it is a star emitting sparks (similar to how the radio tower on the RKO logo emits signals). Then, the globe stops rotating with the Korean peninsula highlighted in pink, and a pink light comes out of it and illuminates the star, which morphs into a magnolia. The light disappears, and two pink outlines split from the magnolia into Korean characters in circles. The characters give out small multicolored dots to the magnolia, and after that they morph into a black tube with rainbow streaks behind the magnolia. After all of that, 5 multicolored lines with white squares come out from the magnolia. The camera zooms to the magnolia, and once it stops, the background changes into a black background with pink stars and lines. Five circles zoom out from the lines, which disappear, and the company name in Korean, colored in red, zooms out to underneath the magnolia, then another set of lines and circles appear and do the same way, with the same Korean company name, but with a rainbow effect within the words, which then zooms out and overlays the red company name. Finally, "MOKRAN VIDEO" zooms in with a trail effect, then dissolves into pink petals, causing the flashing grid road below and some bubbles around it to appear.

Variant: There is an early version, where the land on the Earth is colored tan. The star is not in the variant, and the pink light are dots. The background never changes. This was used until the mid 2000s.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: A dreamy synth theme with futuristic noises thrown into it.

Availability: Seen on their VHS, VCD and DVD releases of national movies (such as Lighthouse and True to Their Oath), cartoons like Squirrel and Hedgehog, music videos and live performances from state ensembles, and live events such as the Arirang Mass Games.

3rd Logo (Late 1990s-)

Visuals: A computerized shot of the ocean at sunset fades in. A closed magnolia is seen spinning by fading in and slowly opens, as the ocean background turns pink. Two Korean letters then appear from the sides and place below the spinning magnolia. An arc of text then drops down from the magnolia and spreads to reveal "Mokran Video", and the ocean background turns green, before going normal again. Sparkles appear on the text and magnolia.

Technique: 3D animation.

Audio: A piano/string piece.

Availability: Seen on their DVD releases of music videos and karaoke, and state compilations of live performances.