SRF 1

Credits

Descriptions by
19Joshua, and Will333

Captures by
19Joshua

Video captures courtesy of
TVnostalgie

Background

SRF 1 is the main channel of SRF, the German-centric broadcaster part of SRG SSR. It was launched in 1953 as SF DRS, and was renamed in 1997 to SF1 with the launch of its 2nd channel, SF2 (now SRF zwei). It gained its current name in 2012, after SF and DRS were merged together.

SF DRS

1st Logo (1985-1990)

Visuals: On a cloudy sky background that moves over time, a reflective floor is seen on the bottom of the screen reflecting the sky, albeit in a more saturated tone. A chrome, bevel-edged version of the SRG SSR logo at the time, which is a double-layered diamond shape split into 4 sections each, fades in and zooms out to the center, where a large ping appears and overtakes the logo. Coming from the ping is the tall text "DRS", styled like the diamond logo, which zooms in and stops a comfortable distance from the screen. A large ping appears on the "S".

Variants:

• Early in its usage, a filmed version was used. The sky darkens considerably at the end of this version.
• Later on, as it segued into the programming menu, the "DRS" text would zoom in farther as it faded to a different time lapse sky.
• Another version has the DRS logo flying in piece by piece in sync to the music, this time on another unique sky background.

Technique: A mix of 2D animation and live-action.

Audio: A heavenly synthesizer tune with a few piano notes, which is actually "Antarctica Echoes" by Vangelis.

2nd Logo (August 1990-1994)

Visuals: Flying over crystalized lands, 7 glowing bars in the color of the rainbow come down from the bottom edge of the screen and shift about constantly as the camera dives down into a ravine made from larger crystals. As the camera flies through the towering crystals, the bars rotate to a flatter angle and the camera flies in-between them as well. It also reveals a blue/white gradient sky above the range. By the time the camera flies over a small lake, the bars disappear one-by-one, flashing the crystals in their respective colors before turning all of the crystals into a smoky translucent grey and brightening the sky with multi-colored splashes, and eventually flies through an opening to reveal a small central crystal, materializing the SF DRS logo in grey while clipping through. The text "Schweizer Fernsehen" fades in below in white, along with a smaller version of the logo also in white, as the background changes colors.

Variants:

• An earlier, prototype version of the logo exists. The camera panning is different at the beginning, with it flying over a globe rather than straight at the ground, the bar and camera movements are more abrupt and finicky, the color flashes are less noticeable, the lake at the end lacks a reflection, and the logo appears in a slightly different way. There's also no smaller DRS logo next to the wordmark.
• A variant that has the logo without any text before disappearing by clipping out of existence. This would either lead into a program or a commercial bumper.
• On 1990-1992 editions of Taggeschau, the camera quickly zooms back and rotates upwards from the crystal formation, revealing the Earth as it zooms back and "TAGGESCHAU" zooms in, rotating into place. 1992-1997 editions just have the normal transition variant.
• A shorter ident has the logo start with the bars over the lake.

Technique: Early '90s CGI.

Audio: A dream-like synthesized tune with several louder notes for the bars disappearing and a small jingle at the end. The prototype version has a different, more ambient version of this tune, with the jingle being a variation of the first 4 notes. The intro variants used their respective theme songs.

3rd ID (1993-2005)

Visuals: While many different idents of this type exist, they all involve at least black and white footage and 3 blocks in some form, 2 red and 1 in a different color. The bars either form part of the background at first with the footage superimposed in front of it, or they come in and form themselves up in the middle, forming an odd arrangement of the blocks in the center of the screen. At this point, "SF DRS" fades in on the rectangle, with "SF" on the left side and are large, while "DRS" is located on the smaller red rectangle. The footage also is superimposed over the logo like its nothing.

Technique: Live-action and CGI.

Audio: A unique arrangement for each variant used, but all of them have a 4-note motif when the logo forms up, with the text appearing on the last held note.