Buena Vista Productions

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Background

Buena Vista Productions was the former production arm of Walt Disney Television International. It has no relation to a later company of the same name, which was later renamed to ABC Media Productions. It was founded in 1989, and went defunct in the early 2000s.

1st Logo (1989?-early 1990s?)


Visuals: On a black background, there is the usual Abstract Disney Castle in blue. On the bottom is the text Buena Vista Productions in white, with "Productions" to the bottom of "Buena Vista", and copyright date below all of it in a different font. After this, all the text apart from "Buena Vista" fades away, with Distributed by fading on the top, and International, Inc. below in a gray font.

Technique: A fading effect.

Audio: The end theme to the special.

Availability: The only known use of this logo was on a Christmas episode of the French series Disney Parade called "Disney Parade Spécial Noél" ("Disney Parade Christmas Special"), which aired on TF1 on December 24, 1989. Might have appeared on other episodes of the show from this time period.

2nd Logo (1989-2001?, 2018?-December 30, 2022)


Visuals: It's almost the same as the 1986 Walt Disney Television and Buena Vista Television logos, but with "Buena Vista Productions" below. The "Productions" text fades in a few seconds after the logo starts.

Variants:

  • On some shows, a copyright notice was shown.
  • An opening variant that doesn't feature "Productions" fading also exists. This appeared on later episodes of Disney Parade.
  • A still variant exists. This was spotted on the UK version of the 1992 TV special The Grand Opening of Euro Disney, and versions of the TV special from other regions, i.e. Spain.
  • On the American airing of the said special, it crossfades to a (.*) version also appeared on later episodes of Disney Parade in France. The German version of The Disney Club also does the same, but also had a (.*) version as well around circa 1995.
  • On Stick with Me, Kid, another version of the still variant adds "Ltd." next to it. After a few seconds, it incorporates a computer-generated turn-around that changes to the Buena Vista International logo.
  • On the Russian version of The Disney Afternoon (known as Club Disney) and the German Super RTL program Disney News, the text is bolder and "Productions" doesn't fade in after the logo starts, it crossfades to the Buena Vista International logo.
  • A variant appears on Che fine ha Fatto Carmen Sandiego? (the Italian version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?). The text uses a different font and the arc and castle are off-center.
  • An alternate version of the Italian logo has the standard Buena Vista Productions text under the off-center castle.
  • On later seasons of the Danish version of The Disney Afternoon, as well as the Spanish version, the logo zooms backward to about halfway up the screen.
  • On the UK version of the Disney Club, the logo is still, the background is darker and the arc is also closer to the castle. "For" is seen below the company name. This is then followed by the 1989 Scottish Television for ITV endcap.
  • On a 1994 episode of Saturday Disney, the logo zooms out a bit to the top once it's finished, and below it, "for", "GMTV", and copyright information fade in on top of each other.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The same ascending pings as the Walt Disney Television logo used at the time, or the ending theme to the show/special.

Audio Variant: On '90s episodes of the Australian version of Saturday Disney, the closing theme plays along with the bells. There was also an announcement that said "Saturday Disney is produced in conjunction with Buena Vista Productions for the Seven Network."

Availability: Most of the shows this logo appeared in haven't been released on home media. It has been seen on multiple international formats that Disney produced. This includes programming blocks, TV specials and gameshows.

  • It appears on several in-house Disney productions (mostly using The Disney Afternoon format) produced outside the United States, such as The Disney Club (in most countries), Disney News in Germany, and Saturday Disney in Australia.
  • It also showed up on European versions of several Disneyland Paris television specials, including The Grand Opening of Euro Disney, Disney's Night of Magic from Euro Disney and The Euro Disney Christmas Special, respectively.
  • It also appeared on the localized German, Italian, and Spanish versions of the game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, which Disney co-produced.
  • The crossfading variant is also only known to appear on both the North American airing of The Grand Opening of Euro Disney and the German version of The Disney Club, respectively.
  • The copyright stamp variant is used on the Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Israeli versions of The Disney Afternoon called Disney Sjov, Disneyklubben, Disney Festival and Club Disney, respectively.
  • This logo was last seen on the aforementioned Disney Sjov, the Danish version of The Disney Afternoon, aired on DR1 from December 30, 2022 (officially ending Disney and DR's broadcast partnership in that region).
Buena Vista Productions
Buena Vista International Television
Walt Disney Productions UK
Walt Disney Productions Limited Spain
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