JOCX-DTV (Fuji TV)

Credits

Descriptions by
Rainbow Puppy, User00664, EvelynFriedrich, DaVinci101, TheLogoFan2004, Betty Paltingca & Badjazz98

Captures by
A.Donaire logos 1

Editions by
Henrynguye5 & TheLogoFan2004

Video captures courtesy of
昭和テレビ, 昭和マニア, No.

Background

The Fuji Television Network, Inc. (callsigns JOCX-DTV), branded as Fuji Television (フジテレビ, Fuji Terebi) and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by Fuji Media Holdings, it is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). It is also known for its long-time slogan, "If it's not fun, it's not TV!". It was founded on November 18, 1948, but didn't sign-on until March 1, 1959 by a number of investors, including Nippon Broadcasting System and Nippon Cultural Broadcasting. By 2005, NBS joined the Fuji TV group, leaving Cultural Broadcasting as its remaining independent major shareholder.

1st ID (March 1, 1959-September 22, 1969) (Startup and Closedown)

Visuals: The screen fades in to Mount Fuji being covered by a set of clouds. The clouds would move away from the screen as we see the mountain more clearly. Then, the channel name フジテレビ (Fuji Television in English) appears on the center of the screen. After that, the mountain is sending out signals (similar to the 2nd RKO Radio Pictures logo) with channel name zooming to the bottom of the screen. After the final signal, a numeral "8" comes out of the mountain, and text reading "チャンネル 8 (Channel 8 in English)" appears below the "8". The logo stands still for a few seconds the text and the "8" closing out. All that is left is just Mount Fuji as seen on a sky background with a few clouds behind the mountain. After seeing the clear view one more time, the logo fades out.

Technique: Traditional cel animation, with Mount Fuji represented as a live-action photo.

Audio: A happy sounding majestic fanfare.

2nd ID (September 23, 1969-March 31, 1976) (Startup and Closedown)

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Visuals:

• Startup: On a pink background, there is the Fuji mountain from the previous logo, but darkened, with a few clouds behind it. A sun can be be seen rising on the mountain, which makes it brighter. The sequence then fades into a model of the Fuji Television headquarters from the time (located in Kawadacho, Shinjuku). The mountain fades out after. The sun continues to rise. When it stops, the eight from the previous logo pops out of the headquarters and zooms to the viewer. As the bottom of the eight goes through the screen, the name of the channel appears at the bottom and turns from the top.
• Closedown: The model of the headquarters from the time appears, this time over a black background. The camera rotates around the model and it zooms out. It is revealed that it was zooming out from planet Earth. The eight from the previous logo pops out of planet Earth. When the bottom of the eight goes through the screen, there is the moon's surface, the channel's name appears just like in the opening version.

Technique: Both the startup and closedown used live-action footage of models with some cel animation. The closedown also used camera-controlled animation. This was produced by Tsuburaya Productions.

Audio:

• Startup: A triumphant fanfare which would build up to becoming more orchestral and majestic, a flute is heard when the 8 got up close to the viewer.
• Closedown: A dreamy synth jingle, with an ominous synthesized noise when the 8 got up close to the viewer.

Availability: The closing variant also appeared in a montage that played when Fuji TV was moving from Kawadacho to Odaiba in 1997.

3rd ID (April 1, 1976-March 31, 1978) (Startup and Closedown)

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Visuals:

• Startup: The sequence starts out in complete darkness. Dark purple hues then begin to appear in the background, and the silhouette of Mount Fuji becomes discernible in the foreground. As dawn progresses, the purple sky begins to become pinker in tone. Soon, the first rays of the sun begin to glow behind the mountain. When the sun itself makes its appearance, its bright light engulfs much of the screen and causes rotating lens flares to appear in front of the mountain. The sun slowly rises out of view, brightening the sky and lighting up Mount Fuji. The screen cuts to a wider shot of the mountain, which has clouds floating by behind it. The "8" and the channel name fade in front of the footage.

• Closedown: There is Mount Fuji as it briefly erupts from a night sky. Then, the night shadow fades as the mountain turns dark before panning down to a skyline of Tokyo. After that, the Fuji TV logo is shown in white before fading to black.

Technique: Live-action with a printed image superimposed.

Audio: Both variants use ominous pieces of synth music, they sound different depending on the variant. They are excerpts from Isao Tomita's "Reverie".

