Rank Screen Advertising

Background
Rank Screen Advertising (RSA) was a prolific UK cinema advertising company operated by The Rank Organisation, which supplied adverts for Rank and Odeon cinemas. In 1996, Carlton Communications bought the company and rebranded it to Carlton Screen Advertising.

1st Logo (1969?-1971)


Visuals:
 * Visuals: On a black background, a bunch of squares inside of each other are 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 reveal "Times New Roman" in an abstract font dead centre of the screen.
 * Closing: On the same background, a pyramid with a spiral pattern on it rolls until it shows the address off-center.

Technique: Stop-motion animation.

Audio: A dark piano and cello tune that plays in sync with the animation.

2nd Logo (1971-1973)


Visuals:
 * Opening: On a moving cloudy sky background, the huge white outlined letters of "RANK" slide in from the right and shrinks (With the ghosting effect) into the random position letter-by-letter. The words "ADVERTISING FILMS" slides up from the bottom, in a different font, placed below "RANK" and "present" slides down from the top to the bottom-right with the same effect.
 * Closing: Similar to the opening variant with the same background (but shortened) and without "present", and the text already formed. The address slides up from the bottom and placed below "ADVERTISING FILMS".

Technique: 2D ghosting effects for the text.

Audio: An early 1970s funky groovy theme. Each one is composed differently.

1st Logo (1973-1977)


Visuals:
 * Visuals: On a space background that we slowly zoom into, there is a rectangular "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.
 * Closing: On the same background, "RANK SCREEN ADVERTISING", in the same font as the countdown numbers, appears one-by-one with the address, in a box of clips like in the opening.

Trivia: The footage of space used in this logo (as well as the next) was actually taken from the 1946 film A Matter of Life and Death, which J. Arthur Rank's Eagle-Lion Films worked on.

Technique: 2D animation with live action clips.

Audio: A funky disco tune with "space"-like effects.

2nd Logo (1977-1988)
Visuals:
 * Visuals: On the same background as before, a huge letter "R" (in white) slides in from the left side of the screen, and (with a kind of "ghosting" effect) shrinks to the top. 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 in from the top of the screen in the same fashion.
 * Closing: The text is already formed and the address trails up under it.

Technique: The 2D animated background and "ghosting" of the words/letters.

Audio: A rather stereotypical "space" synth tune.

3rd Logo (1988-Fall 1992)
Visuals:
 * Visuals: 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 and is revealed to be a projector lens. Light shines through the lens and then the words "RANK SCREEN ADVERTISING" appear on the lens.
 * Closing: The projector lens is already revealed and the light wipes the name and the address in.

Technique: CGI effects.

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

(Fall 1992-September 1995)
Visuals:
 * Visuals: 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 "Serif" 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 "Serif" flies down from the top to the right. That leaves a gap, and the film flies around in an "S" shape through that gap left by the "Serif" and the "Serif" . An "S" is formed from that movement (with the star at the top of it) and the star shines, after which the word "Serif" fades in at the bottom right.
 * Closing: The animation starts where the "S" is formed, and the rest of the logo and the address appears.

Trivia: It is most likely that the footage of the city used in this logo is filmed near the RSA headquarters in London.

Technique: CGI over a live action background.

Audio: An eight-note synthesized fanfare.

Legacy: The abbreviation "RSA" already contains "Advertising", which makes the use of that word under the logo redundant.