Play 4

Background
Play4 (formerly VIER and VT4) is a Belgian television channel that started airing in 1995. It is currenntly one of the major broadcasting television network in Flanders and has received sister channels in the form of Play5 and Play6.

1st Logo (February 1, 1995-1997)
Logo: Something put behind a half-black half-white decoration.

Variants:


 * Startup: First we see a lightning flash showing a blank screen. After a while, the police comes to inform that this channel is illegal. Then switches go off, clocks go round, antennas start receiving signals and we cut to the television in full view. Then it starts showing random imagery from penguins, dogs and cats to people in a snowsuit, dancers and a feather. It all ends when a woman with green eyes opens them, after which we get a transition to the logo.
 * Closedown: The green eyed women in the startup closes her eyes. People start doing their acts in reverse against the white background. In some transitions the TV will also show up. After that the tv shows the end of all antennas, after which the TV after a lot of bruise closes down, then the women at the start closes her eyes again followed by the logo getting shown.

Trivia: Despite what the startup variant seems to tell, VT4 is in actuality more dubiously legal rather than outright illegal. The network executives did not have rights to air television in Belgium at the time the logo was made, but did have the right to air television in London and used old BBC headquarters to air television from there to Belgium.

Technique: Live-action. Very likely an early example of digital filmmaking.

Music/Sounds: The normal variant uses trumpet and drum. For the start-up variant, the thing starts with the song "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones and then transitions into a beatbox/piano piece and trumpet with background noises behind it. The close-down variant is also a piano piece.

2nd Logo (1995-1997)
Logo: We see a watermark set to a psychedelic, VTM-like but brighter background. On the watermark the message "Iedereen zet 'm op" is revealed. After which we cut to 3 women showing 4 fingers saying "vier". This is followed by the line "U toch ook" and the logo.

Variant: There is also a variant in which only the logo gets shown against the same decoration. After a while the text appears for when the channel re-airs the next time.

Technique: Unknown

Music/Sounds:


 * Normal variant:A synth theme
 * Closedown: Seems to be pop-music.

Availability: Some archive recordings still available on GenTV.

3rd Logo (1997-2001)
Logo: After quick flashing, the VT4 logo is set against a blue background.

Technique: Unknown

Music/Sounds: A mix of piano and electric guitar.

4th Logo (2000-2001)
Logo: A picture of a celebrity copy-pasted over an entire line. Below the logo of the company appears.

Technique: Unknown

Music/Sounds: A flute piece.

5th Logo (2002-2003)
Logo: A few drops of water get thrown into water, forming a 4 into the place where the drops fell.

Technique: Unknown

Music/Sounds: Water drops, at the end there is also a tense drum-like sound.

Availability: Some archive recordings still available on GenTV.

6th Logo (2003-2004)
Logo: A scene that involves water drops plays. Within those water drops is the logo, after which the camera zooms in on it.

Technique: Unknown

Music/Sounds: A soothing musical theme.

Availability: Some archival footage still available on GenTV.

7th Logo (2005-2009)
Logo: Women are underwater while the logo quickly flashes to the side.

Variant: There is a variant in which the water gets polluted with trash. At the near end there is a PSA from the Flemish government that trash belongs in the trash can and nowhere else.

Technique: Unknown

Music/Sounds: Unknown

8th Logo (2009-2012)
Logo: Circles get embedded in each other and form the VT4 logo.

Variant: Tons of variants were used to promote new material, including.


 * Knight and Day: The 2 actors are presumably running from incoming VT4 balls.
 * Shrek Forever After: Shrek swings over a VT4 board and skates on roofs with it. Then he glides over the logo while farmers try to hit him with hay forks.
 * Super Mario Galaxy 2: Mario flies next to the logo, causing it to spin. Then Mario, riding on Yoshi, uses it to run very fast.

Technique: Unknown

Music/Sounds: Guitar.

Availability: Extinct

9th Logo (September 17, 2012)
Logo: A whole presentation introducing their new ident. After a button is pressed that officially signals the start of the new network a logo is shown. There is a central screen acting as a timer, while black and white footage of all kinds is shown on the screen. At the 10 mark the logo turns blue. At 5 seconds the thing turns pitch-black. After zero, you see a women on the microphone saying that it starts, after which the logo gets shown.

Technique: Live-action

Music/Sounds: "Tonight" by David Bowie.

Availability: Has only appeared for one day.

10th Logo (2012)
Logo: Several live-action scenes are shown, while the logo forms itself.

Technique: Live-action and 2D animation

Music/Sounds: Unknown

Availability: Extinct

11th Logo (2013-2017)
Logo: The logo gets recreated in full live-action in several parts of Flanders while people walk besides or even in full-view.

Technique: Live-action.

Music/Sounds: The same tune, but always with different instrumentation.

12th Logo (2017-2021)
Unknown!

1st Logo (2021-)
Unknown!