Logos[]
1st logo (1983 - 1984)[]
On a gray background, a thick drawing of a small building "slides" up. Another building grows behind it and the last one "slides" from the right side of it, forming a stylized house with heavy black outlines (Random House's corporate logo). After that, a square wipes in behind the house, with five lines in the left side which colors itself in with rainbow colors while the right one stays blank. Finally, the white words "RANDOM HOUSE VIDEO" with a black drop shadow fly in from the bottom of the house and the rainbow. The logo then fades out, leaving us with only the gray background.
2nd logo (1984 - 2009)[]
On a shady amethyst-colored background, six rainbow-colored lines are drawn onto the screen by light rays in different directions. The lines sharply angle around 45 degrees near the edge of the screen. As the lines begin to finish drawing, the parts of a stylized house (the same one from before) begin to slide onto the screen at the area where the lines suddenly slope. The rainbow and the house zoom out as the rainbow begins to retract. The sloped section disappears completely as a diagonal beam of light draws a sharp black outline around the house and the rainbow. The words "RANDOM HOUSE" fade in and zoom out underneath the rainbow/house combo, and the words "HOME VIDEO" zoom in below it from the center.
3rd logo (1988 - 1989)[]
We fade in to a white background where we see the Random House logo from before, with the white door, windows, and the five rainbow lines, though it looks animated and less detailed. We suddenly zoom out from the logo which actually improves its quality and that it is actually a printing on a filmstrip container against a coral pink background. It spins around and later opens up. A folded filmstrip comes out of the container, later unfolding. Floating by its side comes an audio cassette with the dark blues-background label "RH" and the B&W Random House logo right beside it. The audio cassette and the filmstrip suddenly enter the "tape" edge of a VHS tape, which has the text "RANDOM HOUSE, INC." on the tape label, and also contains the Random House logo on the end label. The VHS enters a VCR that eventually lights up. We pan into a television screen with the Random House logo on a violet background, later filling up the whole screen. The logo zooms out, and the text "RANDOM HOUSE PRESENTS" fades in. Depending of the video collection distributed on the tape, more text fades in below.
Music/sounds[]
1st logo: A bell ring (the "T.BL-EXPA" patch off of Yamaha's DX7) when the first part of the house "slides" up and a bright string-like synth arpeggio that repeats itself as the bell fades to a synthesized drone.
2nd logo: A synth fanfare that ends with a synthesized cymbal crescendo as "RANDOM HOUSE" fades in. A chime arpeggio is heard as "HOME VIDEO" zooms in, followed by a deep bass note, and a brief synthesized autoharp stinger before the logo fades out.
3rd logo: A low-pitched, extended version of the 1st logo's theme with an additional synth fanfare.
Scare factor[]
1st logo: Low. The music can scare some.
2nd logo: Minimal to low. The synth fanfare can scare some, but this is a great logo, and it is a favorite of many.
3rd logo: Low to medium. The extended version of the 1st logo's fanfare may scare a few.
Videos[]
Gallery[]
.jpeg "Random House Home Video (1983).jpeg (30 KB)")
.png "Random House Home Video (1984).png (593 KB)")