VPRO

Credits

Descriptions by
The Username 15, vhslogos, Thisisanswer

Background

Founded in 1926 as the Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep (Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcasting Corporation), the organization started broadcasting radio programs commissioned to Protestantism themes. By the 1960's, however, a new generation of program creators managed to get a statute modification, which resulted in the "flower power generation" getting the leadership of the company. VPRO started to get in charge of airing culturally relevant programs, documentaries and films, as they started airing through the public Dutch TV stations. Today, VPRO aims for a demographic oriented at highly creative and educated people.

1st Logo (1971-1981)

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  Regular ID

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  Stars ID

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  Gong ID

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  Gong II ID

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  Gong III ID

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  Gong IV/Hand ID

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  Sun ID

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  Dots ID

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  Melting VPRO ID

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  Blurry VPRO ID

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  Flashing Stars ID

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  Indian VPRO ID

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  Flashing VPRO ID

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  Kissing Mouth ID

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  Pulley ID

Visuals: The VPRO logo, which is the text "Vpro" with several of the letters having extensions made on them, is seen in various depictions, see below.

Trivia: All of these idents were created by Jaap Drupsteen using a hybrid of early analog computer and hand-drawn graphics (sometimes with live-action).

Variants: There are several variants for this logo:

• Normal Variant: There is the VPRO logo on a cloudy red and white background. The clouds move by and the logo remains static.
• Stars: There is the VPRO logo in blue while shifting colors to purple and red while stars can be seen flashing around the logo on a gray background with the logo having a shadow.
• Gong: There is a man walking up to a gong to strike it. But when he does, he accidentally breaks the gong. The screen then goes black as we can hear the gong break.
• Gong 2: There is the same man walking up to the same gong, and commences striking it. However, he puts the mallet down and smiles awkwardly towards the viewer as the music slows down.
• Gong 3: There is the man walking up to the gong, but striking it fully this time.
• Gong 4/Hand: There is the same man but without his mallet and walks up to the same logo but the gong is missing. The man walks up to the middle of the logo and poses, while a hand is seen coming out of the hole on top where the gong was and hits the man which quickly falls out of the screen and the hand comes back in the hole.
• Sun: There is the same VPRO logo and setting as the gong variants, except there is no gong similar to the "Gong 3" variant and instead there is an orange sun placed in the hole which has rays that extended in and out of the VPRO logo. Also there is no gong man in this variant.
• Dots: The VPRO logo is shown in white, on a gray background with various disappearing and appearing dots, with a blue circle in the center of the backdrop along a yellow star that rapidly extends its rays in and out of the VPRO logo.
• Melting VPRO: There is the VPRO logo made of some sort of semisolid substance. The sides of the logo become red, and the logo slowly falls apart.
• Blurry VPRO: The VPRO is shown in red and blurred, shaking throughout the logo.
• Flashing VPRO: There is the VPRO logo, but with flashing black and white swirling lines filling in the logomark.
• Indian VPRO: There is an Indian statue head rocking its head back and forth. The VPRO logo is seen below on a yellow background, as well as having fast-paced red and white stripes in the border of the wordmark.
• Flashing Stars: The VPRO logo is shown in beige on a black background with flashing blue stars.
• Kissing Mouth: There is the red drawn lips of a mouth on the circle, seen straight. A female voiceover then says "And I'll give you a kiss...", and then the lips fade into them kissing the viewers, as it moves into a closeup. The word "einde" (which means "end" in Dutch) then fades the lips away. Another version has live action lips and a space background.
• Pulley: The VPRO logo is orange, on a black background with stars, above it in a circle is a pulley, which is pulled, and the screen fades to black and the text "einde" appears.

Technique: Depends on the variant, though these generally tend to use cel animation, live-action, or Scanimate, sometimes being combined with each other.

Audio: Depending on the variant.

