BBC1 Music Video ident - never noticed this before

Freeze te shot at the very start of Music Video on your video/PVR - it looks to me like for a split second there is an empty set, followed by the front dancer fading in.

And it's been like that since day one.

Hence why I said I'd never noticed it before, Mark. Equally, I can't recall anyone else mentioning it.

Yes I noticed that when I watched the online stream on the website. I thought it was just me!
Is there any particular reason why this happens?

Artistic decision I suppose. Irony is when actually broadcast it often cuts in too late to see that bit...

Yeah, I noticed it; provided the ident has been played from the first frame, cycle through those the first few frames to see it fade in, albeit quickly when played in full motion.

Odd how they've done that when surely just having the front dancer already there from the first frame makes more sense.

A shot of the background, before having the main dancer's head appear, also occurs in Maasai, but at least in that instance the background is shown for a good number of frames, and the tribesman's head actually rises into view rather than just 'appearing'.