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BBC Two 50th Year Presentation

90s idents return! Split from BBC Two Rebrand and Onwards (April 2014)

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CY
cylon6
BBC2 Network used Car into Newsnight, BBC Wales used Seascape. BBC2 NI used Optics and it looked great. Northern Ireland wins again.
ET
ETP1 Forever
Feels so refreshing seeing BBC2 casually play out Car, as if its the way its supposed to be Smile
DE
denton
Jonny posted:
Really hope that gets an outing in HD... the cleverness of the box makes me think it's likely an NI exclusive.


Cool


Patch logo laid over the clean Wave ident, composite as a Stencil Alpha to create a transparent cutout. Pull that comp in to a new comp, place another layer of Wave under that and invert the colour, make it black & white and tweak the parameters.
Job done!
VM
VMPhil
Just seen Andrew's upload of Woodpecker: http://theident.gallery/player.php?id=BBC2NI-2014-ID-2AT50-WOODPECKER-1

Memories flooding back on this one, I recall it always being used before The Weakest Link on a weekday afternoon.
JO
Jonny
Am I on my own in thinking the 2001 idents were inferior both to the idents they replaced and the set which replaced them in 2007 (before all the mucking about)?

I liked the yellow 2s but they always had the millstone of what they replaced around their neck. The second wave of additions (Drip, Remote, Firestarter, Invisible Walls) were better than the initial 4 and the surrounding pres was pretty good, albeit never utilised fully outside NI.


There were duff ones, changing the focus to "making the 2 do stuff" as opposed to "stuff happening to the 2" made them a bit try-hardy and wearing. I think easing up on the strict colour scheme after the first few years would've helped too.

But yes, it's easy to forget how good the channel actually looked after the 2007 rebrand, I thought anyway. A rounded set of idents very of the moment, a nice, well-thought out colour pallette brightened up the junctions, some creative stings even interspersed. Then a month later they unleashed a Tagging ident... and we all pondered this surprising, surely one-off misstep... and then it all went downhill very quickly.

It's a shame the initial 2007 look was never allowed to develop like the two previous campaigns had the opportunity to do. No regular idents were ever added. Bizarrely, many were taken away (and strange choices for removal at that) leaving an increasingly bare-bones, pedestrian set and then, for whatever reason, they tried to adapt what remained into something it was never intended to be. Badly.

You can only hope lessons will be learned, like how they managed to commission something they felt needed fundamentally changing after less than 18th months.

But for now I'll just enjoy this!
chris, VMPhil and cylon6 gave kudos
VM
VMPhil
The 2009 presentation has always felt to me like it belongs to a more wackier, colourful set of idents, not the ones that were introduced in 2007. The idea has obviously not been well executed, or watered down. Although as Jonny says, you have to wonder why they decided to change everything so soon.

2009. It's now been five years we've had to put up with this. Time flies.
JO
Jonny
Patch logo laid over the clean Wave ident, composite as a Stencil Alpha to create a transparent cutout. Pull that comp in to a new comp, place another layer of Wave under that and invert the colour, make it black & white and tweak the parameters.
Job done!

Impressed! But if the network team manage to do something that doesn't involve accidentally losing the blocks (Hive Alive trail) I will be equally so!
Last edited by Jonny on 24 July 2014 2:38am
GO
gonzo
Jonny posted:
Am I on my own in thinking the 2001 idents were inferior both to the idents they replaced and the set which replaced them in 2007 (before all the mucking about)?

I liked the yellow 2s but they always had the millstone of what they replaced around their neck. The second wave of additions (Drip, Remote, Firestarter, Invisible Walls) were better than the initial 4 and the surrounding pres was pretty good, albeit never utilised fully outside NI.


There were duff ones, changing the focus to "making the 2 do stuff" as opposed to "stuff happening to the 2" made them a bit try-hardy and wearing. I think easing up on the strict colour scheme after the first few years would've helped too.

But yes, it's easy to forget how good the channel actually looked after the 2007 rebrand, I thought anyway. A rounded set of idents very of the moment, a nice, well-thought out colour pallette brightened up the junctions, some creative stings even interspersed. Then a month later they unleashed a Tagging ident... and we all pondered this surprising, surely one-off misstep... and then it all went downhill very quickly.

It's a shame the initial 2007 look was never allowed to develop like the two previous campaigns had the opportunity to do. No regular idents were ever added. Bizarrely, many were taken away (and strange choices for removal at that) leaving an increasingly bare-bones, pedestrian set and then, for whatever reason, they tried to adapt what remained into something it was never intended to be. Badly.

You can only hope lessons will be learned, like how they managed to commission something they felt needed fundamentally changing after less than 18th months.

But for now I'll just enjoy this!


My problem with the BBC Yellow Submarine 2's was that it felt the same as an Apple TV, design wise. Far too restrictive - when you overuse one colour, you begin feeling almost trapped in it, and all BBC Two's programming began feeling very similar. I don't know whether that is just me. The Personality 2's (and the Window on the World 2's) were never allowed time to develop and be unshackled from their respective thematic origins - and they could have been wonderful, although I always thought the Personality 2's were a little bit of a thawed concept.

Lets hope they get it right this time - perhaps with keeping the 1991-01 Two's forever and adding a few more (please please please please please)...
JC
JCB
I really liked the personality 2's, they were a nice evolution that distanced themselves from the much copied and now extremely tired logo-formed-from-things-in-their-environments gimmick. The current batch lack the quirkiness of all the previous 2 idents but they're not actually terrible. The awful box and accompanying presentation tarnished what was otherwise, by anyone else's standards, a decent set of idents.

As for where BBC Two should go from here; While the upgraded 90's idents look phenomenal i'm not sure going back to them permanently would be a good idea. Unless someone can do something genuinely new and unique with the 2 I think maybe it's time to let it take a back seat for a while? Am I being sacrilegious?
:-(
A former member
But here's the thing, the current ident and pres does suit the current bbc two content. Its bland, lifeless and lacks any dazsall.
JO
Jonny
JCB posted:
Unless someone can do something genuinely new and unique with the 2 I think maybe it's time to let it take a back seat for a while? Am I being sacrilegious?

Yes...


TW
tweedledum
JCB posted:
Unless someone can do something genuinely new and unique with the 2 I think maybe it's time to let it take a back seat for a while? Am I being sacrilegious?

Agreed. The 2 has lost its appeal.

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