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BBC TWO Christmas 2015 presentation

Retro idents, eh? (December 2015)

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BR
Brekkie
Lambie Nairn are capable of knocking out naff stuff too.

Apart from the dancers, LN really hadn't made any missteps (albeit they had a much larger budget to work with then). There was a point during the 90's where every channel you saw had Lambie Nairn's design in them (ie: Channel 4, BBC1/2, Carlton). It's quite frustrating to see Lambie-Nairn basically cut out of the running when execs decided to rebrand now.

I'd say Lambie-Nairn are still very much trading on their successes from the 90s, amd that is probably why they're not getting the work they once were. At their peak brilliant, but not so brilliant in the years since. However they'd probably be high on the list of companies you'd go to for somebody to reinvent BBC2's identity once again.
MR
mr_vivian
Lambie Nairn made a pigs ear out of the yellow 2 idents. I liked the concept of a robot 2... but y'know the colour scheme was all wrong and I thought it was a shame they put a box in the corner.

But I guess not everyone is going to like something.

Saying that, I'm a fan of their other work. I think Channel 4 were mad not getting Lambie Nairn involved to do their new idents - the idents they have currently look tired and they've only been on the channel a few months. What a shame.

Whereas BBC TWO went back to their old idents (they had sense to avoid the yellow era) and they've still got it....
BR
Brekkie
I got tired of them using BBC2's old idents very quickly. At least with C4 you get the sense that these haven't worked so will likely be replaced sooner rather than later, but with BBC2 we seem to be stuck in the 90s for the foreseeable future.
IN
Interceptor
I got tired of them using BBC2's old idents very quickly. At least with C4 you get the sense that these haven't worked so will likely be replaced sooner rather than later, but with BBC2 we seem to be stuck in the 90s for the foreseeable future.

What gives you that sense? They've stuck with it so far (as well you might expect!).
LL
Larry the Loafer
I got tired of them using BBC2's old idents very quickly. At least with C4 you get the sense that these haven't worked so will likely be replaced sooner rather than later, but with BBC2 we seem to be stuck in the 90s for the foreseeable future.


My only complaint is there only seem to be about four or five, whereas NI use more than double. And the inconsistency of the boxes is irritating too. But considering there was once a concept for BBC Two to be identified with a lawnmower and an ironing board, I'm happy for them to keep the 90s 2s.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
But NI don't have to care about how it looks in HD, so have more options.
JU
Justin
But NI don't have to care about how it looks in HD, so have more options.

If the original film still exists, they could probably do a high definition transfers. I'm sure Lambie-Nairn has them somewhere in their archives. I doubt the BBC would go to the trouble though.
MI
Michael
I got tired of them using BBC2's old idents very quickly.


Awwwww. Poor you.
Rory and London Lite gave kudos
MA
Maaixuew
But NI don't have to care about how it looks in HD, so have more options.

If the original film still exists, they could probably do a high definition transfers. I'm sure Lambie-Nairn has them somewhere in their archives. I doubt the BBC would go to the trouble though.


Possibly for the original idents, but I doubt this for the newer computer generated ones.
JO
John
Lambie Nairn made a pigs ear out of the yellow 2 idents. I liked the concept of a robot 2... but y'know the colour scheme was all wrong and I thought it was a shame they put a box in the corner.

But I guess not everyone is going to like something.

Saying that, I'm a fan of their other work. I think Channel 4 were mad not getting Lambie Nairn involved to do their new idents - the idents they have currently look tired and they've only been on the channel a few months. What a shame.

Whereas BBC TWO went back to their old idents (they had sense to avoid the yellow era) and they've still got it....


Martin Lambie-Nairn, left Lambie-Nairn in 2008 and it seems his later work was through freelance and other branding companies.

In my view his best work were the Channel Four, Anglia, BBC 2, balloon and Carlton 'Star' idents.

The yellow 2s and BBC 1 dancer idents - although didn't quite work, are far superior to what followed.
GL
Gluben
Makes you wonder how some shiny Christmas trees on a turntable will go down nowadays. As Applemask once said during one of his brilliant Christmas Wrapping videos, you never get idents that are crafted with "love" anymore. Sprout Boy might be one of the "cuter" postings we've had in recent years (even though the name is crap) but it'll never match the brilliance of, say, BBC One's festive storybook presentation from 1990, or the toys/spinning top look from the year before. And they were used for a fraction of the time these will be.


Agreed, and I'm a huge fan of Applemask's videos. I would love to do some myself actually.

CGI is all too prevalent these days, as is the reliance on live-action and people. If you're going to do that at Christmas, at least make it magical, like 1999 or 2000, which are two of my favourite years. But I suppose if anyone even tried to go back, it would look dated and gimmicky, hence why we're in this very bland period of branding that seems to have been going for over a decade.

For me, it was 2002 which marked the beginning of a sharp decline (and ironically, the year that got me into idents in the first place). We had the dancers replacing the balloon on BBC One, the celebrities on ITV1, and five and UK Gold adopting very dull real life shots with a logo slapped on them, while BBC Two re-used a Christmas ident for the first time. There's been the occasional bright spot (2005 was quite good with both BBC channels getting new, and decent idents) but it does make me sad that we won't ever experience the sort of greatness we once had.
JU
Justin
But NI don't have to care about how it looks in HD, so have more options.

If the original film still exists, they could probably do a high definition transfers. I'm sure Lambie-Nairn has them somewhere in their archives. I doubt the BBC would go to the trouble though.


Possibly for the original idents, but I doubt this for the newer computer generated ones.

Re-render?

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