Ascot Elite Entertainment Group

Background
Ascot Elite is a German distribution company.

1st Logo (1982-1996)
Nicknames: "Seasonal's German Brother." "Rainbow with only 4 colors", "What did they do with Seasonal?"

Logo: We see a black background then we see 4 rings what are red, orange, yellow and blue spinning in a spiral, then they stop into place then a white box with a black outline slides up turning the background white and the the word "ASCOT" zooms out letter by letter the "ZEIGT" fades in.

Variants: On some movies,there was no announcer.

FX/SFX: The Rings, the box and the letters.

Music/Sounds: The bombastic fanfare from the Seasonal Film Corporation logo followed by an announcer. Music/Sounds Variants: The bombastic fanfare from the Seasonal Film Corporation logo.

Cheesy Factor: The stolen music is one thing (the fact the announcer isn't even replaced in the variants featuring it is the cherry on top in that department), but the constant cuts to make the logo fit the Seasonal Film Corporation jingle are jarring and poorly done. What's stranger though is that Seasonal Film Corporation originally distributed the film this appeared on, likely meaning this is a glorified plastering job, one suffering from jarring jump cuts.

Availability: Seen on Ninja in the Dragon's Den.

Scare Factor: Low to high due to the bombastic fanfare, but don't you dare ask about its successor.....

2nd Logo (1996-2006?)
Logo: The first thing we see is a close up of someone's eye closed, which is tinted blue. Suddenly, the eye opens, and then we zoom into his/her pupil, and many colorful circles before coming across 5 c-shaped arches, zooming out at us. After the last arch zooms out, a flash appears, turning the arches white. The flash dims down inside the last arch, in which that and the rest of the arches appear white. We see the white arches forming the final product of the logo. The combined arches zoom in, expand in size, and stretches down. The name ASCOT ELITE Entertainment Group appears below the logo, in between white lines, with ASCOT ELITE stacked on top of Entertainment Group.

Variants: A silent version.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: A combination of live action and CGI, which actually welds quite well together, but the way the logo forms after the flash looks cheap, looking as if it was made in the 70s.

Music/Sounds: An mystery-themed synth orchestral sounder, accompanied by many synth whooshes, and if you listen closely, a 1-note synth tune.

Availibility: Unknown.

Scare Factor: High to nightmare. The most notable thing people will be scared by is the eye at the beginning and the fast and sudden zoom in to it. The animation and the music will also not sit well with some people, which accompanies its very dark atmosphere. Although, if you're a fan of bizarre logos, it's a feast for the eyes.

===3rd Logo (????-2014)

Logo: On a black background, various metallic particles form a rectangular box containing the arch from the previous logo along with the text "ASCOT ELITE home entertainment" to the right of it.

Variants: There is a longer variant, which starts with a light-gray galaxy, set on a gray space background. Posters of multiple films/shows (Gallowwalkers, Maniac, Emperor, The Imposter, Drift, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, SAGA: The Shadow Cabal, Hit and Miss, I never promised you a Rose Garden, Wolfblood, Professor Balthazar, The Foster Boy, Agent Hamilton: But not if it concerns your daughter, The Blue Max) zoom out of the screen, heading for the galaxy. Right before the Agent Hamilton poster, an explosion occurs. Then we fade to the black background with shards, and the animation continues as usual.

FX/SFX: The particles forming the logo. A straightforward logo...

Cheesy Factor: ...that is, for the short version. The first half of the website intro variant looks like a simple Adobe Flash creation.

Music/Sounds: Metallic crinkling and sliding sound followed by a whoosh.

Music/Sounds Variants: Before the main sound effects, there's a dramatic guitar-orchestra theme that ascends in pitch, followed by, after 11 seconds, an explosion, with the sounds of glass shattering.

Availability: The main version was seen on German prints of certain movies. The website intro variant can currently be seen exclusively on the Ascot Elite website.

Scare Factor: Regular Variant: Minimal to low. It's less bizarre than the previous logo, so it shouldn't be hard to deal with. Website Intro Variant: Low to medium, due to the explosion in the middle of the logo.

4th Logo (2014-)


Logo: In a semi-homage to the first logo, we see a close up of of a pale woman's eye. It proceeds to open as the logo zooms into the pupil, showing off the inner mechanisms of the eye (which are made up of small metallic cubes). Pieces of the arches from the previous logo move forward and come together on the left of a rectangular outline as the text "ASCOT ELITE home entertainment" forms from small metallic cubes. The inside of the outline becomes darker as a shine forms beneath the outline.

FX/SFX: The eye movement, the particle movement, the arch alignment. It's a massive improvement over the 1st logo.

Cheesy Factor: The only problem with this logo is that at the end, while fading out, the camera pans to the right.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic orchestral theme.

Availibilty: Seen on newer releases from the company.

Scare Factor: Low.