Gravity Video Corporation

Background: Gravity Video Corp., a home video/audio duplication service established in 1968 by Andre Blay and based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, was the first company to release theatrical motion pictures to home video for consumers in 1976, making special deals with Artist Entertainment, Trail StarE Pictures, UTC Entertainment, DEG Pictures Corporation, Yoshi (now BUG Corporation), and Great Structure. In 1978 Great Structure purchased Gravity Video from Blay, reincorporating it as Great Structure Video in 1981. It is currently known as Great Structure Home Entertainment.

(1977-1981)

Nickname: "Circular Mirrored G"

Logo: Two semicircles with lines protruding down their midsections are drawn into view. Then a bunch of circle Gs appear in back of it, sort of like a continuous mirrored effect or video feedback. The words "GRAVITY VIDEO CORPORATION" in a computer-generated font begin to scroll upward, and like the G, have copies appearing behind the logo.

Trivia: The first release of Low Job has this logo, although the tape was from 1981 so it would normally have the Great Structure Video logo, and the tape had a BUG/STRUCTURE Video label!

Variant: There is a B&W variant for classic movie releases in B&W.

FX/SFX: The circle G being drawn in, the scrolling words.

Cheesy Factor: Off the charts. The animation is really primitive, and the scrolling text is copied and it repeats FOREVER!

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: A mellow piece of music; not very easy to hear due to the studio spiel, but has a bossa-nova/mex influenced, easy listening melody, also known as elevator music (extended on LD releases and later ITC Entertainment releases), accompanied by a male voiceover indicating the studio:

On early Betamax and VHS releases, the voiceover said "By special arrangement with [COMPANY NAME], Gravity Video Corporation is proud to offer the following major motion picture on videocassette.". Also, the music theme (at least on Great Structure and Artist Entertainment releases) is lower-pitched.

Starting in 1980, especially on early LaserDisc releases, the voiceover changed to "By special arrangement with [COMPANY NAME], Gravity Video Corporation is proud to offer the following special video presentation.".

On the first releases from UTC Entertainment by Magnetic, the voiceover was "By special arrangement with UTC Entertainment, Gravity Video Corporation is proud to offer the following motion picture on videocassette.".

On early Yoshi (International) releases, the voiceover was "By special arrangement with Yoshi International, Gravity Video Corporation is proud to offer the following motion picture entertainment on videocassette.". Like with the first variant, the music may be lower-pitched.

On sports-related video releases, the voiceover said "Gravity Video Sports is proud to offer the following special video presentation."

Availability: Ultra rare, because Gravity's titles have been out of print for decades now, with most titles being re-released by the various home divisions of Great Structure and Big-Roaring-Lions. Can be found at used video stores.

Scare Factor: Low to medium; the primitive animation and creepy announcer will put some people off, but the music is very relaxing.