Just for Kids Home Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Revision as of 15:13, 11 November 2022 by imported>Shakla (pov)


Background

Just for Kids originally started as a children's sub-arm of Celebrity Home Entertainment. When its parent company entered bankruptcy protection in 1991, Just for Kids spun off into its own company and released videos until the late 1990s (though some were still in print in the early 2000s). In 2001, Just for Kids was folded into Sterling Entertainment Group.

1st Logo (1987-1989)

Nickname: “The Neon Sign”

Logo: Same as the regular counterpart, except "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" fades out and the logo finishes its writing to "Celebrity's". A small "Just For KIDS" logo (a purple crayon with "Just For" on it with "KIDS" below in white jumbled letters with black outlines and covered in blue, orange, green, and yellow crayon scribbles, with the crayon scribbling on the "K") on a white square, then flips in toward the bottom right.

Variants:

  • On some tapes, we see live action shots of kids playing outside (wearing "Celebrity's Just For KIDS" t-shirts, naturally). One kid, indoors, searches through his collection of videos until he finds one he wants to play (all the videos are of "Celebrity's Just For KIDS", obviously). He picks a video that has a white cover with the "Celebrity's Just For KIDS" logo on it. He pops the video in his VCR and stares at the TV. When the other kids come inside, the kid in front of the TV turns to them and says "Check out what Celebrity's doing just for kids!". The logo's animation plays on the screen (on a side note, the TV is not actually on; the logo and its animation are superimposed onto the screen. Watch it carefully and you'll see). The main kid is played by Noel Bloom Jr., son of Celebrity Home Entertainment founder Noel C. Bloom.
  • Sometimes, the tail end of the logo plays, when the "Just For KIDS" logo flips in.
  • Sometimes, the words "ALSO AVAILABLE FROM" appear above.
  • Sometimes, the logo is still, like its adult counterpart.
  • On Just For Kids All-Star Theatre: Volume 1, the text "A Special Presentation" in Brush Script, cheaply wipes in downwards. There are also kids talking in the background.

FX/SFX: Same as the Celebrity logo, but with the flipping logo.

Music/Sounds:

  • Same as the Celebrity Home Entertainment logo.
  • On the version with the kids, a synth-driven pop rock tune is heard instead, which is actually a stock music piece called "Reaching for Stars" from Big Score Music (it was also used as the instrumental to Shandi Sinnamon's single "Making It").

Availability: Rare, but more common than its parent company.

  • Seen on video prints of DiC/NBC's Kissyfur, for example. Look for the Just for Kids logo on the side of a videocassette box. If it has "Celebrity's" above it, it contains this logo or the next one.
  • This also appears on Macross in Clash of the Bionoids (which did NOT have Harmony Gold's official seal) and Cyborg 009 in Defenders of the Vortex.

2nd Logo (1988-1989)

Nicknames: "Celebrity in Space", "Cheesy Space"

Logo: On a zooming space background, the same script from before is seen, but with a brighter pink color. The "Just For KIDS" logo from before, with a bright pink border, spins in from the left side of the screen. After about a second or two, the "Just For KIDS" logo zooms in, which is the same as before except with a lower contrast on it, taking up the whole screen.

FX/SFX: The space background, the logo spinning and taking up the whole screen.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1st logo, but higher-pitched. Sometimes it is silent or has a male voiceover saying "Look what Celebrity's doing just for kids.".

Availability: Extremely rare. Can be found at the end of a tape of the Japanese anime Locke the Superpower. The variant with the voice over can be seen at the end of tapes before any previews.

3rd Logo (1989-2001)


Nicknames: “The Balloon Castle”, "100% Just For Kids"

Logo: First, a circle outline irises in on a black background. Then, on a background situated with balloons going up into the sky from a castle on a hill, a red balloon with “100%” on it zooms in towards us. It then gets popped by a blue crayon with “Just For” on it flying in. The word “KIDS”, looking just like before, except with the lack of a scribble on the "K" and darker colors, later jumps up from the castle and dips down. The "Just For" crayon returns and scribbles on the "K" as the slogan "The Name to Remember in Children’s Entertainment" fades in below the completed logo.

FX/SFX: The balloons, the crayon popping the balloon, the letters zooming in and dipping down, the crayon scribbling on the "K".

Music/Sounds: A playful synth-tuba tune with drums, ending with a somber synth sounder.

Availability: Uncommon.

  • Seen on the company's tapes from this era, like The Magical Forest, The Tin Soldier, Happy Ness: The Secret of the Loch and the For Better or for Worse specials.
  • Also seen on some late 90's Just for Kids tapes from Cinépix Film Properties, including The BFG. This logo can be seen as many as three times on some of these tapes.
  • This also appears on EP Mode reprints of catalog titles such as Revenge of the Ninja Warrior and Gamera vs. Guiron.
  • This is preserved at the end of the DVD release of The Adventures of Scamper the Penguin, even after Feature Films for Families acquired the rights to the film.
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