TV Home Forum

BBC Christmas Idents

BBC ONE Christmas ident launch 6pm Sat (November 2010)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
CH
chris
chris posted:
You have a point. You can see the Daily Mail headline if they used something like this which obviously costs more than the idents years ago that were used only the 24th-26th.


Don't forget that the idents years ago tied up one of the presentation studios so weren't necessarily all that cheap!


Would be interesting to get exact figures. I was merely guessing just by the quality of them if you get me.
MA
Markymark
chris posted:
You have a point. You can see the Daily Mail headline if they used something like this which obviously costs more than the idents years ago that were used only the 24th-26th.


Don't forget that the idents years ago tied up one of the presentation studios so weren't necessarily all that cheap!


True, but then what else (apart from the Weather) would those studios have been used for over the Christmas hols anyway ?
TV
TVnut15
Hey all,

Any Idea for BBC Three, Four, CBBC and CBeebies this year???

Also, I am currently making a video looking at all of the christmas Idents from all of the bbc channels. I have not looked into the news channel and bbc parliament as I am pretty dure they don't do festive idents, but do let me know if you could, what christmas idents/packages were used (or even reused) on BBC3, BBC4, CBBC, Cbeebies, BBC Choice and BBC Knowledge. If there are any links to these videos that would also help!

Thanks for any help you may give
WE
Westy2
West Midlands used a standard ident into Inside Out, but as it was a last of series plus the announcement was already 'burnt' onto the clip, there was probably no point in doing it!
GW
Gareth Williams
Hey all,

Any Idea for BBC Three, Four, CBBC and CBeebies this year???

Also, I am currently making a video looking at all of the christmas Idents from all of the bbc channels. I have not looked into the news channel and bbc parliament as I am pretty dure they don't do festive idents, but do let me know if you could, what christmas idents/packages were used (or even reused) on BBC3, BBC4, CBBC, Cbeebies, BBC Choice and BBC Knowledge. If there are any links to these videos that would also help!

Thanks for any help you may give


BBC Three just using a sparkly sting not sure on the idents itself though, BBC Four they are using the same ones that were introduced in 2005, CBBC have been using the same ones that were used for the last few years (albeit with the edited ending) and CBeebies I'm not sure as I don't watch the channel Wink .
CH
chris
chris posted:
Also, I haven't had much chance to watch BBC One this weekend but I haven't seen any pictures of stings?


Good point - I've not had much chance to check either, but from what I have seen, nothing on the sting front just yet; just maybe, they are saving them for later?

On a related note, my mind had played tricks with me - I had *thought* I had glimpsed a possible sting about a week ago, but I clearly must have mis-seen - stings do not seem to be shown ahead of the symbol TX anymore, plus it was viewed at an odd angle - so unless it was a prog-related one similar to Wallace & Gromit, frankly, I could well have dreamt the whole thing! Laughing


Well I think they've gone for little promo teasers rather than stings this year, mainly under the tag 'Everyone's home for Christmas'. Just before The One Show there was a little 'sting' showing a dalek travelling through an airport with christmas shopping hanging onto it and then it turned to look at two air-hostesses passing by. It then cut to 'Everyone's home for Christmas'. I'm sure I've seen another one similar. Quite a nice touch and keeps it fresh.
JC
JonathanC
I quite like the Come Fly With Me themed trailers they've got for the various shows, particularly the Dalek one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/idents/

Edit: Here's the Dalek sting http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/videos/p00cmkdl
Last edited by JonathanC on 14 December 2010 9:16pm
AN
Andrew Founding member
Maybe it's an ageing thing, but years ago I used to love seeing Christmas pres as soon as possible, and now I'm wanting them to leave it until a later point. Not that I'm becoming a scrooge, more to make it feel different. In use for too long makes them become stale too soon, and makes the week or so of Christmas seem like any normal day after using them for regular schedules.


It's not an ageing thing - there is truth in what you're saying. Airing these literally weeks before Christmas detracts from their being special symbols - equate it to opening Christmas presents on the 11th. By the time the 25th comes around, the novelty and initial enjoyment of something being new has worn off somewhat - and I'd say it's actually the waiting that's half the fun. If the idents were to show up on the 20th, for example, it would be much easier to appreciate them while they're around, instead of being tired of them as a result of the early start.

It's also worth nothing that the changes in when Christmas symbols are used daily have contributed to the saturation. We now get them in one continuous block: each day from the initial TX, generally up to the 1st Jan. Going back several years and IIRC, Christmas idents were only used on significant days in the holidays - on the 27th there would be a break, and normal symbols would be used for a few days - then on New Year's Eve the festive symbols would return. So previously, it wasn't even 24th to the 31st, it was less than that - reserved for the absolute minimum of days.

Bearing all that in mind, and when we see how far things have moved in the other direction now (beyond the maximum of days, IMO), I think there's a strong case for saving Christmas idents until much later.


They've really gone from one extreme to another. Using them only for the main days would be too little but for weeks and weeks is too much. There is also an issue about when they finish using the Christmas idents.

This year they should really still use them on Bank Holiday Monday 3rd January, but they've gone back to normal idents on New Year's Day in the past which is as odd as starting them too early.

Can anyone remember how many days the popular 1997 package was used?
SP
Steve in Pudsey
chris posted:
You have a point. You can see the Daily Mail headline if they used something like this which obviously costs more than the idents years ago that were used only the 24th-26th.


Don't forget that the idents years ago tied up one of the presentation studios so weren't necessarily all that cheap!


True, but then what else (apart from the Weather) would those studios have been used for over the Christmas hols anyway ?


But it did mean that they couldn't start them earlier than the Christmas period itself because the likes of Whistle Test and Point of View would be using the studios.
BH
BillyH Founding member
Can anyone remember how many days the popular 1997 package was used?


Only three days!

Am pretty sure that the first year it lasted more was in 2000, even then it was only a couple of days extra. Then they've gradually increased it every year until it's become beyond ridiculous.
SW
Steve Williams
Am pretty sure that the first year it lasted more was in 2000, even then it was only a couple of days extra. Then they've gradually increased it every year until it's become beyond ridiculous.


Yes, I think it was 2000 when they started on the Friday before Christmas, which would have been the 22nd. Surely the two weeks of the Christmas Radio Times is the obvious time to run them, and if they're going to run them for three weeks, at least make more than one of them. Those 1997 graphics, and again the following year, had several variations, even though they were only on for three days.
BR
Brekkie
I think then in 2001 they stuck to the 22nd, which would have been the Saturday - and then stuck to the Saturday before Christmas for a few years but then got to the point when rather than knocking a week off they continued to basically start them a day earlier every year.

Newer posts