23-05-2021, 11:00 PM
The BBC 'lozenges' contemporary to the mid-80s were included as characters on the Linotype Audio Pi typeface, released in 1984 and featuring, mainly, German TV station logos:
https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/audio-pi/
Given the character set includes the ARD Das Erste ident unveiled that October, it was most likely not available when TOTP started using an Aston 3 system to generate captions two episodes into 1984 - hence tricky to make the 'BBC' logo without altering the hardware to insert physically a special character.
I'm sure over the blue board it was explained there was a compatibility issue with fonts on the Cypher kit, as they used higher-quality typefaces as found on, and compatible with, Quantel equipment rather than Aston machines.
It'd be nice to get industry insight on how the 1990/1991 graphics were composed: were the sunbursts and other shapes, as used to accompany chart positions on performance captions/chart rundowns, typeface characters, or bitmaps - and was it possible to have used a BBC logo bitmap/other image format in the end credits?
A further question I have: did compatibility issues get resolved by the time we reach Year Zero?
Captions from October 1991 certainly have hallmarks of being created on Cypher - text character/component animation having a similar slick(er) movement to the Jan-Sep '91 style; use of fonts also found on Quantel Paintbox (Fritz Quadrata the main one).
I'm sure the BBC logo ended up appearing on the end credits eventually, and after September 1992, I definitely recall the larger BBC logo animating into shot.
https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/audio-pi/
Given the character set includes the ARD Das Erste ident unveiled that October, it was most likely not available when TOTP started using an Aston 3 system to generate captions two episodes into 1984 - hence tricky to make the 'BBC' logo without altering the hardware to insert physically a special character.
I'm sure over the blue board it was explained there was a compatibility issue with fonts on the Cypher kit, as they used higher-quality typefaces as found on, and compatible with, Quantel equipment rather than Aston machines.
It'd be nice to get industry insight on how the 1990/1991 graphics were composed: were the sunbursts and other shapes, as used to accompany chart positions on performance captions/chart rundowns, typeface characters, or bitmaps - and was it possible to have used a BBC logo bitmap/other image format in the end credits?
A further question I have: did compatibility issues get resolved by the time we reach Year Zero?
Captions from October 1991 certainly have hallmarks of being created on Cypher - text character/component animation having a similar slick(er) movement to the Jan-Sep '91 style; use of fonts also found on Quantel Paintbox (Fritz Quadrata the main one).
I'm sure the BBC logo ended up appearing on the end credits eventually, and after September 1992, I definitely recall the larger BBC logo animating into shot.