Westward Television

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum



Background

Westward Television was the first holder of the ITV franchise for South West England, commencing broadcasts on April 29, 1961. It was renowned for its devoted, high-quality local programming and presentation, but squabbling between its local management and the London-based management board was to result in its loss in the 1980 franchise round. It ended up being taken over by its replacement, Television South West (TSW), in August 1981, but the Westward name and Golden Hind model (see below) continued to be used until midnight on January 1, 1982.



1st Logo (April 29, 1961-1965)


Visuals: There is the front end of a real ship on the water. The white text "WESTWARD" moves up in a wavelike motion. A white line is drawn across that from both ends of the screen, a circular border is formed around the ship, and an image of a white ship facing left with little "waves" below "WESTWARD" is formed. The banners "CHANNEL 9" (Stockland Hill) and "CHANNEL 12" (Caradon Hill), in squares, move in from the top in wavelike motions and stop. The finished product looks like a test pattern.

Variant: A still version has the logo in a single colour and the text on the sides matching that of the main text, as well as lacking any squares. There are 2 different versions: white on black, or black on white.

Technique: Traditional animation.

Audio: A four-note vibraphone tune.


2nd Logo (1965-1972)


Visuals: Against a black background, there is a white model ship turn to the left into place, while zooming in a bit. The text "WESTWARD", in a Futura font, zooms out from the haul of the ship.

Trivia: The ship is called the Golden Hind, which was used by the famed English explorer Sir Francis Drake.

Variants:

  • At the beginning of some shows, no text would emerge, but rather 2 lines of different lengths from both sides of the screen. The longer one flips out to be "WESTWARD TELEVISION", while the shorter one becomes "PRESENTS".
  • Later on, the ship was later reshot to appear ghostly white, and it instead zooms out while rotating to the left. The font for "WESTWARD" was changed to Compacta Bold font and now slides in from the right.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: A nautical seven-note horn fanfare.

3rd Logo (May 22, 1971-December 31, 1981)


Visuals: Against a blue background is the same Golden Hind from before slowly zooms out and turn into place. Below it, an orange square with a white ship on it (actually the ship from the first logo) fades in near the bottom left, and the white-outlined text "WESTWARD"" is wiped in next to it. "TV", in red with white outlines, fades in next to that.

Variants:

  • While it was a silver model, colours of the ship seem to vary, ranging from a bronze-like colour to bluish-silver.
  • For startups, the ship was shot closer up, and zoomed out much slower.
  • On a Christmas tape produced during the mid-late '70s, the logo goes as usual, but the text below the ship says "BACKWARD TV".

Technique: Live action and Scanimation.

Audio: A nautical fourteen-note horn fanfare, with the last one being held.

Audio Variant: Starting in 1978, the music was changed to a dramatic seven-note fanfare, with the last three notes sounding like the beginning of the fanfare from ATV's 1969 Zoom 2 ident.


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