Ritek Digital Studios

## Background

Background: Ritek Digital Studios was the DVD replication and authoring division of Ritek Global Media, the U.S. and European division of the Taiwanese company Ritek Corporation. The division was formed on June 19, 2001, and had offices in Glendale, California, Moosic, Pennsylvania, Ontario, California, and Cork, Ireland. In August 2002, Ritek's U.S. and European divisions merged with Deluxe to form Deluxe Global Media Services.

## 1st Logo (June 10, 2001-September 24, 2002)

Logo: On an animated blue gradient background, we see a spiral which is slowly rotating counter-clockwise throughout. In front of the spiral, there are blue changing numbers "00:00:00:00" As it fades in, there is a waving shining logo, which consists of the same spiral in light blue but with a light green "R" in it, the light green words:

Ritek
Digital
Studios

at the right and a light blue byline "A DIVISION OF RITEK GLOBAL MEDIA" at the bottom. It waves for 4 seconds before it settles back to normal. A lightwipe shines the logo's outline and byline as the changing numbers fade out. Immediately following the shining, the changing numbers fade back in, but they are black.

Variant: On some releases, a still version is used.

FX/SFX: CGI.

Music/Sounds: A gradually-rising electronic hum. The still version is silent.

Availability: Very rare.

* So far, the animated version is seen on the 2001 Artisan DVDs of *Total Recall*, *Basic Instinct*, and the 2002 Special Editions of the first three *Rambo* movies.
* The still version is more common, appearing on such Universal DVDs as the 2001 PAL DVDs of *Jurassic Park III* and *American Pie 2*, the 2001 North American DVDs of *Midway*, *MacArthur*, *Cape Fear (1991)*, and *Halloween II*, the 2001 DVD of *Beethoven's 4th* (both North American and UK issues), and the 2002 DVDs of *The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings*, the first two *Balto* movies, *Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice*, *The Man Who Cried*, and *Big Fat Liar* (the last DVD to use this logo).

## 2nd Logo (December 11, 2001-2005)

Logo: On a white-ish grainy filmed background, the spiral "R" from the previous logo spins in from the right with its shadow at the bottom-right. The "R" spins in an S-curve and rests at the left. Next to the "R" at the right, the words:

Ritek
Digital Studios
sketch themselves in. After that, the "R" leans right to poke the text. The light shines in at the right side of the "R" and moves out to the right, changing the text's color to green. The text is also now in 3D. As the shine occurs, the background turns black with the same byline as before, "A DIVISION OF RITEK GLOBAL MEDIA" (in a slightly different font; slightly less spaced) in silver gradient at the bottom.

Variant: On some DVDs a still version used.

FX/SFX: The "R" moving, the text sketching, and the shining.

Music/Sounds: Several whooshes, followed by a sketching sound and a synthesized tune.

Availability: Ultra rare.

* It was used in tandem with the previous logo, and appears at the end on the 2001 Universal American DVD of *Jurassic Park III* and the 2002 DVDs of *Spy Game* and *A Beautiful Mind*.
* It was also seen on the 2002 MGM DVDs of *Coming Home* and *Khartoum*, the 2002-03 Anchor Bay Entertainment DVDs of *Return of the Killer Tomatoes!* and *Return to Horror High*. It is shown on 2004-05 Veemon Vision DVDs such as *X-Rats (2003)*, *SWAT Kats, Paragress*, *Fight Skull (1991)*, and *The Magic of Araco (1977)*. and something that appeared at the beginning of the 2002 Columbia Music Video DVDs such as *Droid DNA,* and *Billy Joel: Live at Yankee Stadium*.