• Normal Variant: A triumphant sounding fanfare that calms down in the second half.
• Stars/Sun: None.
• Gong: A bombastic fanfare similar to the normal variant, which gets interrupted by the sound of the gong breaking.
• Gong 2: The same fanfare from before, but it slows down when the man is about to strike the gong.
• Gong 3: The same fanfare from the previous 2, but now complete. The sound of a striking gong is heard as well.
• Gong 4/Hand: A theme that seems to be played with flutes and some other instrument while a gong can barely be heard. When the hand hits the man, a low-toned gong is used.
• Dots: A weird synth whirring sound.
• Melting VPRO: A guitar strum is heard at first. After this, sounds of what almost seems to be constipated groaning are heard. Deep droning, echoing synths are heard throughout and become more harsh as the logo moves on. The music itself is actually "Hornblast" by Desmond Leslie.
• Blurry VPRO: A bizarre synth tune. This is actually a part of "Lonesome Electric Turkey" by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention off of their live album Fillmore East, June 1971.
• Flashing VPRO: A strange rock theme that goes up in down in clarity and volume. This is actually a part of "Song from the Bottom of a Well" by Kevin Ayers.
• Indian VPRO: A different rock theme from before, but slightly distorted. A warbled, indistinguishable shouting is heard at the end. This is actually part of the song "Here Come the Fleas" by The White Noise.
• Flashing Stars: Another bombastic fanfare, more upbeat and light in tone.
• Kissing Mouth: Some sort of a jazz-funk ditty at first, the female voice, and a male vocal group holding a note as the lips get close to us. (Again, part of the song "Here Come the Fleas" by The White Noise.).
• Pulley: A slow fanfare from "La chanson de jeejeeboy" by Pierre Dac & Francis Blanche, ending with a click.

2nd Logo (1972-1981)

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  Regular ID

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  20th Century VPRO ID

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  20th Century VPRO ID (Christmas Special)

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  Waves ID

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  Piano Hands ID

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  Electric Hammer ID

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  Sunglasses ID

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  Singing Mouths ID

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  Something's Wrong ID

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  Parakeets ID

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  Aquarium ID

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  Marching Band ID

Visuals: The concept is similar to the previous logo although with different idents.

Trivia: Like the previous ID, all the idents were created by Jaap Drupsteen.

Variants: There were numerous variants, and here are the most notable ones:

• Twentieth Century VPRO: There is the VPRO logo atop a 20th Century Fox tower-like structure, with searchlights in the background. During the Christmas season, there are no searchlights, the logo is covered in snow. and the background is covered in stars, with a large star over the logo.
• Waves: There is the VPRO logo in orange with rays spinning around it (resembling a sun). There are many blue waves going up and down at the bottom.
• Piano Hands: The logo starts with hands playing on a piano, but reversed horizontally so that the fingers extend both ways if they reach out.
• Electric Hammer: There is a ragged-looking man sitting atop an orange, blurry version of the logo with streaks on the extensions, on a stormy cloud background. He is holding a large hammer, and strikes the "V" in the logo, causing "electricity" to strike out of it.
• Sunglasses: The logo starts with different types of sunglasses moving around, facing the viewer on a blue background. The camera zooms into one of the pairs of sunglasses, and one of the lenses breaks as an eye appears. A stylized cutout then appears around this, which then fades to a screen with telephone numbers and a circle with the VPRO logo in it, flashing red and white stripes.
• Singing Mouths: There are many chroma-keyed mouths singing melodies of some sort. The melodies overlap in a fashion so that they echo over each other. The camera stops as one of the mouths remains open, and the same cutout from before appears, except it's just the logo in red and clouds appear in the background.
• Something's Wrong: There are many glitchy lines inside of a zig-zag like cutout. The VPRO is above the cutout and is colored beige. After a few seconds, some text saying "Er is iets mis" ("Something's wrong" in Dutch) appears at the bottom of the cutout.
• Parakeets: There are five parakeets standing on a red round rectangular border with the "Vpro" logo on top while all of it is on a yellow background. The parakeet in the middle jumps off the border but then comes back up at the end.
• Aquarium: There is a live-action video of a aquarium. A yellow VPRO logo with a red border "swims" across the screen twice, at different times.
• Marching Band: Several instruments are seen above the VPRO logo, which is golden and appears to be made of trimming and felt, along with the border around it. The instruments move around on their own, with the drum being beaten.

Technique: Same as before.

Audio: Depending on the variant:

• Twentieth Century VPRO: A moderate fanfare slightly based off of the TCF fanfare. Bells and a choir are heard on the Christmas version.
• Waves: A relaxing guitar theme with bongos, and sounds of water flowing near the end.
• Piano Hands: A soothing piano tune.
• Electric Hammer: A loud rumbling, complete with a banging sound (reminiscent of thunder).
• Sunglasses: A theme sounding like it came out of a horror movie, ending with a glass-shattering sound.
• Singing Mouths: A melody that would be soothing if it weren't for the unpleasant echoing that it produces.
• Something's Wrong: None.
• Parakeets: A calming and beautiful flute theme.
• Aquarium: A soothing string theme.
• Marching Band: A marching band theme.

