Yle TV1

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Yle TV1 is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Yle, Finland's public TV broadcaster. The channel was launched in January 1, 1958 under the name Suomen Televisio and to this day, it is the oldest operating channel in the country. After the acquisition of both Tesvisio and Tamvisio in 1964, Suomen Televisio was renamed TV-ohjelma 1 alongside with the new TV-ohjelma 2 next year, and soon it was renamed again simply TV1 in 1971. Circa 2001, the channel was renamed YLE TV1 and yet again more simply Yle TV1 during the company's rebranding in 2012. The channel generally covers news, documentaries and educational programmes.


YLE TV1

1st Logo (January 1, 2001-October 2002)


Visuals: There is a business woman entering an elevator with the door closing, as she presses the top "1" button with "|YLE| TV1" written above the elevator buttons. On the mirror reflection, we see sunflowers growing in front of the amused woman, who starts spinning at one place with her hair floating while the elevator is going up. The elevator room's grassy floor now has sunflowers and strawberries conveniently placed on it, as the woman picks up one strawberry and joyously eats it. "|YLE| TV1" then appears at the bottom right corner of the screen.

Variants:

  • A woman dressed in overalls is climbing down a ladder as the elevator door is closing down. She then presses the top button and the mirror reflection shows red wallpapers rolling down to the woman's surprise. As the elevator is going up, she turns around in front of the camera to give a smile.
  • Another one features a young boy with a balloon and a birthday present, pressing the top elevator button. As the elevator moves up, the balloon on the kid's hand starts rising up, lifting the boy with it. On the close-up shot, we see the boy looking towards the camera with a smile on his face.

Technique: Live action footage with minor practical effects.

Audio: There is a steady elevator-like sound and a crisp three-note chime with a deep impact sound when the person presses the elevator button. Then a music box rendition of the previous logo's tune can be heard, ending with the sound descending down and fading off.

Availability: These transition idents could be spotted between aired programs and channel promos or upcoming program announcements. It's uncertain if more variants were used.

2nd Logo (March 30, 2007-April 1, 2010)


Note: In the first video, two variants can be seen starting at 0:33.

Visuals: On a blue background with darker blue hues on the corners, half of the stylized swan from the 1965 TV1 logo appears in the center of the screen and animates differently depending on the variant. When it stops, the half-cropped swan's wing part remains horizontal, while the head part is leaning in a steep incline. Below the cropped swan, we see "|YLE| TV1" fading in.

Variants:

  • As the half-cropped swan fades in, it starts rotating at one place, leaving trails behind it. When "|YLE| TV1" fades in with a brief bright aura below the spinning swan, it stops rotating.
  • There is the half-cropped swan appearing and rotating at one place with silhouettes of butterflies in different sizes flying around on the background. The spinning makes some of the butterflies spin around in mid-air. When the text appears and the half-cropped swan stops rotating, the butterfly silhouettes move down and off-screen.
  • White silhouettes of different animals pop up from the bottom side of the screen, while a white silhouette of a bird flies in from the far distance. We follow the bird's gliding towards the right, while the other animals pan away and the bird zooms closer to the screen. The bird then morphs into a half-cropped swan with the text fading in below.
  • On a simple background with snowflakes flying around, there are three afterimages of the swan appearing one-by-one in the same spot but in a different tipping position. The afterimages rotate slowly and combine into one opaque swan, while "|YLE|" and "TV1" appear below the logo one-by-ne.
  • A wandering white streak swirls rapidly as we follow its flow. The camera rotates around and zooms out further, while the streak forms a outline of the half-cropped swan. After the outline is finished, the swan morphs into its solid form and the text appears below it with a brief bright aura.
  • There is a rough white outline of the half-cropped swan being drawn in quickly. After that, the swan rotates around once, while the transparent background gets covered by sketched white outlines, while the swan slowly morphs into its solid form.
  • There is the half-cropped swan slowly coming into its solid form via a reversed wave warp effect.
  • The closedown variant has the half-cropped swan wiping in to the center of the screen with the text "|YLE| TV1" already seen below. Right then, the swan morphs into a white leaf and flies away. As the background gets darker with white dots floating around, the words "Hyvää yötä" ("Good night") appear above the text one by one.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Four piano notes, followed by a slowly rising, reversed sound. Right after that, a small chime can be then heard.

Audio Variants:

  • Sometimes, only four piano notes are heard without the reversed sound or chime.
  • The same four piano notes can be heard, but then followed by the small chime.
  • An alternate version of the tune has only two piano note tune, followed by long reversed sound and a small chime.
  • Another version of the tune has three piano notes tune with long and swirling reversed sound, followed then by a small chime.
  • Few variants play only three piano notes with brief moment of silence.
  • Another version has three piano notes and then followed by two synth notes.
  • A similar version of the previous tune variant has crisp synth noise heard, when two synth notes are played.
  • Yet another one has three piano notes, that then ends with a single synth chime.
  • The closedown variant has two piano notes with a leaning wind sound, followed by two synth notes.

