TV Home Forum

BBC Oneness - idents and presentation

"Watch this space" as BBC Creative respond to ident change request (December 2016)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
AN
Ant
Brekkie posted:
Ant posted:
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.

I wouldn't put C4 in the same category as these ones - indeed they're arguably the complete opposite. C4 at least has a concept, but it's so convoluted it's not really evident unless you've seen the marketing info that goes along with it. And two of the four filmed idents, plus the clock, are visually pretty spectacular with a distinctive sound track - but dancing fly and the microwave one let them down. In addition C4 also have very strong presentation in addition to their idents - and considering they play a sting after each ident now it's almost as important as the filmed ident themselves.

I will hand it to Channel 4, the production values are for the most part high and the surrounding presentation is pretty good, but I feel the concept behind the idents isn't mainstream enough to resonate with many people. Modern art's fine in Tate but on a major TV channel I'm not so sure.
BR
Brekkie
If BBC presentation insist on sticking with them if I were BBC News I'd be reformatting the intro so it begins with the titles rather than the headlines and has a buffer of it's own.
VM
VMPhil
waldo posted:
I wonder what Martin Lambie-Nairn makes of it.....

I really wish Martin Lambie-Nairn had a blog or a Twitter or something, not just for this but to hear his views in general, I enjoy watching his talks that are available online.
JJ
Juicy Joe Founding member
The Zumba class one has a sound fault at the start also - there is a blip in the sound right at the start. Which again, is embarrassing.

The swimmers one where they face the camera and then just turn around, you can tell them looking at the cameraman waiting for Mr Parr to tell then to turn. Not yet, not yet...now.

It is pathetic. Utterly pathetic.
GO
gottago
Ant posted:
Brekkie posted:
Ant posted:
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.

I wouldn't put C4 in the same category as these ones - indeed they're arguably the complete opposite. C4 at least has a concept, but it's so convoluted it's not really evident unless you've seen the marketing info that goes along with it. And two of the four filmed idents, plus the clock, are visually pretty spectacular with a distinctive sound track - but dancing fly and the microwave one let them down. In addition C4 also have very strong presentation in addition to their idents - and considering they play a sting after each ident now it's almost as important as the filmed ident themselves.

I will hand it to Channel 4, the production values are for the most part high and the surrounding presentation is pretty good, but I feel the concept behind the idents isn't mainstream enough to resonate with many people. Modern art's fine in Tate but on a major TV channel I'm not so sure.

The C4 idents are stunning and very well made films but they are truly dreadful and inappropriate as idents.

But they are still many infinite lightyears ahead of BBC One's set.
WI
Wicko
Juicy Joe posted:
The Zumba class one has a sound fault at the start also - there is a blip in the sound right at the start. Which again, is embarrassing.

The swimmers one where they face the camera and then just turn around, you can tell them looking at the cameraman waiting for Mr Parr to tell then to turn. Not yet, not yet...now.

It is pathetic. Utterly pathetic.


To show diversity, they could just have directors, actors, cameramen and lighting engineers sitting on BBC lit blocks with a red background, the name of the person and their job role within the BBC and then of course the BBC One logo forming at the end. Each film could just have a simple jingle to suit the personality of the person on the ident. This would reflect "Oneness" more because it would demonstrate that whoever you are, whatever your ethnicity, gender or sexuality, the BBC is for everybody and is the employer of anybody, from any background. A couple of idents could just feature a nurse, a teacher, a shopworker, a builder and an unemployed man.
MarkT76, ukpetey and Rkolsen gave kudos
JJ
Juicy Joe Founding member
gottago posted:
Ant posted:
Brekkie posted:
I wouldn't put C4 in the same category as these ones - indeed they're arguably the complete opposite. C4 at least has a concept, but it's so convoluted it's not really evident unless you've seen the marketing info that goes along with it. And two of the four filmed idents, plus the clock, are visually pretty spectacular with a distinctive sound track - but dancing fly and the microwave one let them down. In addition C4 also have very strong presentation in addition to their idents - and considering they play a sting after each ident now it's almost as important as the filmed ident themselves.

I will hand it to Channel 4, the production values are for the most part high and the surrounding presentation is pretty good, but I feel the concept behind the idents isn't mainstream enough to resonate with many people. Modern art's fine in Tate but on a major TV channel I'm not so sure.

The C4 idents are stunning and very well made films but they are truly dreadful and inappropriate as idents.

But they are still many infinite lightyears ahead of BBC One's set.


Well, that's cos you wouldn't be able to film a Channel 4 ident in your own front room.
Stuart and Footballer gave kudos
JJ
Juicy Joe Founding member
Get some people who used to devise Central idents on the case - they'll be able to knock off 110 or so different decent idents for BBC1 Very Happy
BR
Brekkie
Sadly it's not a question of what people can create, it's a question of what people are allowed to create.

It's clear from the little we know here that people at the BBC (without much of a clue it seems) thought of an idea then got the creatives to film it rather than letting the creatives come up with the idea in the first place.
WO
Worzel
Wicko posted:
Juicy Joe posted:
The Zumba class one has a sound fault at the start also - there is a blip in the sound right at the start. Which again, is embarrassing.

The swimmers one where they face the camera and then just turn around, you can tell them looking at the cameraman waiting for Mr Parr to tell then to turn. Not yet, not yet...now.

It is pathetic. Utterly pathetic.


To show diversity, they could just have directors, actors, cameramen and lighting engineers sitting on BBC lit blocks with a red background, the name of the person and their job role within the BBC and then of course the BBC One logo forming at the end. Each film could just have a simple jingle to suit the personality of the person on the ident. This would reflect "Oneness" more because it would demonstrate that whoever you are, whatever your ethnicity, gender or sexuality, the BBC is for everybody and is the employer of anybody, from any background. A couple of idents could just feature a nurse, a teacher, a shopworker, a builder and an unemployed man.


Or just have an aerial shot of BBC NBH with a graphic saying 'We're poor, no money - screw the licence fee settlement' then the BBC One logo forms. I believe something similar happened with a certain former BBC DG, TVC and the word pensions. Laughing
NB
NextBigThing
Sorry if this has been asked already, but... How many people on this forum (and, on a grander scale, percentage of the entire country) go swimming in the sea in winter? How many go to a Zumba class? I bet virtually no one.

I find it absurd that, if the aim of the BBC is to show activities that are supposed to represent bringing large proportions of the nation together, they kick-off with such niche and (in the case of the swimmers) eccentric pastimes. These are enjoyed by a minute subset of society at best. If they're after the real shared tedium of everyday life, why not show a whole bunch of people going shopping in Tesco on a Saturday? Or a large queue at a post office? Or frustrated commuters sitting stationary in their cars on the M25? Or a bunch of people waiting for the gas man to turn up?
BC
Blake Connolly Founding member
Ant posted:
I will hand it to Channel 4, the production values are for the most part high and the surrounding presentation is pretty good, but I feel the concept behind the idents isn't mainstream enough to resonate with many people. Modern art's fine in Tate but on a major TV channel I'm not so sure.


Channel 4's not supposed to be mainstream. It's arguable whether or not it actually is, but I'm sure that promoting the idea that the channel is creative, edgy and a bit left-field would've been part of the thinking behind the idents and they seem to have succeeded there.

Newer posts