3rd Logo (1974-1981)

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  Wheat Field ID

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  Ripples ID

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  Stripes ID

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  Sheets ID

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  Dots 2 ID

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  Tears ID

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  Balloon ID

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  Crow ID

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  Thinking ID

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  Clouds ID

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  Red Wave ID

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  Bowing ID

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  Bounce ID

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  Stairs 1 ID

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  Stairs 2 ID

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  Stairs 3 ID

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  Lines ID

Unmentioned IDs

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Visuals: Same as the 1st and 2nd logos, but with, once again, different concepts.

Trivia: Once again, all the variants were created by Jaap Drupsteen.

Variants: There were numerous variants, but a lot less strange than those of its predecessors:

• Wheat Field: There is the VPRO logo in a orange circle above a wheat field. There are also sunbursts rotating around the circle.
• Generic: On a different background (like moving clouds or even the UK and US flags), the VPRO logo is seen in a circle.
• Ripples: There is the VPRO logo with a bunch of black ripples shaking and waving behind it.
• Stripes: There are some blue and white stripes zooming in and out. The VPRO logo in orange is in the middle with a ring around it. There are more stripes inside the ring.
• Nighttime: Similar to the Generic, but the logo is on a nighttime sky, with the actual logo on a black-blue gradient circle with an orange logo. The logo zooms out and a triangle grows under it. "LAAT" ("LATE" in Dutch) then appears in giant letters over the space background in the logo. Another version has a lighthouse in the triangle, with an orange background and black logo. Here, the text zooms up in a ghostly white. The closing variant has the backgrounds reversed and the word zooming out, revealing "Einde".
• Triangle: Similar to the Generic and Nighttime variants combined, but the triangle is upside down or unchanged. Sometimes, "Einde" will appear.
• Sheet: There is a sheet get pulled and dragged. The cutout from the Generic ident is used in this one. The background has the same footage.
• Dots 2: Similar to the Dots variant, but the background is black and the rays spin with the same speed through the entire logo.
• Tears: A orange VPRO logo is seen on a light blue gradient circle which is on a space background. Tears start to appear from the hole in the logo as "Einde" flashes in near the end.
• Balloon/Crow: Another orange VPRO logo, this time on a yellow circle, appears and rocks back and forth, before the "o" unravels and blows out air, like a balloon. The logo then spins and flies out of control before popping and "Einde" appearing. Another version has the logo turning into a crow instead and flying away into the background.
• Thinking: There is the man from the Gong variants sitting in a thinking position on the VPRO logo, which is also from the Gong variants. Yellow rays are emitting from the man.
• Clouds: Same as the Generic variant from the first set, but the clouds are now white and the VPRO logo is now dark blue.
• Red Wave: There is the VPRO logo slowly getting covered up by black water and a red wave. When most of the logo is covered by the water, multiple black lines appear in front of it.
• Bowing: Curtains open up to reveal a VPRO logo, which bows a few times and the curtains close.
• Bounce: In front of the same curtains from the Bowing variant, this time colored blue, we see the VPRO logo slide in from the left. The logo then stops in the middle. During the entire variant, the logo bounces up and down.
• Stairs: Here, the triangle is set up as stairs, with junking pouring down from it. Some even go out of the triangle! Once again, "Einde" appears. Another one has a women coming down the stairs, but falls off at the bottom.
• Lines: The logo starts with 2 lines going up and down on a black background. The VPRO logo is above the lines and has a ring around it. The ring unravels and becomes a line. As it does, the VPRO logo glides off-screen. The lines stop moving and then disappear.

Technique: It depends on the variant.

