Digital Cinema Media

Logo descriptions by It'sATrap

Image captures by SnowflakesOmega

Editions by SnowflakesOmega,TheBigLogoFan2 and rj4712

Background: Digital Cinema Media is Europe's most profitable cinema advertising company, formed by UK cinema chains Odeon and Cineworld. It started off in the 60's/70's as Rank Screen Advertising, supplying adverts for Rank/Odeon cinemas (hence the name). They stayed like this until 1996, when they were bought by Carlton Communications and renamed Carlton Screen Advertising. The company's UK and Irish services were split after Odeon and Cineworld acquired the UK operations and renamed it to its current name; Carlton's operations in Ireland remained until March 2014, when it was rebranded as Wide Eye Media. This was the last Carlton-owned company to use their name, long after their purchase by Granada in 2004.

1st Logo (1969?-1973)
Nickname: "The Cube/Pyramid in the Abyss"

Logo: On a black background, a bunch of green squares inside of each other is seen in the center of the screen. The squares then roll to the left, revealing it's a cube with that pattern on it. The cube then rolls more in sync with the music until it turns to reveals "Rank Advertising Films presents" in an abstract font dead center of the screen. The closing variant has a pyramid with a spiral pattern on it which rolled until it shows the address off-center.

FX/SFX: Stop-motion animation of the cube/pyramid rolling around.

Music/Sounds: A dark piano and cello tune that plays in sync with the rolling.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1973-1977)
Logo: On a space background, we slowly zoom into, there is a "10" with clips in it in the middle of the screen. The clips then start playing as the countdown starts. When it reaches "0", it cuts to black. The closing variant had the name in a lined font appearing one by one with the address in a box of clips.

FX/SFX:The countdown and background.

Music/Sounds: A funky disco tune with "space"-like effects.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1977-1988)
Nickname: "70's Space II"

Logo: On the same background as before, a huge letter R (in white) slides on from the left side of the screen, and (with a kind of "ghosting" effect) shrinks into a different place. Then the letters A N and K do exactly the same, and they spell the word RANK. When they are in place, the words "screen" and "advertising" slide up from the bottom of the screen one by one with the same ghosting effect, and then a smaller "present" flies on from the top of the screen in the same fashion. The closing had the text formed with the address trailing up.

FX/SFX/: The "ghosting" of the words/letters.

Music/Sounds: A rather stereotypical "space" synth tune.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1988-1996)
Nickname: "Projector Parts"

Logo: On a metallic background, we see two projector sprocket wheels with film going through them. We zoom onto the film and a light shines through the sprockets. It cuts to two film reels each with film coming on and off of them. We again zoom onto the film, and a light shines through the sprockets like before. We then cut to a close up of the side of some shiny object, which then spins around. It is revealed to be a projector lens. Light shines through the lens (there's a whole lot of light in this logo!) and then the words "RANK SCREEN ADVERTISING" appear on the lens. The closing variant just has the light wiping the name and address in.

FX/SFX: The entire logo is pretty much CGI effects.

Music/Sounds: A rather generic tune, with a kind of "whoosh" sound whenever light shines.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: This is a favourite of many cinema fans.

5th Logo (1990's)
Nicknames: "RSA", "Not To Be Confused With The Hip-Hop Producer", "Rank Screen Advertising Advertising", "Redundant Name"

Logo: On a city background, we see a strip of film fly past from the left of the screen, led by a star. The film/star flies down close to us, and the letter R flies down from the top of the screen to the left. The same happens again, but from the right of the screen and the letter A flies down from the top to the right. That leaves a gap, and the film flies around and in an S shape through the gap left from the R and the A. An S is formed (with the star at the top of it) and the star shines, after which the word "ADVERTISING" fades in at the bottom right. The closing variant had the S forming as the rest of the logo and address appearing.

FX/SFX: The film/star flying around and shining, the letters coming in and "ADVERTISING" fading in.

Music/Sounds: An eight-note synthesized fanfare.

Availability: No longer in use.

Editor's Note: None.

1st (and only) Logo ((1996-2014)
Nicknames: "Flaming Rod", "Flaming Carlton Star"

Logo: We see some coals burning. An iron rod with a star-shaped brand on it plunges down onto the coals, and then we cut through numerous different shots of it. On the last one, the rod rises out of the coals, and we cut to a shot of it in the air, then it thrusts into the screen (surrounded by fire) after which the words "CARLTON Screen Advertising" fade in. The word "CARLTON" is the logo used from 1993-2002.

Variants: There were two closing versions, where the rod cools down. The other one had the rod and background fading out, leaving the logo on a black background.

FX/SFX: A live action logo designed by Lambie-Nairn, who did a pretty good job.

