Widescreen

Just wondering how idents and programme titles that weren't in widescreen were made into widescreen.
If I don't make sence heres an example.

1991 paint ident - show from 1991 not in widescreen - shown 2001 in widescreen

BBC News 1999 re-vamp - at first titles not in widescreen - year later titles in widescreen

Original BBC One balloon idents still in use - first shown in 1997 not in widescreen - 2001 all in widescreen

Reporting Scotland, Wales Today, Newsline, Newsroom South East - Titles oringinaly in 4:3 - Now titles in widescreen

Please tell me If I make any sence.

When the programmes went widescreen a new set of widescreen titles was made.

But wouldn't It cost more money to make two sets of Idents and titles one in widescreen and one not.

Yes. But this is the BBC they can spend our money in whatever way they like. Even if only about 4% of the population have widescreen.

Well, I do know that all BBC regions are made in widescreen but are cropped. They didn't have to do anything for Newsroom South East, as they just broadcast the full thing, when they had the capability to do so. This is all AFAIK.

But we were talking about titles made in 1991, long before widescreen was thought off. The newer ones probably got both versions made when they were comissioned.

The BBC also has a duty under it's charter to invest in future technology. Without it you would not have had Ceefax or Nicam.

Good question. I assume the pre-97 BBC Two idents were simply re-shot (I know the 2s were enlarged)

The BBC News / Regional / BBC One titles and idents are simple. They'd known about widescreen long before 1997, so normal and widescreen versions were created, regardless of when both versions would eventually be shown.

Cheers, Asa

In the 1997 relaunch, the 2s were zoomed in a bit, so they joined up with the borders of the |B|B|C| TWO logo. I think this was also so they could chop off the tops and bottoms to make the idents widescreen - so what you're seeing on a widescreen set (or with 16:9 setting 'on' on your digibox) you're not seeing anything that hasn't been seen before - rather something that was seen before 1997 and now has been re-released.
Incidentally, were the 1997 Xmas idents shot in widescreen, because wasn't digital TV released in 1998 thus missing that xmas?

Widescreen was being talked about a year or two before digital was launched. Many productions were commissioned and made widescreen, and gradually 14:9 programmes crept onto screen. There was one Saturday evening when all the primetime programmes were shown as 14:9 - Noel's HP, Lottery, Casualty etc (around late 97 I think) to see how much reaction there would be from the viewers. It went mostly unnoticed.

The way material shot in one aspect ratio is converted to another is by using an ARC (Aspect Ratio Converter). These devices control the X and Y dimensions of the picture in terms of size and position. So for example, to show a widescreen programme as a 4:3 centre cut out (on analogue etc) you pull out the X to 133% and Y remains at 100%. And to show it as 14:9 letterbox you pull the X to 114% and decrease the Y to 86%.

AFAIK all the BBC One balloon idents were shot widescreen (15:9) on Super 16mm film, so were widescreen ready, and the older '2s' were ARC'd to fill the screen.

going back to Cheshs' comment, you've got to remember that the Beeb's R&D department were fundamental in developing widescreen (originally playing with HDTV). An awful lot of money was spent on this technology, so it makes sense for the Beeb to keep plugging the fact that widescreen is available, coz more sets that Uncle Sony sell, the more worthwhile the R&D was.

BTW, while I'm here, i'd just like to mention that a lot of innovation in broadcasting is started by the Beebs R&D, not just to the end user, but behind the scenes also...
Interactive TV was first developed by the Beeb, DVB and MPEG2, HDTV concept (and Widescreen), 100Hz scan rate (spin-off from HDTV), DAB, RDS, NICAM,  to name a couple which you are all familiar with.

Some from behind the scenes are Trumatte, LSI-logic chip design for DTT, Virtual Studio computer technology, Fibre Optic routing matrices, YUV, Slide File, microwave linked cameras, Helitrak.

Something which they have in the pipeline at the moment might interest you all. R&D are working on technology which enables you to view DTT while on the move, such as in a car

I wont bore you anymore! zzzzzz ha ha

Depending on the project R&D are working on, they either colaborate with other companys to further the idea, sell the idea to the likes of Uncle Sony, or keep it to themselves until perfected then licence the product on.

Just an insight

(Edited by Techy Peep at 10:17 pm on Aug. 23, 2001)

The 1997 two idents were moved up to the top a bit too: so that BBC Two could fit!