Cineriz

Credits

Captures by
Camenati

Background

Cineriz (short name for Cinema Rizzoli) was an Italian film company that was founded by Angelo Rizzoli in 1956. The company shut down in 1993 as a result of series of economic and judiciary controversies, after they sold off their film library and left the industry in 1983.

1st Logo (December 30, 1956-February 16, 1966?)

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Visuals: On a dark blue patterned background, a thin white ring zooms up from the center of the screen, stopping as it reaches the center. After that, a outlined box zooms out with a blur effect with "CINERIZ" inside of it, along with the script text "presenta" below it, and the ring fades to red. After a few seconds, a white star fades in around the upper right section of it.

Variants:

• A B&W variant is used on earlier films.
• A version has the logo on a black background, all in white, and "presenta" is not seen. The logo design is also slightly different.
  • A still variant on a blue background appears on Una moglie americana.
• The Return of Ringo just has the "CINERIZ presenta" text fade in.
• Later films have the zoom out be seen The ring cuts are also bigger, the "presenta" text is rewritten, and the star is seen at a tilt.

Technique: Motion-controlled animation.

Audio: A cheerful-sounding orchestral fanfare, the opening theme of the movie, or none. A voice over can be heard on some prints.

Availability:

• Seen on their film catalog around this time, like Don Camillo, Totò d'Arabia, Padri e Figli di Mario Monicelli, 8½, among others. However, some of them may be cut from the beginning of the movie or plastered by a newer distributor's logo (e.g. Eagle Pictures).
• The early variant appeared on La dolce vita.

2nd Logo (October 31, 1968-March 29, 1972?)

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Visuals: It is identical to the previous logo, except with a few differences: "CINERIZ" is in a different serif font, now italicized, and has a larger box, the star is larger and the ring, which is thicker, is cut right around it rather than being in it. The bottom of the ring has the white text "DISTRIBUTORI ASSOCIATI S.P.A" replacing it.

Variants:

• On Vip, the logo is on a light blue background, and "PRESENTA" is seen below in the same style as "CINERIZ".
• On Don Camillo e i giovani d'oggi, the logo has a brown tint and on a background set to said color.

Technique: A still, printed image.

Audio: Either the previous logo's soundtrack or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: There are less releases that are known to have this logo compared to the previous logo and, like before, is often cut on newer releases or plastered by other distributors' logos. It appeared on Vip, Cuore di mamma, L'assoluto naturale, and Don Camillo e i giovani d'oggi.

3rd Logo (January 23, 1976-September 30, 1982)

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Visuals: On a black background, a model of a stellated dodecahedron rotates around clockwise as it zooms out, covered in green-striped patterns that are projected onto the polygon. From here, more shapes and patterns will appear via a crossfade effect, with the old shapes being seen as well as the new ones for a second before disappearing:

• A strange boxy polygon with orange stripes, spinning while it moves in from the left.
• A hallway of blue-striped concentric boxes, with the boxes getting smaller, tilting and moving towards the upper right corner, as the camera zooms out.
• A ball-like shape patterned in pink waves, rolling towards the camera as it reveals giant holes inside of it.
• A extreme close-up of a polygonal shape rotating while covered in a lavender fishnet pattern.

When it finally wraps back around to the dodecahedron, now in a cornflower blue, it zooms out as a flashing dark yellow star appear and encircles it while creating green copies behind it. The polygon it was surrounding then fades out and the star stops flashing as it rests in the upper right corner, with the trails then disappearing as the logo from before fades in, but in forest green. The star then turns forest green as well.

Variants:

• Sometimes, "PRESENTA" in the Microgramma font appears below the logo.
• On earlier releases containing this logo, the logo at the end is tinted brown.

Technique: Live-action model work, along with cel animation.

Audio: A re-orchestrated and longer version of the first logo's theme.

Availability: Seen on Il Prefetto di Ferro (The Iron Prefect), Il Secondo Tragico Fantozzi, Un Borghese Piccolo Piccolo, Charleston, and many other movies from this time period. Still retained on TV airings.

Legacy: This logo is loved by several due to the psychedelic nature of it.