Prism Entertainment (US)

Background

Prism Entertainment is a home entertainment company that was started by Barry Collier in 1984.

Contents

1st Logo (1984-1995)	2nd Logo (1992-1997)	3rd Logo (1994-1995)

1st Logo (1984-1995)

Nicknames: "Neon Videotape (of Doom)", "ZAP", "Black Triangle/Prism", "The Pink Floyd Logo", "Dark Side of the Videotape", "Mom, There's A Giant Flying Neon Videotape in Space!", "Embodiment of all Vaporwave"

Logo: On a black background, we see a blue globe, with longitude and latitude lines. An orange laser shoots across twice, and then forms a neon green outlined videotape. The videotape spins around throughout, and then we zoom in from the globe as the videotape flies off-screen. Then lasers form eight sets of double dots, eight times, forming a triangle. Then it becomes a black 3D triangle with blue outlining, and a line goes through the triangle downward. Then "PRISM" appears, then a laser forms "ENTERTAINMENT". "PRISM" changes its colors throughout.

Trivia:

This logo was produced and complied by Ed Kramer in 1983 at Editel Video in Hollywood (defunct as of mid-1999), using a System IV video synthesizer from Computer Image Corporation of Denver, Colorado (The same people who created the Scanimate computer).
The cassette model is by far the most complex 3-D wireframe ever made on System IV. The endpoints were created using a puck on a data tablet to define the wireframe object, and the spools inside the cassette were produced using digital sine and cosine waves fed into horizontal and vertical perimeters. Small interior spools added low frequency square waves to push sections out to make the teeth of the spools.
The animation of the 3-D wireframe is being drawn by a continuous beam of electrons refreshing the image 60 times per second.
There is no rendering, so everything coming from the System IV happened in real time, and could be adjusted with a digital knob.
As of today, Ed Kramer is now a member of the "Wizards of Hollywood" website.

Variants:

On some laserdisc releases, and later VHS releases from Prism Entertainment, the first part of the logo is cut out, instead going directly to the triangle forming.
A still logo appears on a blue background, with everything in white, and a slogan under that reading "Reflecting a new light in home video."
A B&W variant exists.

FX/SFX: Early CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: A creepy synth tune with synthesized sound effects that resemble a zapping noise when the lasers appear. Recorded using an Oberheim OB-X synthesizer, also by Ed Kramer.

Availability: Rare. Seen on tapes by Prism in the '80s and early '90s, including The Forest, My Little Girl, Night Friend, Legal Tender, Last Call, The Pink Chiquitas, The Arrival, Blood Hook, Red Blooded American Girl, The Boneyard, and The Land of Faraway, among many others. The short version makes strange appearances on Dark Universe and Virtual Assassin.

Legacy: It's an interesting design choice for a logo, and its long lifespan (compared to its successors) helped make it well-liked in the community.

2nd Logo (1992-1997)

Nicknames: "The Prism Cube", "The Rainbow Filmstrip II"

Logo: On a white gradient background, we see six white panels fly in from random parts of the screen extremely fast. The panels collide to form a cube, and the Prism Pictures logo appears on all six sides. The cube then tilts diagonally to face us, and zooms forward, taking up the entire screen.

Variant: On some tapes, the animation is slightly different. The panels come in from different angles, and fly a lot slower. Also, before the panels collide, they spin, and then slowly come together.

FX/SFX: The flying panels, spinning cube, and zooming.

Music/Sounds: Either a droning synth theme fading into two gentle music hums, during which are loud, descending hums, thuds, wooshes, and a twinkle (at least in the logo in the second video above), or a glorious calm fanfare with tube sounds and xylophone sounds. On most releases, the logo is silent. Sometimes there will be an announcer saying "Coming soon from Prism Pictures."

Availability: Used in home video releases. Can be found on later tapes from Prism such as Project: Shadowchaser, Monkey Boy, Fleshtone, The Double O Kid, Phantom of the Ritz, There's Nothing Out There, Abraxas, Still Life, and Baby on Board.

Legacy: Same as before.

3rd Logo (1994-1995)

Nicknames: "The Paintbrush and the Filmstrip", "The Rainbow Filmstrip"

Logo: On a smokey blue background, we see a multicolored filmstrip moving around the screen. After about two seconds, a paintbrush appears on screen and follows the filmstrip until it goes off screen. After the filmstrip goes off screen, the paintbrush paints a straight multicolored line with small squares on each side, making the line look like a filmstrip. The paintbrush then zooms across the area below the line, going off screen and creating the text "PRISM PICTURES." The letters of the text spin around a few times, and then stop. Finally, the smoke in the background turns purple for a second, and then disappears, leaving the background completely black.

FX/SFX: The animated filmstrip, paintbrush, and letters.

Music/Sounds: A fancy-sounding fanfare with tube sounds and xylophone sounds.

Availability: Used in film production. Was seen on Sleepstalker and A Million to Juan.

Legacy: While it's not as popular as the previous logo, it's a good rebrand and a fine successor.