Availability: These are usually seen prior the program continuity or before the program starts.

3rd Logo (April 1, 2010-March 6, 2012)


Visuals: It's the same half-cropped swan emblem with "|YLE| TV1" below, except with new, expanded animations and background assets seen around it.

Variants:

  • The startup variant has a bright and cloudy sky background, where we see the half-cropped swan zooming out to the center of the screen and rotating, leaving after images. As the swan is about to stop its rotation, the word "Huomenta!" ("Good morning!") is seen wiping in below and then slowly fading out. "|YLE| TV1" then appears afterwards and we see a brief bright glow on the half-cropped swan.
  • On the closedown variant, a bright yellow background transitions into a dark cyan one, while we see the words "Hyvää yötä!" on the screen before fading out and the rotating, half-cropped swan zooming out into the center of the screen. The swan stops between two forming forest islands with a water mirroring effect, while "|YLE| TV1" appears below with a bright flash.
  • On a complex background warping effect with blue and pink color schemes, there is a blurry half-cropped swan zooming out into its place in the center of the screen and rotating. The color scheme of the background returns to blue and background assets of autumnal trees, some red fencing and a barn take on solid forms. The text then wipes in below the half-cropped swan.
  • A complex warping effect occurs while the swan appears and twirls into its solid form, while rotating and zooming out further to the center of the screen. We briefly see an autumnal bush passing by while zooming in, as background assets of wooden and concrete buildings also become solid objects and we then see the text wiping in below the swan.
  • Another variant has wooden buildings as background assets, while the camera zooms in through beneath an apple tree branch. There is a complex wiping effect, as the rotating swan wipes in and stops at the center of the screen. In the clear shot at the end, we can also see an autumnal tree at a far distance and a white wooden fence rising at the bottom as background assets.
  • On a blue, cloudy sky, the camera zooms out further, as we can see a very bright version of the half-cropped swan above a lake with forest headlands in both sides of the screen. As the camera stops zooming out, the text wipes in below the swan.
  • On a blue background, we see numerous winter-themed assets twirling into solid objects, while the swan turns into a white round vortex and eventually quickly becomes solid as well, with the text wiping in below. In the clear shot, we see snowy trees, bushes and a forest at a far distance.
  • There is another complex warping effect, with various background assets stretching back into their original position. We can briefly see a green bush at the right side as the camera zooms in. There is the half-cropped swan wiping in, rotating and going into its original position with the text wiping in below. In the final shot, we can clearly see summer-themed assets of bushes, sunflowers and an old, traditional cottage building.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Same as the previous logo.

Audio Variants:

  • Mostly same variants heard in the previous logo.
  • In the winter variant, we can hear the two piano notes, followed by another two synth notes with Christmas tinkling.

Availability: There are most likely more of these to be found.

Yle TV1

1st Logo (March 6-December 13, 2012)


Visuals: In a bright background, there is an extreme close up shot of what appears to be a series of blue half-cropped swans densely placed in a line formulation. These swan lines are smoothly or rapidly moving in different patterns. After a short amount of time, a small rounded square with "yle" inside and "TV1" next to it appears to the center of the screen.

Variants:

  • We have a blurry extreme close-up shot, featuring a line of blue swans curving with the head part pointing upwards, while the logo appears by being placed on the screen like a stamp.
  • On a bright white background, there is a line of blue swans moving in an oblique direction, as the camera scrolls up past them. We can closely see that the swans have sort of fingerprint-like texture around them. The camera then rolls around once, as the background color briefly changes into yellow and the logo wipes in on the screen.
  • There is a line of blue swans moving in circular formation. Further on, the line breaks into two, as the further set of swans spreads down to the background while the rest in the front remain in line. The camera pans back to the left side corner of the remaining swan line, as the previously spread swan line slowly fades out from the white background and the logo wipes in on the screen.
  • There is the bottom corner part of a blue swan line with the sharp points being half transparent. The color of the swans suddenly becomes darker and the color of the white background also becomes darker with a bright light seen at the center point of the screen. The swan line moves slowly upwards, but then the camera rapidly spins around once, as the logo wipes in on the screen.
  • The closedown variant has the line "Hyvää yötä!" wiping in on the screen, as the fingerprint-like textured blue swan line seen in the second variant is spinning around on the screen. The line then wipes out and the logo wipes in on the screen.
  • Variants Note: YLE TV1's own programs such as Avara Luonto and Ulkolinja during this time had their own opening logo animations, which are closely similar to the channel's regular idents.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A calm and simple tune played with guitar and bass with an A note.

