Canal+ Décalé

Credits

Descriptions by
Oranim

Video captures courtesy of
TOP GENERIQUES, Carlail, Cool Jingles, Kev Rodriguez and Canal 4

Background

Canal+ Décalé (formerly known as Canal+ Bleu, then Canal+ Confort) was a premium timeshift channel part of Canal+'s offerings, launched on April 27, 1996 before shutting down in 2022. As Canal+ Bleu, the channel mostly served as an additional choice to viewers, much like Canal+ Jaune. In contrast to Jaune's focus on cinema, Bleu was primarily oriented towards television shows and documentaries.

On November 1, 2003, as part of a revamp across Canal+'s channels, Canal+ Bleu took on the name Canal+ Confort. From that name change onward, the channel would act as a timeshift channel to the main Canal+ channel. Two years later on March 5, 2005, Canal+ Confort was renamed to Canal+ Décalé.

The channel's role as a timeshift channel hasn't changed since 2003. In later years however, Canal+ Décalé began broadcasting a number of sport events. As such, the channel would take on unique names and brandings for the duration of the event in question. These include Canal+ Rio 2016 for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Canal+ Tennis for the Paris Masters. This culminated in 2019 with the launch of Canal+ Sport Week-end, broadcasting every weekend from August 2019 to May 2021, as its own channel on Canal+ Décalé.

With the increased focus on sport, Canal+ Décalé closed down on August 29, 2022 and was replaced two days later by Canal+ Sport 360, covering any and all sport events along with news simulcasted with Infosport+.

Canal+ Bleu

Contents   ID (April 27, 1996-October 31, 2003)

Canal+ Confort

Contents   ID (November 1, 2003-March 4, 2005)

Canal+ Décalé

Contents 1st ID (March 5, 2005-August 30, 2009) 2nd ID (August 31, 2009-August 29, 2022)

Canal+ Sport Week-end

Contents   ID (August 2019-May 2021)

Canal+ Bleu

ID (April 27, 1996-October 31, 2003)

• 
  Waiting screen
• 
  Sign-on

Visuals: Similar to the opening sequence of the 1995 Canal+ ident, with the border now colored blue. The original border can also be briefly seen before the first cut.

Closedown Sequence: The closedown variant, which is similar to that of the 1995 ident, except that it has a blue border around it and that in the transition from the horizontal black stripe to the gray bottom, a blue screen becomes visible.

Variant: All intros before the program begins now use a blue border. However, during the first seconds of the sequence, when the screen flashes and the Canal+ logo fades in, the border is in its original color.

Technique: 2D computer animation done with a Quantel Paintbox by Étienne Robial.

Audio: A violin composition with a choir at the end, plus sounds of flashing, bubbles, chirping birds and drinking, composed by Philippe Eidel and Arnaud Devos.

Availability: Archival websites have both the opening and closedown sequence along with a few intros.

Canal+ Confort

ID (November 1, 2003-March 4, 2005)

• 
  Long ident
• 
  Short ident

Visuals: Red and green squares move from the sides, while blue and yellow squares move from the top and bottom. The moment all 4 squares converge together, the Canal+ logo appears with orange and blue squares behind it. The background turns orange before cutting to orange and yellow squares moving from the left and the bottom, with the Canal+ logo once again appearing once they converge. The background then switches from white to black to orange in time with the last note.

Variant: A longer version exists that shows the full name of the channel, which plays out a little differently. The 4 initial squares appear one by one before converging like in the original sequence, with the Canal+ logo appearing. Duplicates of the squares appear around the logo, before they all fade besides the orange and yellow squares. The word "CONFORT" appears on the bottom of the orange square. Two pairs of yellow and orange squares move in from the four sides of the screen, converging with the two squares in the middle similarly to the original sequence. The CANAL+ text flashes once, causing more squares to appear. The "CONFORT" text does the same. Both texts then flash together, causing the background to become black. The squares fade out first, leaving the CANAL+ CONFORT text in white which fades out shortly after.

Technique: 2D animation by Étienne Robial.

Audio: The short version uses three descending xylophone notes, then a high-pitched one at the end. The long version reuses the short version's music at the beginning, before an orchestra gives a rousing note during the second half. Three 8-bit-like notes are then heard at the very end.

Availability: Archival websites only have the short version.

Canal+ Décalé

1st ID (March 5, 2005-August 30, 2009)

• 
  2005 version
• 
  2008/2009 version

Visuals: Similar to the 2003 Canal+ ident, however the squares are slightly deformed.

Trivia: From this branding onwards, Canal+ Décalé's identity began to represent a visual pun with the channel's name and role. "Décalé" can be translated literally to either "Tilted" or "Shifted", representing the channel's role as a timeshift channel while the squares in this branding have tilted sides.

Variant: Much like Canal+'s other channels, this branding got updated slightly in 2008/2009 when the channels started broadcasting in 16:9.

Technique: 2D animation by Étienne Robial.

Audio: Similar to the 2003 Canal+ ident, but slightly remixed. The 2005 leitmotif is an off-key version of the regular one, while the 2008/2009 leitmotif uses 3 high-pitched piano notes to spell "DE-CA-LE" after the initial 3 notes.

Availability: Archival websites cover a part of the original version, whereas only the "Cinéma" sequence has been preserved for the 2008/2009 update.

2nd ID (August 31, 2009-August 29, 2022)

• 

Visuals: Similar to the 2009 Canal+ idents, there is footage from 4 separate screens. The cross separating them, however, is slightly tilted to the left. At the end of the sequence, the + symbol is embedded on the angles of each screen near the center with the letter-shifted word "décalé" already in place to the right, and the separator cross straightens.

Trivia: Much like before, this branding is a visual pun on the channel's name and role. The idents themselves are tilted versions of Canal+'s own idents, further emphasizing Décalé's role as a timeshift channel to the main Canal+ channel.

Technique: Live-action and/or CGI, done by Devilfish.

Audio: A sort of beatbox theme with some xylophone thrown in. These are actually off-key remixes of the original music from their respective counterparts on Canal+, composed by Norbert Gilbert.

Availability: Archival websites cover a large part of this branding.

Canal+ Sport Week-end

ID (August 2019-May 2021)

• 
  First part
• 
  Second part

Visuals: There is silhouettes of people demonstrating their talent in various sports, along with neons tracing around a circuit. The +DECALE text from the 2009 branding appears in the same way as before, although the screen isn't split in four, before the DECALE text morphs into "SPORT", with the two Es of DECALE going down and morphing into "WEEK-END".

Trivia: While the majority of Sport Week-End's branding is based on Canal+ Sport, the commercial break bumpers use Canal+'s format with Canal+ Sport's soundtrack.

Technique: Live-action and CGI, inspired by the Canal+ Sport idents.

Audio: See Canal+ Sport's 2015 branding. All music used for Canal+ Sport Week-End is repurposed from Canal+ Sport.

Availability: Archival websites cover a few idents and commercial break bumpers.