15-09-2021, 06:28 PM
I love a good mascot and I think a character-based ident set can work really well... as long as there's variety. I loved Virgin1's Red in particular, and the Eefer idents on E4 had some neat variations. However, it can get a little stale if there's only a couple of idents repeating the same beats over and over coughcoughChannel4 so I think it's important to have those variations in there.
For live-action idents I think they have to be presenting something visually interesting and not just 'people standing about'. That's part of why Oneness fails as an ident package, because the footage itself is boring and there's no real editing/soundtrack/anything within post-production to elevate it. For example, ITV Creates gives you a simple but aesthetically pleasing art piece with some jazzy music to back it up, edited into something engaging to go before the news (it would be even better if they just mixed them all up into a permanent package but they still work either way). But for a 'winner' I have to give it to Channel 4 for the sheer chutzpah of the 2015 idents - they were perhaps a bit too high-concept to introduce Countdown but I admire that these particular live-action idents had a lot of intriguing and bizarre creative energy. I couldn't say that about the last set of Channel 5 idents (competent but rather boring) or Oneness. The creepy dancing shaman at least elicits some emotional response compared to the sea swimmers
But mostly I think the route of BBC Two and the latest Channel 5 set is what's working for me at the moment. 5's are more bare-bones but they do the job decently, whereas Two's are just a joy to watch. I'm also a big fan of ITV2's idents though the surrounding presentation is a bit lacklustre. A simple CGI motif can work really well as the basis of an ident package (it doesn't even have to be the logo) - I hope this is the move that BBC One goes with though I have my doubts about that.
For live-action idents I think they have to be presenting something visually interesting and not just 'people standing about'. That's part of why Oneness fails as an ident package, because the footage itself is boring and there's no real editing/soundtrack/anything within post-production to elevate it. For example, ITV Creates gives you a simple but aesthetically pleasing art piece with some jazzy music to back it up, edited into something engaging to go before the news (it would be even better if they just mixed them all up into a permanent package but they still work either way). But for a 'winner' I have to give it to Channel 4 for the sheer chutzpah of the 2015 idents - they were perhaps a bit too high-concept to introduce Countdown but I admire that these particular live-action idents had a lot of intriguing and bizarre creative energy. I couldn't say that about the last set of Channel 5 idents (competent but rather boring) or Oneness. The creepy dancing shaman at least elicits some emotional response compared to the sea swimmers
But mostly I think the route of BBC Two and the latest Channel 5 set is what's working for me at the moment. 5's are more bare-bones but they do the job decently, whereas Two's are just a joy to watch. I'm also a big fan of ITV2's idents though the surrounding presentation is a bit lacklustre. A simple CGI motif can work really well as the basis of an ident package (it doesn't even have to be the logo) - I hope this is the move that BBC One goes with though I have my doubts about that.
the forum's number one creepy dancing shaman apologist