Music/Sounds: A bunch of sound effects of the iron - amidst that, a short horn sounder is played followed by a big bang along with heated fizzing when the star rod hits into the screen.

Music/Sounds Variant: On the closing variant - the heated fizzing continues, but there is a single horn note playing.

Availability: Extinct in cinemas.

Editor's Note: This logo is infamous for scaring some people, especially since it was on the big screen due to its intimidating features, however, it is a great logo. Interestingly, this was also quite a long lasting logo, only being phased out in the digital era.

1st Logo (2008-2011)
Logo: On a black background, at the top left of the screen some text says "DISCOVER THE POWER OF CINEMA ADVERTISING". Then two rectangles, one blue, one yellow appear and get increasingly bigger, and when they are done, all sorts of pictures/clips of different movies and things start appearing, like clips from Ice Age, a Pirates of the Caribbean film, and a picture of a guy sitting in a theater eating popcorn, for example. When they are done, a string of light appears and forms the DCM logo with text "DIGITAL CINEMA MEDIA" underneath it, while at the top left of the screen, the text says the following;

"DISCOVER THE POWER OF CINEMA ADVERTISING

TO ADVERTISE VISIT DCM.CO.UK"

The logo fades out afterwards.

FX/SFX: All of the animation in the logo.

Music/Sounds: A short synth tune, which ends with a loud bass note and a crash, followed by 3 more synth notes.

Availability: No longer current.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (2011-2013)
Logo: On a black background, we see a bunch of red-coloured lanterns suddenly light up. These lanterns are then shown in various formations & various colours in several different shots. Eventually, these lanterns reveal the words "DIGITAL" "CINEMA" "MEDIA" one by one, and at the end they come together to form the DCM logo from the previous logo. Below the logo this caption then appears:

DISCOVER THE POWER OF CINEMA ADVERTISING VISIT DCM.CO.UK

FX/SFX: The lanterns lighting up and the camera panning.

Music/Sounds: A remixed version of the synth tune from the previous logo, this time starting and ending with a seat-shaking bass note.

Availability: No longer current.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (2013-2014)
Logo: Against a background of various changing images, the new DCM logo appears. After a while, the text "DCM" appears to the top left of said logo, while "Dynamic advertising" appears below it.

Variants: There are three variations of this ident, named Amazement, Laughter and Suspense.


 * Amazement: The images include shots of a cornfield, the moon, the Milky Way galaxy, the inside of a space shuttle, shots of jellyfish, an exploding bomb and the Aurora Borealis.
 * Laughter: The images include a guy with a rabbit head getting up from a bench, a baby elephant running, a spaceman playing golf on the moon, a disco ball, someone "grabbing" the sun in their hands, and a puzzled dog, then an apple exploding, a baseball flying in, and finally and bunch of balloons hurling across a sky.
 * Suspense: The images include a gun being fired, a fox growling, someone's pupil shrinking, a TV being smashed, a match being lit, and finally a overhead shot of a swimming pool.

FX/SFX: The various clips changing, and the text fading in. Great logo from Fearlessly Frank.

Music/Sounds: Each variant has their own unique track. Amazement has a piano solo, Laughter features a whimsical tune with a few cartoony effects thrown in, and Suspense features synths playing along with a ghastly scream, tyres screeching, and a propeller plane diving.

Availability: No longer current. Amazement was the most common variation. Laughter, hence the name, was generally seen before comedy films - it was spotted before showings of Identity Thief and the 3D re-release of Finding Nemo. Suspense was rare, and had been seen seen before showings of Trance, The Place Beyond The Pines, The Conjuring, World War Z, Side Effects and Django Unchained.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (2013?- )
Logo: Same as the Amazement variant of the previous logo, except when the logo finishes the background turns to black and a smaller version of the DCM logo appears in the centre of the screen. As the background fades to black, a flash will appear on the D of DCM. The words 'Digital Cinema Media' fade in one-by-one under their respective letter.

Variant: The "Laughter" variant of the previous logo has been occasionally seen in the same style as this one; it has been seen before screenings of Lion, Hidden Figures and the 2017 re-release of Trainspotting.

FX/SFX: The background and DCM changing, the fade to black, flash and the words fading in.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Amazement variant of the last logo, except an added 'beep' can be heard when the background darkens.

Music/Sounds Variant: From 2017, the music for the Amazement variant is changed to a harsh drum-and-bass tune with a dramatic choir, with the "beep" when the background darkens removed. The music and sound effects for the Laughter variant remain intact.

Availability: Exctinct for the original music variant, current for the 2017 music variant. Oddly enough, the previous Suspense logo hasn't been seen in this style yet, as most films just use the generic Amazement logo.

Editor's Note: None.