Rank Home Video

Credits

Descriptions by
Eric S., Wisp2007, and Thisisanswer

Captures by
Eric S., Wisp2007, and Thisisanswer

Video captures courtesy of
LogicSmash, DudeThatLogo and CannonFilms (unofficial fan-base)

Background

Rank Home Video was the home video division of The Rank Organisation.

1st Logo (1980-1982)

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Nickname: "Gongman VHS"

Logo: On a green background, the gong wipes in with a circular motion, followed by an angled rounded rectangle drawing in while making a bit of a shine mark on the gong. After this, the Gongman is drawn, all while the entire logo zooms in. When it's finished drawing, the rectangle flattens out and the logo fades out, while three pairs of white lines draw in, with a trio of three and a single line below it. "RANK" in a segmented rounded font slides in from the left, while "VIDEO" slides in from the right doing the same thing. "LIBRARY" just fades in on the bottom. The white lines then disappear, leaving the segmented text taking up the entire screen. The logo and text are in black.

FX/SFX: The logo drawing in, the lines forming and the text sliding.

Music/Sounds: A whoosh that starts out quiet, but gets louder over time, and the familiar gong sound from the Rank logo plays when the Gongman is drawn. In some cases, the logo is silent.

Availability: Extremely rare. Can be seen on the earliest releases from Rank on VHS and Laserdisc. The silent version appeared on The Wild Geese.

Legacy: The animation is slightly choppy, but it's okay for its time.

2nd Logo (1982-1988)

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Nicknames: "Rank Thunder", “Man Hitting Gong”, "Gongman VHS II"

Logo: On a black background, the word "RANK" in multiple colors comes in from the top of the screen a la the Telepictures "Rollercoaster" logo. "VIDEO" does the same thing as they rest in the middle of the screen, now in a thick white outline. "RANK" then flashes and fills itself with a sky blue color, and "VIDEO" does the same thing. After a bit, the logo flips downward out of view, and the Rank Organisation logo flips in, sans the rectangle and some altered shading on the gong, in the same color as the text. The logo flips out a bit later.

FX/SFX: What appears to be 2D computer animation, though the flipping of the logo and words seems to be a model.

Music/Sounds: We first hear howling wind when the letters come in. Thunderstorm sounds are heard when the text turns sky blue, followed by an ominous synth fanfare.

Availability: Uncommon. Rank released films from Cannon, Orion and Disney in the UK for a certain period. Appears on The Terminator, Over The Top, and Return to Oz, as well as the UK pre-cert release of X-ray and a Laserdisc of Starflight: The Plane that Couldn't Land (aka Starflight One: Perigo no Espaco).

Legacy: Better animation than the previous logo, but the music could creep some people out though.

3rd Logo (1988-1993)

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Nickname: "Gongman VHS III"

Logo: On a black background, we zoom out from the back of the Gongman, colored black with blue highlights all over him. As the camera zooms out and rotates around to reveal the gong, he swings the mallet and hits the gong, producing a large flash that engulfs the entire screen. When the flash dies down, it reveals the alternate Rank logo, now in black and emerald green, shining along the edges and slowly zooming out. After it finishes shining, "Rank Home Video" is wiped in by lights. The logo continues to zoom out before fading, shining once more as it does.

Variant: On a 1988 trailer tape, the logo animation is extended in a which the logo doesn't flash to white after the first gong strike, and instead zooms onto the gong where it's hit a 2nd time, causing the screen to flash white. The entire thing is now on a blue sketchy background and "Rank Home Video" fades in a larger print size for a few seconds before fading back out. At the end of the tape, however, the logo plays out the same as the regular logo, though it first takes place on the blue background before changing to the standard black background.

FX/SFX: An intricate combination of rotoscoping, traditional animation, and '80s CGI.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized fanfare with a gong sound when the man hits the gong.

Availability: Rare. Appeared on Rank releases of Cannon films from 1988-1993.

Legacy: A well-done home video logo.