TVB Jade On-Air Identity

TVB Jade's on-air identities are similar in principles to its European counterparts, but also have great differences. A typical TVB ident package typically consists of only one to two idents (the record is four), and does not have a unifying theme (with the exception of the "seasons" ident that was aired during the early 90's). The idents are, therefore, not as visually striking as its European counterparts. However, as TVB enjoys a predominant ratings advantage in Hong Kong over its rivals almost since its inception, people in Hong Kong often identify with the idents somewhat, with idents from different periods reminding them of the famous shows made at that time.

Also worth noting is that a typical TVB Jade ident in the past 10-18 years have not lasted more than a year before they are replaced.

1960s to 1970s

Early idents are simple, and simply features the TVB logo with the word "Hong Kong" ( _zh. 香港) inside the logo, written from the right to the left. TVB begin color television broadcasting beginning around 1971 with the same logo as the earlier one. But with three colors, blue, green with the Chinese characters the word "Hong Kong", and red. It existed until the late 70s

Early 1980s

In 1979, The TVB logo remained the same but the Chinese characters "Hong Kong" has been removed and it is still used the present logo today. Along with it was the introduction of the TVB station jingle which is shown exclusively on the Jade network since the late 70s.

One of the few "themed" idents were shown during this time. Idents shown in 1984 and 1985 included aspects of everyday lives of ordinary citizens. Also rare among these idents (by all standards) is that the continuity announcer at the time, Siu Liang ( _zh. 蕭亮), made a quote before announcing the station's name. Other quoted idents would follow during the 1980s.

Two quotes used on the ident sets shown in 1984 and 1985 are as follows:

*1984: "Instilling vitality, making everyone happy and motivated." ( _zh. 增添活力細胞, 人人開懷起勁)
*1985: "Spreading vitality in every family, adding flare to life" ( _zh. 活力傳萬家, 生命添火花)

An ident at 1986 features four people doing community works in various places across Hong Kong. Also peculiar about this ident is the feturing of a "Western" (presumably European) person. Idents before that time exclusively features Chinese people.

Late 1980s

1987 was the 20th anniversary of TVB's establishment, and as a result, a special ident was made, with the entire staff of TVB's formidable talent artist corp entering into a local stadium and forming a TVB logo. The ident was (and still is) well known amongst Hong Kong people as TVB's "showoff" ident (with the 20th Anniversary logo being shown at the end). Another pair of idents was also made, this time showing the behind-the-scene production of shows at TVB and people from all walks of life gathering around TV sets and enjoying the programmes (with the normal TVB logo shown at the end). The music and the campaign song used in these idents was used in the company's very first anniversary special "All-Star Special: 20 Years of TVB" ( _zh. 翡翠星輝二十年).Even though TVB has already shown the anniversary specials before 1987.Like the idents from 1984 and 1985, the continuity announcer read out a quote before announcing the station's name (both of these used the 20th Anniversary logo):

*"Showoff" Ident: "Spreading information and energy, fulfilling everyone's inner dreams: 20 years of TVB." ( _zh. 傳信息匯動力, 實踐心中理想: 無線電視二十年)
*Other Idents: "Spreading information and energy, marking 20 years of TVB" ( _zh. 傳訊息匯動力, 共創根基二十年)

Later idents produced in 1988 began to extensively use computer generated graphics. A very memorable ident set was shown as a series of cartoon strips in 1989, also showing everyday life. A programming caption slide shown days after the Tiananmen Massacre shows a person reading a newspaper and crying while flowers are withering. That programming slide has often been cited as the most memorable ident ever produced by TVB.

Also worth noting is that 1988 marks the end of inserting quotes into idents by continuity announcers before the announcement of the station's name.

1990s

"Spinning logo" Idents

To mark the entering of a new decade, a new ident was made especially for the year 1990. The slogan "Onto 1990" was used for this ident. It also wad the beginning of a "spinning ident". The "tricolour" part of the ident was shown spinning before the end of the ident. Two similar idents were made in 1989, with the outer frames spinning in the opposite direction of the "tricolour" sphere, and would continuously spin until the station's identity was announced, at which point they would lock into place toward the end; one of which was made during TVB's 22nd Anniversary.

In mid 1990, another series was made, with the entire logo (tri-colour and outer frames) spinning together in the same direction as the graphics changed, only locking into place when the station's idenity was announced, like the previous idents.

In 1991, another series of "spinning" logo idents (this time, with layers of the outer frames of TVB's logo spinning; and the blue and red parts spinning counterclockwise, and the green part spinning clockwise) were produced and shown. Four idents of this theme were shown between 1991 and 1994, before the introduction of the "seasons" ident. A version of the ident can still be seen on TVB's San Francisco cable channel on a daily basis.

Also worth mentioning is that beginning in 1991, TVB Pearl's presentation package became the same as TVB Jade's, albeit with some variations.

"Seasons" Idents

In 1994, an ident set of four, shown during different seasons, were produced. This ident set is the longest-aired ident in TVB history, lasting until 1997.

Other Idents

In 1997, a new ident set that is similar to one of the "Seasons" Idents were produced. It shows many of the major landmarks of Hong Kong before zooming to TVB's ident set. This one lasted until 1999.

2000s

Starting in 2000, a new ident was produced by TVB. The new ident is quite unique, largely due to the fact that it features a daytime and nighttime version, with the nighttime version running longer than the daytime version. It also marks the last time (as of 2006) TVB uses real life imagery in its idents. All idents produced after the 2000 ident used computer generated graphics.

2006

In 2006, a new ident was produced by TVB, and featured ribbons and curves in the three colours of the station- Red, Green, and Blue, pulsating about on the screen.

External links

* [http://hkbroadcastclips.110mb.com/ 香港電視廣播片段庫] zh
* [http://www.hktvclips.net/tvb/logo/index.htm] zh TVB Jade's ident - from 1970s to present
* [http://www.tvboldclips.org/tags/jade-id/page1.htm] zh TVB Jade's ident - from 1983 to present