Audio: Depending on the variant:

• Wheat Field: A somewhat dramatic fanfare.
• Generic: A trumpet fanfare.
• Ripples: A bunch of weird electronic sounds. This is actually part of the song "Hobbit" by The Electric Flag.
• Stripes: A calming string theme.
• Nighttime/Triangle: A fanfare that gets more bombastic as the logo goes on.
• Sheet: A funk tune that sounds like it comes from the 70s.
• Dots 2: A fast jazz theme.
• Tears: A long deep echoing synth drone, with sobbing sounds.
• Balloon: A calm theme, followed by the sound of the balloon deflating.
• Crow: A soothing guitar theme, followed by the sounds by the crow which sound more like someone having a bad cough.
• Thinking: A synth theme that increases in pitch.
• Clouds: The same fanfare from Generic, but pitched 1 semitone down.
• Red Wave: An odd guitar theme, coupled with some strange synth noises.
• Bounce: A bouncy synth theme.
• Stairs: The sounds of the items breaking and falling. The other version has a slow calm theme, with the woman singing for a short amount of time before falling off. When she falls, a disturbing theme plays with 2 loud echoing womanly screams.
• Lines: A calm violin theme with whistling sounds.

Availability: All 3 sets of logos air at around the same time.

4th ID (1981)

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Visuals: There is a video feedback version of multiple colored dots while electricity sizzles. It then fades out, fades back in and the ball becomes smaller again. Then on the sidelines we see the word "EINDE".

Technique: Video feedback effects and 2D animation by Willem van den Berg.

Audio: A proud synthesizer theme. This is actually a part of "Magnetic Fields" by Jean-Michel Jarre.

5th ID (1981-1983)

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Visuals: On a black background, various orange and blue lights scroll across the screen. They then recede, revealing a blurred object over blurred blue lines. Another row of glass moves out, clearing the picture. Here, the logo is completely different, being a glowing orange triangle with "VPRO" in white with orange borders in front of the logo.

Technique: Practical effects by Willem van den Berg.

Audio: A overly saturated synthesizer theme with beeps at the beginning. The synthesizer theme comes from the first 24 seconds of "Here Is The News" from Electric Light Orchestra's 1981 album Time, which became VPRO's signature fanfare as of today.

6th ID (1983-1985)

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Visuals: On a black background, a yellow line is drawn in, made to shape the bottom of the logo. Shadows of the triangle and text scroll up before copies then wipe in and form the logo.

Technique: Similar animation techniques to the previous logo.

Audio: Same as the previous logo, but with an announcer at the end.

7th ID (1985-1987)

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Visuals: On a black background, various shapes in various colors fly across the screen. Then, red, blue, and yellow shapes scroll across the screen as a flashing VPRO logo fades in. The shapes also change and the top row also says "nederland 1/2" in various colors and fonts, flashing at random times.

Technique: Camera-controlled animation.

Audio: A hard jazz tune.

8th ID (1987)

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Visuals: On a blue background, a white triangle scrolls along, with a yellow outline and black outlines to separate them. A red outline of the logo zooms out, followed by a smaller black outline as the text in blue scrolls along. A man with an antenna scrolls in and fires a ball of static at the logo, making it static as well as h scrolls off screen. Later on, a white background with a yellow stripe is added in.

Technique: 2D animation and likely live action by Bob Takes.

Audio: A horn or synth remix of the 5th logo theme.

9th ID (1987-1989)

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Visuals: On a white background, several painted objects and pieces of art rotate and flashes in sync with the beeps. A red square with stuff in it choppily rotates and reverses with the rings. A eye appears and the rings appear again, rotating jerkily, with the cardboard side appearing again. A brown spot then appears with the VPRO logo flipping up. A yellow circle with a cameraman flies across the screen and the spot fades out.

Technique: Jerky 3D animation by Bob Takes.

Audio: Same as the 5th and 6th logos.

10th ID (1989-1992)

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Visuals: On a white background, several paint strokes move and rotate around the screen. The screen then cuts to more rotating black and red paint strokes with static. More paint strokes appear, with the VPRO logo flipping up and being filled with static as a yellow ball passes over it.

Technique: Same as the previous logo.

Audio: Same as the 5th, 6th and 9th logos, but abridged.

11th ID (1992-1999)

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Visuals: Similar to the 8th logo, but the animation is more cluttered and the logo flips in with no brown spot.

Technique: Same as the previous two logos.

Audio: Same as the 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th logos.

12th ID (2010-)

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Visuals: Like the first four logos, various concepts are used, but with a new logo. This logo now has two triangles and the text in lowercase and in a new font.

Trivia: This logo is made by Thonik.

Technique: Depends on the variant.

Audio: Same as the 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th and 11th logos, but usually shortened.

Audio Variant: Starting in 2022, the VPRO fanfare has many renditions, such as dubstep (composed and arranged by A. Crespo Barba), orchestral (composed and arranged by Akiko Mik) and xylophone (composed and arranged by Harry de Wit).