Zespół Realizatorów Filmowych Rytm

Background
Zespół Realizatorów Filmowych „Rytm” (also known as Zespół Filmowy Rytm) is a Polish state-owned film company founded in 1955 and closed on April 30, 1968. It was involved in the production of feature films and was the so-called first generation team. The first and only artistic director was Jan Rybkowski. The literary directors were Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski and Jan Gerhard. The head of production was Zygmunt Szyndler. The productions of this group were aimed at the cinema popular with the general public in the genres of comedy, musical and crime fiction. The company's films are among the most popular classics of Polish cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. It was liquidated like several other Polish companies as a result of the so-called "March events" in 1968.

1st logo (1957)


Logo: On a black background, we see a rounded white rectangle with "ZESPÓŁ AUTORÓW FILMOWYCH" in it and a big "RYTM" in the center. Below it, on the rectangle, there is a white triangle with the black Z A F letters. On the bottom contains "Times New Roman", written in italics.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: A simple melody made with drumrolls and knock-knock-like sounds.

Availability: Only seen on Kapelusz Pana Anatola.

2nd logo (1961 - 1963?)
Logo: On a black background, a slightly angled light grey line draws in from the right side of the screen. As it curves and expands in size, "ZESPÓŁ" appears above and another line, in white, draws in at a higher plane and angled downwards. The white line then curves over, but in a shorter arc, and the grey line ends as an arrow, with "REALIZATORÓW" appearing above. A straight white line then draws in above the other 2 and then curves into 1 final arrow, overlapping the other 2, as "FILMOWYCH" appears above it. Concentric white circles then appear in the bottom right corner and a line of arrows, pointing downward, draw in towards the center. As they reach the center, they start to repeat and the circles then animate like radiowaves, with "RYTM" appearing over them. Another line of arrows, this time going and pointing towards the left, wipe in and causes "PRZEDSTAWIA" to appear in a vertical format. The arrows and waves continue to slide about before the arrows turn transparent. They fade out, followed by the text, arrows, and circles.

Variant: Two slightly different versions exist, while one variant has color.

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: Three whooshes when the arrows form, then a multitude of UFO-like noises (a la Wild Horse Productions) after that.

Availability: Seen on few films from that time, including Birth Certificate, Marysia i krasnoludki and Głos z Tamtego Świata.

Legacy: This is considered to be the scariest Polish logo ever by the logo community, thanks to the loud sounds, bizarre animation, and darkness.