Atlas Film

Not to be confused with Atlas Entertainment.

Background

Atlas Film GmbH is a German film studio founded in February 1967 by Dieter Menz. Today, they are one of the oldest film sales companies in the world, and a subsidiary of Medient Worldwide Holdings, Inc.

1st Logo (1960's-1970's)

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Visuals: On a black background, a white spot appears. The screen changes to the negatives making the spot black and the background white. A lower-case a is drawn in the spot. The spot pans left and the screen changes back to the original colors. On the right, the words "Atlas Film" are typed. Below that, the word "zeigt" (shows) wipes onto the screen.

Technique: Motion-controlled animation.

Audio: Morse code beeping, which plays over another code, which plays over yet another code.

Availability: May appear on their 60's distributed films, but is likely to be deleted or plastered with any of the newer logos. However, it appeared on an Australian TV airing of the silent 1922 Nosferatu film (which likely used an old German 60s print with an alternate score and German title cards)

2nd Logo (December 13, 1969)

Visuals: On a black background, there is the lowercase a spot from before, with "Atlas Film" below, both in red.

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen only on Die Konferenz der Tiere (The Conference of Animals).

3rd Logo (February 6, 1970-1993?)

Visuals: On a black background, numerous different-colored copies of the circle from the previous logo zoom out, with one going on top of another until it turns beige. Then the text "atlas film zeigt" appears letter-by-letter in lowercase below the circle. After a moment, the text fades out and the animation plays in reverse, with the circles zooming back out and fading out.

Technique: Motion-controlled animation.

Audio: A wind chime sound effect when the circles zoom in, silence when the text appears and another wind chime sound when the circles zoom out.

Audio Variant(s): Mostly silent, but some films have a note-descending synthesized tune when the circles zoom in, an echoing bump and a similar sound to microphone feedback when the text appears, and the synthesized tune with notes going up when the circles zoom out.

Availability: May be found on VHS tapes of films released by Atlas Film in Germany, particularly German children's films and dubbed material like Watership Down. Some Atlas tapes were distributed by Universum Film (UFA) and BMG Video, and these may possibly include this logo. It is intact on the German Intergroove DVD and blu-ray release of the American/Canadian/UK productionThe Reflecting Skin, which uses a German theatrical print with localized titles and credits.

4th Logo (2000s-)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a shining glare from the middle of the screen. Then the Altas "@" in blue zooms towards the center of the screen and then the words "atlas film presents" fade in, and lastly the whole thing cuts to black.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A harmonic synthesized piece. Sometimes it is silent.

Availability: Seen on the German Chinese Ghost Story Blu-Ray set, and German HDTV prints of The Killer, Hard Boiled, and BMX Bandits. Sadly, this is likely to plaster older logos on any new or remastered prints of films they own.