ITV Discussion Thread

Moving away from Christmas for the moment, I think ITV needs to update its idents next year. The current set (and dreary music) have been in place for over 2 years. I know it's expensive but it's not THAT expensive.

All they need to do is add maybe a few more idents to the current set and remix the music - create different versions for each of the idents.

No, what they need to do is create idents and music that reflect the channel it is, which is the UK's most watched commercial entertainment channel, and have an identity to match. They should look at their old franchises such as LWT and Central to see how an entertainment channel should be presented. A catchy jingle and bold idents.

They need to do away with this female-biased fairyland style of presentation they have.

Central had over 100'000 piece of stuff over the 10 period.
and of course this is how it presented its self. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgzswm33oEE

This is also what LWT was doing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM7bRhxymZo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-6aKn59y7o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1-UrvnJ62c&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyfV4IhJm44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L8NZv0UVaE ( I could never click who the man chasing the lawnmore - which show there were from_ )

this one is ten times better than Brighter side!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHbgUYpTzE4

I was thinking earlier, all this 'brighter side' branding is getting on my nerves. Especially with the dimlit trailer boards and whatnot.

I wouldn't put TV Burp on Christmas Day. It would end up getting one of it's lowest ever ratings and be crushed against EastEnders or Doctor Who, just like the other year.

Much better to show it on a day when it would get a good rating (i.e on any day except Christmas Day)

Is that the sound of a broken record? I don't share your hatred of the current set (except for the inconsistencies between old and new), but do agree that at some point next year a refresh would be good. I don't think they should change the logo itself or the general colour scheme, but a new set of idents and promotional graphics would be great.

Not quite sure though where they could go with the idents - I don't think the logo lends itself to CGI (and as I said before, don't think it should be changed yet again!), whilst celebrity idents could be seen as a step back. Perhaps an evolution of the current set would be an idea - I guess you could bring in the faces of the channels into an "alive with colour" environment.

Well this certainly is.

Hello Mr. Kettle? It's Mr. Pot calling...

The idents have got a couple of years left in them yet at least. After the indecisiveness in the first part of the decade, surely it's a refreshing change for ITV not to be changing its presentation every five minutes? Viewers probably didn't know whether they were coming or going before. But now that ITV has a stable, relatively established identity (as well as a consistent schedule) I should think viewers are much happier with ITV compared to the hearts / celebrity / blocks era.

I think viewers would have been more happier with the hearts/blocks era. They had a more distinctive colour scheme and logo, and despite the critism of the celeb idents, they were bold and upbeat. ITV doing away with their famous yellow and blue colour scheme, im my opinion wasn't a good idea. They also replaced a very good logo with one that just looks like they taken directly from a font and done nothing with it.

The celebrity idents were nauseating, the yellow and blue colour sceme was hardly 'famous' and 99.9% of the population couldn't care less about the font. In my opinion.

I think ITV1's current idents are better than the other main broadcasters. Live action is getting a bit old hat now. Idents that feature real people (well, actors - but you know what I mean) as the main focal point are even worse, because if you're going to have idents with people in them then you have to depict all different types of people, otherwise you risk alienating viewers.

The BBC HD idents are a good case in point - they scream 'BBC HD is for a particular type of person only' even though the programmes themselves are very wide ranging. The plinky-plonky music and arty visual effects also reinforce this notion of an idealised society whilst ignoring other social groups, backgrounds, age ranges, education level and so on. The people in the idents look like they're all under 30 and all fit a particular stereotype. Very multi-cultural, yes, but that's the only diverse thing about them and it isn't good enough.

So it looks like there's only one way to go, and that's back to CGI again.

I really think the problem with ITV's idents is the soundtrack. I feel their logo is good, I feel the actual graphics and concepts are rather good but the soundtrack makes them seem plodding and a bit crap.

But yes Chie, the BBC HD idents are terribly politically correct. The cat that tuns into a lion in particular is blatant ageism.