BBC Two 2015 with 90s idents

http://s7.postimg.cc/qn8a53xkr/BBC_Two_Sign_Zone.jpg
I haven't been watching BBC2 lately - are these idents actually being shown, or have they just added NI's graphics to their rota to confuse us?

^that was shown on network?

Surprisingly, yes. You can still catch it on Live Feed if you want to see it. It's at 10:04.


www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbctwo

That's correct. Network are not using Steam, Copper Cut Out or Silk ...not yet, anyway (except to say that they have been making use of Copper Cut Out during Afternoon Classics).

Mind you, the same kind of thing has happened quite recently - this Afternoon Classics slide, for instance, has been used, even though Blade ident was never shown during AC.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/901/lfwj.png

Would it be accurate to say this is the first instance of the network following an NI initiative? Have these been supplied by the NI team? I'm sure someone will be able to clarify.

And NI used the 'Silk' graphic for a programme menu this afternoon. However, it was on screen so long, it looped - and the cut back to the start of the sequence was very obvious. But, probably wasn't intended to be on screen for that length of time.

Interestlngly, BBC NI opted to remain with the main ident set for 'Afternoon Classics' - not a retro ident in sight.

Network still (oddly) using that 4:3 cut-out version of the 1972 symbol (don't they have a 16:9 version?) and still they insist on that blasted 'Subtitles' indicator on everything. The version of the 1979 - 1982 ident jingle that they use sounds like it's being downloaded live off a 1990s internet connection.

Some nice links this afternoon from Mr Newmarch on Network.

^The current main ident set is retro anyway, being a rebadged version of a package launched 24 years ago.

Yes, but in order to make it truly feel like you've stepped into a former televisual era, I feel it works best, during the Afternoon Classics slot, using retro idents with their original logo - as was used at the time. A personal opinion.

Answering my own question:



They're slightly different. As you'd expect, NI's are more sensitively done, with the subtle outer fades helping to mask the aged fuzziness, which has been amplified by the zoom. And while the latter use the 16:9 re-edits as the source, network are stretching the 4:3 versions... sigh.

Would still be interested to know if network were inspired by NI or if this was planned all along?

Edit: The Sign zone... yehhh:

NI used their Copper Cut Out graphic to provide support information, following the showing of 'Debbie's Story', in the early hours of this morning. Network, perhaps unsurprisingly, used their Seascape graphic to show the same information.



Once again, NI have done a far better job with the Water graphic than Network, and have taken much more care in how it looks on-screen. The only slight criticism I have with NI's version is that the brightness gradually increases when played, and if played out to the point where it loops (at around 20"), as you could see when it was used at 1:00pm yesterday, for the AC programme menu, the brightness suddenly and abruptly drops when it's looped back to the start point again. Maybe a cross-dissolve would have been better at the point where it loops.

Network have changed their overnight clean idents, used during THIS IS BBC TWO, to the teal box logo versions. Unlike the former 50 Year versions used, they now all play out to about 15 seconds in length, and they now all display a subtitles flag.

The reason BBC Two NI have 30 idents in circulation while BBC Two England have only 6 is a technical one related to historic production methods and the quality of the archive. BBC Two NI transmits only in standard definition (SD), whereas BBC Two England transmits in high definition (HD). The idents in question were made for tape in the early 1990s, ie pre-HD technology. They were never intended for transmission on modern HD equipment. To put the old idents on air they have had to upconvert them to HD quality; and the 6 on air were the only ones of sufficient quality to look good in HD. This issue did not apply in Northern Ireland, as the channel transmits in SD only so the quality threshold requirement is lower – which is why they have been able to put 30 idents on air.