BBC Oneness - idents and presentation

Back in the balloon days, the symbol names were suffixed with a "Con @".
For example something like "English 4 Con @ 3", "Scottish 6 Con @ 5".
The "Con @" being how many seconds into the symbol it was preferable to start speaking at (i.e. when it fitted best with the music).
So once you had your script written and timed (e.g. 12 seconds) and you knew that you had 17 seconds for the symbol, you could pick a symbol with a Con @ 5.

Not convinced everyone did that, but if you did, it made everything feel that it flowed nicely.

Like MMCG, I also think you're jumping the gun.

Less people are watching linear TV for a variety of reasons, not just because of Netflix. People are more active and are working longer hours, and this will be one of the reasons the broadcasters have worked so hard to create catch up services. But, linear TV is still a popular way of watching programmes. What is more likely, is the number of channels will decrease over time, with smaller numbers for each genre as the market will be too small to make a profit.

To be honest, I'm surprised that the ratings were so high before, did nobody do anything besides watching TV?

People thought the future of books was on borrowed time, with ebooks becoming more popular, but, now, the opposite is happening. So I think it's far too early to make assumptions like that.

Would that not still be the kind of 'shorthand' system used today, with the 90s 2s? For instance, anno best coming in after the flytrap snaps shut, after Aerial forms up, after Fluffy Dog somersaults?

Here's a TX Laserdisc containing the BBC1 1991 symbol, and the first batch of 1991 2s. The BBC1 symbol contained on it (Virtual Globe) can run to 10 minutes, according to the label.

It was on the 90s BBC Two symbols too... Though not part of the name these days, though I suppose I could at it to the NI ones.

Can I use that as an excuse to post this again

The balloon soundtracks were such that it was very difficult for any voiceover to crash into the initial build-up without looking a complete fool. The length of build-up was about right on the balloons - typically 3 - 5 seconds; some were less than that. Very flexible - and that's what you want.

The initial 'Circles' era idents - whilst great - got a little carried away when it came to the initial build-up. In this day and age, a channel like BBC One needs to have a bit of pace about it. Those 2006 idents really needed the announcer to keep quiet until the logo form-up, which on many of the idents was about 12 seconds in. That's rather long - especially for sequences that are broadcast repeatedly over a period of many years. Gets a bit tedious. Although many of us complained about the "butchering" that took place in 2009, it was an understandable move. My argument here is that the 2006 idents should not have been produced with 12-second build-ups, when it quite clearly did not seem to tie with what the channel's pres/marketing people wanted. More often than not, announcers talked over most of the build-up; and unlike the balloons, the soundtracks on the circles idents made it much easier for the announcers to do that.

As I've said a number of times on here - idents need to get back to basics. They are there as a branding/identification device, to punctuate the schedule and introduce programmes. Let's have something that's visually stunning/impressive. But please, enough of the live-action, 'people' stuff. It's incredibly dull and done to death. And no meaningless tosh - a la Channel 4.

Of course!

Stolen from idents.tv of course:
http://idents.tv/blog/2009/01/25/the-much-beloved-bbc-one-balloon-idents/

I remember a document, at the time of the circles launch, telling us we could talk over the build up... and that we should time our "BBC One" to coincide with the logo appearing. That really wasn't practical for every announcement in the end.

On a similar note you get some announcers sometimes waiting for the form up before talking even with the current idents. Of course that just means a few seconds of near silence and you almost think the announcer has nodded off.

I've said many times before how I seemed to be alone on here in preferring the 2009 versions, and it's for exactly those reasons - I found the original build-ups too long and ponderous, and boring to watch repeatedly. The re-edits felt so much snappier, and also, to my mind, had better soundtracks.


I'm a bit old fashioned and still prefer the days of a simple rotating globe with no messing around, no form-ups and the announcer speaking immediately. It's also a symbol I found strangely interesting as a young child - if I was that age now I can't imagine the current idents (or any 'people' idents, for that matter) would have held anything like the same kind of fascination.