Video Collection International

This article is about the British home video company. For the unrelated American home video company, see VCI Entertainment.

Credits

Descriptions by
Dealydugan1995, Kody-The-Fox and wisp2007

Captures by
rememberedhills, zampakid and Jordan6379

Editions by
mr3urious, ZoDanma, Michael Kenchington, Jonathan Hendricks and Lizz T. Hendricks and Henrynguye5

Background

The Video Collection was renamed to Video Collection International (VCI) in 1994 due to financial difficulties (the name change was applied on-screen the following year), and in 1999 the company was sold to the Kingfisher group. In September 2004, the company merged with BBC Video to form 2 Entertain. The company's legal name was changed to 2 Entertain Video as a result of the merger, but their logo was used on 2 Entertain's releases until September 2005. Starting from September, 2 Entertain began using it's own logo on releases.

Logo (September 11, 1995-September 12, 2005)

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  Standard (1995-2005)

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  DVD version used on widescreen DVD releases (2000-2005)

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  The "DVD Video" screen seen after the VCI logo on fullscreen DVD releases (1999-2005)

Visuals: In front of a black background, there is a grey wire frame globe, a bright light emitting godrays in the top left of the screen and some grey mist below, and in front of those, a metal object flips in, along with a red sphere. This is later revealed to be the "C" in "VCI" in a bold, squished Futura PT Medium font, which flips around as it zooms out (with the sphere in the centre). The letters "V" and "I" would later spin in and arrange themselves vertically.

Variants:

• Two DVD variants were introduced in 1999 and 2000, respectively:
  • For the first variant, the VCI logo plays as normal, but after the animation, the logo fades out, the light glows and the DVD logo fades in. This variant is in a 4:3 ratio and was used on fullscreen DVD releases.
    • On some football DVD releases from 2003-2004 such as Liverpool F.C.: Five Hundred and One Goals and Manchester United: Top Ten Strikers, the DVD logo fades in much faster.
  • For the second variant, the logo footage first appears in stretched 4:3, and then as the logo finishes animating, the background stretches out into a 16:9 ratio, as a metallic DVD logo also forms in the top right of the screen. This variant was used on widescreen DVD releases.
    • On Sindy the Fairy Princess, the logo plays as normal, but after it ends, everything except the VCI text fades to black and the text moves to the left on the screen. The Optical Image logo fades into the right side and the word "Presents" appears.
• A still variant is also seen before the Rosie and Jim episode "Locks" on the 2016 UK DVD release of Rosie and Jim: Bumper Pack.

Technique: CGI animation.

Audio: A synth chime theme is heard alongside some whooshing sounds, with mechanical sounds for the VCI text arranging. Near the end, there are two deep synth notes, ending with a clang and a final chime, all of which is in a similar melody to the Strand VCI Entertainment logo. Composed in E♭ minor and C# major.

Availability: Seen on VCI releases in the UK from the time-period until September 12, 2005.

• However, this does not often appear on VHS releases from Thames Video, due to them mainly using their logo on its own, but appears on some of them (mostly through the 1996 and 1997 VCI Children's trailers).
• Despite the company changing its legal name to 2 Entertain Video in September 2004 after the merger with BBC Video, they continued to use their logo on releases until September 2005. 2entertain then started to use its own logo.

Standard:

• Seen on the start and end of many releases from this time, including Phoenix Nights, Father Ted and later Thomas The Tank Engine releases, among others.
• On DVD, the standard version is only seen at the end of Roo Reveals All (as part of the 2002 Cinema Club DVD release of The Last Polar Bears), the DVD release of Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles, and at the end of Rosie and Jim: Flashing Fire Engine and Other Urgent Adventures. This was because these DVD releases used upscaled VHS masters.
• The last few seconds of it also make a surprise appearance on the 2016 UK DVD release of Rosie and Jim: Bumper Pack, likely due to the master for the episode "Locks" being taken from the Rosie and Jim: Classic Collection master.
• It is also seen on the 1995 UK VHS re-release of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends: Rock 'n' Roll and Other Stories, the 1996 UK VHS releases of Sky Dancers: The Sky's the Limit and 2 Other Episodes, Dragon Flyz: Dragon Dawn and 2 Other Stories, Dragon Flyz: Son Of Dread, and My Little Sesame Street, the 1997 UK VHS releases of Children's Playschool Favourites, and Dennis Pennis R.I.P., the 1998 UK VHS releases of Pinocchio (1992) (Kid's Club release), Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends: Percy and the Signal and Other Stories and Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends: The Runaway and Other Stories (both 1998 re-releases), the 1999 UK VHS releases of The Official Tyne Tees Time Capsule, Michaela Strachan: Wild About Baby Animals, and Captain Pugwash: Captain Pugwash Ahoy, and the 1999 UK promotional VHS release of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends: 3 Splendid Episodes, the 2000 UK VHS releases of Lion Of Oz, East is East (1999), Little Monsters: Sulky Sue Plus Other Stories, and The Last Polar Bears, and the 2002 UK VHS releases of Thomas & Friends: Thomas Goes Fishing and Other Stories (2002 Marks and Spencer re-release), and Art Attack: Monsters and Other Scary Stuff, respectively.
• Despite appearing on the tape labels (and sometimes the covers) of direct reissues/later prints of The Video Collection-era VHS releases, it does not appear on them as they use The Video Collection's 1986-1995 logo instead.

DVD versions:

• The 4:3 version is seen on almost every Thomas and Friends DVD release until the 2 Entertain merger. It is also mostly seen on fullscreen releases such as Lion of Oz (2000), The Wheels on the Bus, various Manchester United DVD releases, The Royle Family, Father Ted, and the 2000 UK DVD release of 1996 adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels, among others.
  • It is also seen as a closing logo on the Manchester United DVD releases.
  • Some widescreen releases use this logo but the logo itself remains in fullscreen however.
• The 16:9 version is seen on a majority of widescreen VCI DVD releases such as on all of the Brum and Engie Benjy DVD releases (the latter's DVD and VHS releases were later distributed by Granada Ventures as a result of Granada ending their partnership with VCI), the 2002 UK DVD release of Popstars: The Rivals, the 2003 UK DVD release of Clarkson: Shootout, and the 2004 UK DVD release of Lawrence Dallaglio, Balls and Mauls, among others.
  • It is also seen on these Thomas & Friends DVD releases: "The Fogman and Other Stories", "Pulling Together!", "It's Great to Be an Engine!", and "Bumper Party Collection!".
  • For some strange reason, it also follows the 2 Entertain logo on the 2005 UK promotional DVD release of Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), despite the 2 Entertain logo only appearing on the packaging.
• On later releases between June and September 2005, such as Fifi and the Flowertots: Fifi's Talent Show, the 2 Entertain logo appears on the packaging, but the VCI logo is used on the actual release.
• It is also seen on DVD releases from Hat Trick Productions, Channel 4 Video, Gullane Entertainment, Granada Video and Ragdoll, respectively.
• The last release to use this logo was the 2005 UK DVD release of My Family: Series 3 (which actually has the 2 Entertain logo on the cover, but the VCI logo is used on the disc).

Legacy: The logo was seen as ominous in the past years (thanks to the dark background, the music, the gigantic text and the logo ending with a long period of silence). Recent years have seen it become a favourite among VHS collectors, however.

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Video Collection International

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