Audio Variant: A different rhythmic tune also exists on certain variants, which starts from an A song transforming to C.

Availability: During its rather short run, one of the variants could be spotted after the program has ended and before the program continuity. Sometimes, it could also be spotted prior the beginning program, if there isn't program announcement. There may be more variants to be found.

2nd Logo (December 13, 2012-March 3, 2016)


Visuals: In a white background, there is a different type of structures formed by white and solid half-cropped swans. The structure usually has a bluish color either as the texture for the floor or a simple glow on it. The camera simply rotates around this structure in a slow pace. After a brief moment, the text "yle TV1" appears on the screen, with "yle" in a white font now placed on a black rounded square. As the logo appears, small flashes can be seen moving around before disappearing on the top left corner of the black square.

Variants:

  • Early on December 2012, one of the variants has a completely white textured background with three inclined, half-cropped swans in a row on a soft floor with bright shadows reflected on them. Small snow-like dots can also be spotted, as the camera rotates around the structure.
  • Usually when the regular variants are used during the winter time, snowflakes can be spotted with larger and sparkling ones seen from the reflection of the blue half-cropped swans or the floor itself.
  • One occasional variant that doesn't feature half-cropped swans, has the camera rotating around a white flower plant-like structure with wide leaves and a bluish glow on the center of it.
  • There are several half-cropped swans leaning towards a blue hillock with their head parts pointing upwards. Here, the camera is panning in the right.
  • Another version of the previous variant has only a single swan on top of the blue hill, as the camera is rotating in the left direction.
  • Yet another one similarly has three half-cropped swans simply on top of the blue hill. In this one too, the camera is rotating in the left direction.
  • On a blue and white background, there are five swans' heads pointing upwards; three swans are seen at the center with their heads curving upwards, the fourth one is separately on the left pointing straight up and the fifth one can be spotted far behind three swans. This time, the camera is rotating in the left direction.
  • There is a group of half-cropped swans gathered on a circuit with their heads pointing towards each other. The bluish glow can be spotted on the left side of the screen. Here, the camera is now rotating in the left direction.
  • The camera is pointing on towards swan couple, that share the same position with others being seen around them. This time, the camera is pointing in the right direction.
  • There is a confusing cluster of swans placed around on a steep blue hill. Here, the camera is rotating in the left.
  • On a round blue hill, there is a group of half-cropped swans in a circle, as their pointy heads are leaning on towards each other. In this one, the camera is rotating in the right direction.
  • We get another closeup shot of a swan group in the circle. The camera is seen rotating to the right in an indirect position.
  • The closedown variant features a closeup shot of a spinning flower plant-like structure seen in the first regular variant, as the camera is rotating in the right direction. There is the text "Hyvää yötä!" in the center of the screen before it quickly wipes out letter-by-letter and then the logo appears afterwards.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Six notes played slowly on a piano with ambient sounds heard in the background. This is in fact the same rhythmic tune originally heard in the previous logo, but in a slower tempo.

Audio Variants:

  • In one of the early December 2012 variants, we can hear crisp sparkling and rising humming sounds from the start. Then, a voiceover of Jarmo Heikkinen is heard saying "Näin sydämeni Joulun teen" ("I saw my heart doing Christmas") from the Finnish Christmas song with the same name. The ambient sound can be then heard.
  • Winter variants have the same piano tune with sparkling sounds being added.


3rd Logo (March 4, 2016-)


Visuals: On a background of a bright morning sky with the black silhouettes of many skyscrapers and houses, there is a large, half-transparent block rapidly rotating half-around the screen before its rotating speed slowly decreases. We can also see small detailed orbs floating around on the background. A much smaller block then appears on the center of the screen to follow the rotation movement that the larger one does. The channel logo then appears with "yle" in a white block, and the smaller block is seen slowly rotating behind it for the rest of the ident.

Variants:

  • The closedown ident is closely the same as the startup one, except the background is changed to one with a night sky and shadowy silhouettes of bushes and threes at a far distance.
  • Numerous variants are featured during the announcement of the next program, many of which have a different type of background fitting for the time period, usually being a Finnish nature or city landscape. The logo animation plays the same as in the startup/closedown variants.
  • An additional ident is usually played if programme listings don't appear to the screen. Here on a dark blue background, the half-transparent block is set to the right side of the sceen, doing rotation at varying speed with white channel logo in the middle.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The beginning half of a much longer, soothing theme that bears an uncanny resemblance to Vangelis' "Theme of Antarctica".



Suomen Televisio
TV-ohjelma 1
TV1 (Finland)
Yle TV1
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