BBC Oneness - idents and presentation

And how many viewers will know where the swimmers were filmed? Or care?

I think the caption during the ident gives that away.

Its says onscreen where it was recorded. Care, well the BBC will find out tomorrow...

It's funny, the generic sting actually sounds like a car crash.

http://theident.gallery/player.php?id=BBC1-2017-STING-ONENESS-1

I understand graphics and creative concepts tend to go through extended phases and fashions over time, and it's safe to say that enthusiasts like us are perhaps a little stuck in the past with regards to our tastes, but really - what is going on?

BBC One and Channel 4, two of the flagship channels in British broadcasting, are representing their brands (in an extremely competitive market) with random, weak pieces of film. The Zumba class ident doesn't even look like it's been shot professionally - the camera is just wobbling. The swimmers one is cold, grey and awkward and I'm not sure showing a bunch of people standing silently beside one other represents any sort of oneness.

People will still watch Strictly or EastEnders but I can't imagine this set will make anyone feel warmer about the brand subconsciously.

Ironically signifying the ' quality ' of this 'ident' set.

i'd totally missed they were shot by martin parr..... and also isn't a lot of his work just sneering at the working class?

i suppose there is an irony to be found in there somewhere.

The whole thing is a complete mess. As I said before I work in radio imaging/ident/promo/ad production. You wouldn't rebrand a radio station with 2 idents/jingles and nothing else. You relaunch with a set and package of styles suitable for the programming you air and have variations that still scream that you're listening to the same radio station. The same with TV, and if anything it's much more pertinent as it's a visual medium rather than just audio driven.

The whole BBC family of channels is a complete and utter mess in terms of on screen identity, it truly is the worst I have seen and it's heartbreaking to say. Over on One you've got a half-hearted attempt at new idents with trailers, end boards and ECPs which aren't joined up in anyway and aren't consistent. The idents (or lack of) are not suitable for quite a bit of the programming the channel airs. On Two there's a hideous boxed 'BBC TWO' logo (with Subtitles graphic which is not in line) but still retains the classic number 2 on the ident which was created in 4:3 SD in 1991. Either have the word Two on the ident in some way or drop the boxed logo and use the number, don't use both. Then there's BBC Four which once again has a boxed logo located in a completely different part of the screen.

There's nothing joined up about the channels in terms of identity, branding and coherence.

There's one simple solution and answer. Bring Martin Lambie-Nairn in and get him to rebrand the whole family of channels in one go and at the same time, with a brief for each channel which suits the programming of today, not 25 years ago in the case of BBC Two. Pay the money and do the lot in one go and stop faffing around and dithering with films on a beach or in a Zumba class. The BBC seems scared of its own shadow at times, it should strive to be the market leader and that can be done, even in cash strapped times.

Worzel, what a brilliant post and insight

I did wonder if that was added in post. If you're going to shoot something, shoot it on a tripod then at least added faux-wobble becomes an option, rather than being baked in.

But if that was the case, I wouldn't expect it to show the definite bias to leaning to the left, which it does, and which is going to make cringe (even more) every time I see it.

Quite frankly these things look so dirt cheap that they could make a new one for every day of the year out of the biscuit budget.

I wonder what Martin Lambie-Nairn makes of it.....

You know what the worst thing about all this is? As others have already pointed out: the BBC will persevere with these for years to come, irrespective of the criticism that this "refresh" is attracting. Too lazy and intransigent for its own good. "Our BBC" indeed.