From the Isle of Wight

Ok, it’s been years since I made a proper mock. But finding myself at a loose end the other day that’s exactly what I’ve done. Let me take you back to 1985 and the IBA are experimenting with the idea of local television, they choose to do this by setting up an experimental station on the Isle of Wight which would opt in to the main ITV (TVS) schedule for a while every evening and transmit its own programming on the Isle of Wight transmitter.

Now I think about it, that wouldn’t even have been technically possible as the Isle of Wight transmitter happens to be the main one for the South of England, but nevermind this is a what if afterall...

Start-Up:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv1.jpg
Of course there had to be some kind of start up for the service. I thought highlighting TV in the logo would be a bit cliché, and it is – but that is what they probably would have done in 1985 anyway.

The Ident:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv2.jpg

http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv3.jpg
Quite grand for a station that would probably have no budget. The Isle of Wight is roughly diamond shape and many designers have use that in the past when doing Isle of Wight related design work, who am I to break that convention?

Programme Slide:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv4.jpg
Copying the style of TVS, which copied the style of Channel 4 at the time. Note a slightly different logo, I’ve always found the way Central had about seven different official logos from day one quirky so this is my homage to them.

Menu:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv5.jpg
Very basic. I don’t think they would have used the term ‘rejoins TVS’ but you get the idea.

News Programme:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv6.jpg
Another diamond design. I think I’ve overdone the video ageing on this one, green and blue is quite garish too. Inspiration drawn/outright copied from another ITV station of the time.

http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv12.jpg
The headlines. Even when I used to make mocks back in the day, I never attempted to do one featuring a real life human. I’m really pleased with how this turned out, I wanted the Wight Tonight to look like a tatty bit of cardboard and it does. Please note: this lady may not really be called Amanda, I have no idea who she is.

Weather:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv7.jpg
Summers that were actually warm, they were lucky back then. Yes the weather logo isn’t centred, that’s how it probably would have ended up on a low budget station at the time.

Production Slide:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv8.jpg
This goes at the end of programmes produced by Whitevision, obviously, alternate style logo in use here again. I thought this would be the end of the mocks for an ultra cheap and cheerful local TV station in the 1980s, what else could there possibly be that I could mock up?...

Adverts:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv10.jpg

http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv11.jpg
Oh yes, the adverts, just like old local ITV adverts. Static bits of cardboard and dull announcer voiceovers, brilliant.

The End:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv9.jpg

Let me have your comments. I haven’t really made a proper set of mocks like this since the APFS site was still going strong. Back then I used to actually capture my mocks via video to give them a genuine look so my main aim here was to try and give these an authentic look digitally, I think I’ve overdone the aging slightly!

The images of the Isle of Wight featured above come from an Isle of Wight tourism advert from around the same vintage as these mocks would be. Amanda and the fashion models were supplied by RAX118G on You Tube, although I didn’t ask permission which is naughty of me in a cwilliams1976 kind of way.

That mock is flippin' fantastic. Spending tons of time a year on the Island I have always wondered what it would have been like to have a small scale region, like the Channel Islands. The quality of your mock is clearly amazing, and the time and effort you have took to create all of the stills - right down to taking images from the old tourism ad - make this one of my favourite mocks on TV Forum. Top job.

Clicked the link on the homepage expecting to see another of lukesams3's abominations, and was pleasantly surprised.

Good to see you back doing mocks Ben. These are fantastic.

These are marvellous What If's, Ben. More please!

Very well done - quite realistic to boot. Excellent stuff!

Of course, with the Isle of Wight being 40 years behind the mainland, this is actually what their television looks like today!

Seriously though, as a Vectophile, I appreciate these. A television service solely for caulkheads can only be a good thing. I rate these gurt. Gallybaggers all round.

The only criticism I can think of is the logo on the programme slide & menu looks quite clear compared to the image and text, its green colour seems too vibrant, and lacks chroma bleeding / shifting. That would be the one thing I'd suggest to try and add.

But if it wasn't for that, the illusion would be complete. Everything else is very convincing, both in design and the old tape look. The 'line shift' effect is what really sells it for me; very authentic addition. If you'd re-created a genuine logo from the 80s, applied this whole look to it and then told me it was an off-air cap from a Betamax, I'd likely assume you were telling the truth - IMO very well done, and altogether nearly spot-on.

Hi everyone, thanks for the comments so far.


I do agree, it does however show the difference between real video compression and the faked stuff.

I gave the programme slide another go, this time using a real photo rather than a screen capture:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv14.jpg

I wasn't happy with the way the 'Wight Tonight' titles came out so I've made a quick amendment to something that a TV set would probably cope a bit better with:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv13.jpg

Also I felt that the ident wasn't quite right, the green on blue colourscheme wouldn't have looked that great on a TV set and the storyboard of how it would animate was probably a bit much so I've simplified:
http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv15.png

http://jamin.me.uk/mocks/wv16.jpg

You're spoiling us.

You've hit the bullseye with the last image but the whole mock's fantastic. Well done.

I wonder what it would look like nowadays?

A big black screen because local television of this nature has never and will never work.