Availability: The opening variant appeared when Fuji TV moved from its old headquarters in Kawadacho to the current one in Odaiba in March 1997.

4th ID (April 1, 1978-March 1, 1984) (Startup and Closedown)

The closedown ID.

Visuals:

• Startup (used until 1981): On a background with the sun rising and Mount Fuji, the text "愛のメッセージ" ("Love Message") appear at the bottom of the screen. The lyrics then appear on the screen two lines at once. Meanwhile, there is a video of children running across a meadow. At the end the "8 フジテレビ" ("8 Fuji Television") logo rise of the bottom of Mount Fuji.
• Closedown: There is images from monuments installed at the Hakone Open-Air Museum at night. The Japanese text "愛のメッセージ" ("Love Message") appears over the glass monument, and the Japanese text "彫刻の森美術館" ("Hakone Open-Air Museum") appears over the image of a monument. In the end, the numeral 8 and the Japanese text of the three previous logos zooms into the screen over the image of another glass monument

Variant: The opening plays the short version of the song. To hear the longer version see here.

Technique: Live-action footage combined with Scanimate.

Audio: The station's song "Love Message". For the closing variant, its just the instrumental of the song.

Availability: A snippet of the instrumental version of "Love Message" can be heard when Fuji TV was moving from its old headquarters in Kawadacho to the current one in Odaiba in March 1997.

• The startup is considered by the Japanese TV ID community to be one of the most elusive IDs, with not even a screenshot of it available online. There is a chance that it was preserved on Japanese home recordings, however.

5th ID (April 1, 1979-March 31, 1986) (Startup and Closedown)

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Visuals: On a starry sky there are two lights, one red and one blue. Then, some yellow lines come out forming the 1959 Fuji TV symbol, the symbol turns into silver before zooming in as a multicolored symbol. Then, a picture of a sky appears before the Fuji TV symbol appears zooming in constantly on different backgrounds with different settings. After that the Fuji TV symbol appears on a black background with the symbol turning into the words "eye" with the RGB (red, blue and green) colors. Then, a silhouette of a blue eye can be seen before zooming in to reveal a black background with a blue light. Then, the Fuji TV symbol forms from the star lights before zooming in on a multicolored wormhole. After that, the Fuji TV wordmark in blue is placed on a black background with the symbol being in white before fading to black.

Variant: A shorter version exists where it cuts to the final part of the logo, but there is a difference, a rainbow trail comes out of the text, the trail zooms in until the eight appears. The trail fades out as eight shines. Used as a station ID.

Technique: A combination of motion-controlled, scanimate and traditional cel animation from Tatsunoko Production.

Audio: A catchy fanfare with a choir performing the lyrics "Channel 8" and "Fuji TV".

6th ID (April 1-August 19, 1986) (Startup and Closedown)

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  Original 1957 logo (Before Transition)
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  Current 1986 logo (after Transition)
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Visuals: There is the 1957 Fuji TV symbol as it zooms out from a wormhole. Then, a white light appears, revealing the Fujisankei eye symbol consisting of a red dot within a drawing of a ring with three eyebrows. After that, planet Earth appears as it spins around. The symbol moves right and turns into a comet which traverses around it, while the comet hits the screen, revealing a white background with the Fujisankei eye symbol alongside its tagline above. The tagline disappears while the words "Fuji Television" appear at the bottom.

Trivia: The logo was originally designed by Katsu Yoshida, while the wordmark was designed by Yuji Baba. The eye is meant to represent the feeling of warmth and familiarity.

Technique: A combination of motion-controlled, Scanimate and CGI.

Audio: A bombastic fanfare combining xylophone and operatic noises accompanied with an announcer.

7th ID (August 30, 1986-September 30, 2001) (Startup and Closedown)

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Visuals: TBA.

Variants:

Technique: CGI by Fuji TV title designer Zeno Kaneda at IMAGICA.

Audio: TBA. Composed by Takanori Arisawa.

8th ID (October 1, 2001-) (Startup and Closedown)

Visuals: Unknown

Variants:

• A short version exists, only used for sign-offs.
• When the logo was introduced for digital broadcastings in 2003, the logo was zoomed to fit the widescreen format and the text "JOCX-DTV" replaces "JOCX-TV" (although this was used for analog broadcastings until 2011). Also, some scenes were cut off, reducing the animation's length to 60 seconds.

Technique: A combination of CGI and live-action by ITP Communications in Osaka.

Audio: Unknown