First look at the new ABC1 idents and branding.

Published on February 6, 2011 in ABC1 and Videos: Idents. 8 Comments Tags: .

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Update: More about the who, what, why of the rebrand here.

Australia’s national broadcaster has relaunched the branding of its flagship ABC1 with a focus on elevating the entertainment value of the channel.

ABC1 has had a number of looks since this site first started some six years ago. Starting with the Everyone’s ABC look, followed by There’s More To.. in 2005 and It Begins with 1 in 2008, and now this…

Keep reading for more videos from the new look.

Continue reading ‘First look at the new ABC1 idents and branding.’

The childish games of adult drama.

Published on February 3, 2011 in European TV and Videos: Promos. 0 Comments Tags: , .

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Inbetween Magic have created this excellent promo for Belgium based channel Prime. Set to the sounds of American folk music, this dramatic spot uses the innocence of toy figurines to distill the drama of the networks programming slate.

A great idea well executed, and with a heap of spin-off potential.

- Thanks for the tip Marc.

The news needs more Steadicam (and laughs).

Published on January 30, 2011 in Channel 4 and Videos: Promos. 0 Comments Tags: .

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The wit of David Mitchell and the profundity of Charlie Brooker have joined forces along with Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne for a new topical comedy programme on Channel 4 called 10 O’Clock Live.

In a similar vein to local productions Hungry Beast or the 7pm Project the show is a tight hour or news, chat and comedy. Visually the programmes colour palette and set design are decidedly un-newsy, and the use of Steadicam makes for a (quite literally) smooth viewing experience.

Something that’s meant to make us laugh, is somehow also making us smarter. The rise of comedy in the delivery of news is challenging new audiences to have a greater understanding of the world around them, and hopefully that’s a good thing.

Oprah and the launch of OWN.

Published on January 22, 2011 in American TV and Videos: Idents. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

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Launching on January 1st 2011, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network is a natural extension of the hyper-popular daytime talk show, and surely one of the few networks in the world built around a single figure.

With Oprah’s recent visit to Australia, the nation has grown even more enamored with the women and her message, and despite my gender-and-age I’ll happily admit that she produces an incredible show with a relentless message of personal growth, interwoven with philosophy aligned with the likes of Jung or Frankl.

Two years in the making, Philadelphia based BIGSMACK designed the new on-air look through “the numerous branding twists and turns” taken prior to the channel launch. On the technical side, the largely animated look of the network is complimented by a number of organic touches:

To create the on-air look BIGSMACK shot an array of natural elements — including light reflected through a variety of objects like crystal and Plexiglas, as well as water, glitter and particle dust — on a soundstage using a Canon 5D camera. That organic basis was then composited with digital elements animated using Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects.

The montage gives a taste of the IDs, menus, bumpers and lower thirds created for the network, along with the colour coding of the various dayparts (orange mornings, green afternoons and purple evenings).

The first four minutes of Eleven.

Published on January 16, 2011 in Ten Network and Videos: Idents. 1 Comment Tags: .

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Australia’s newest television station is on the air. Check out the launch and opening minutes of the new channel in this video. Now what’s launching next..

Get ready to say He11o.

Published on December 30, 2010 in Ten Network and Videos: Idents. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

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January 11th, 2011 will see the launch of a new free to air Australian television channel aptly enough called Eleven. The new channel will be the last (for now) of the free to air multichannels and the first general entertainment offering from Ten, who currently only offer a sports channel to compliment their main offering.

A joint venture between CBS and Channel Ten the new channel is aimed at the 13-29 year old crowd, and will become the new home of The Simpsons and long suffering soap Neighbours. Eleven is part of a larger strategic change within Ten that includes extending nightly news through primetime slots previously occupied by The Simpsons and Neighbours.

As with all things the Ten Network do, this new channel has fairly spot on branding and targeting along with the programming to back it up. Something that can’t entirely be said for 7mate or GEM.

Merry Christmas from the BBC, ITV and Five.

Published on December 25, 2010 in BBC One, Channel Five, ITV and Videos: Idents. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

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Last year it was the Doctor and his TARDIS, this year the BBC gets homely with some Christmas lights to celebrate the festive season. Meanwhile ITV1 and Five deliver some slightly less ambitious holiday idents.

- Big thanks to Craig for the videos.

Fifty years of life on the Street.

Published on November 28, 2010 in ITV and Videos: Promos. 0 Comments

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Earlier this year British soap opera Coronation Street made the switch to HD and debuted a new look title sequence. A much larger milestone for the programme is just around the corner, on December 9th the soap will celebrate 50 years on-air.

Along with a live episode and the usual dramatic storylines the anniversary is being celebrated right across British television. Even if you’re not a fan of the show I have to recommend the fantastic BBC Four telemovie “Road to Coronation Street” that details the tumultuous birth of the programme and its 23 year old creator.

I can’t help but further be enamored by the soap opera format and its clearly enormous cultural impact on British society, alas I’m not sure Home and Away lives up the same standard.

Planes, cars and Blackpool.

Published on October 23, 2010 in Videos: Idents. 6 Comments Tags: , .

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Channel 4 have been producing some of the most beautifully executed and conceptually coherent idents on television for nearly six years now.

Yesterday they introduced three new spots (well two if you don’t count the 3D spot) with the clear stand out being the epic airplane graveyard ident.

Again, an absolute triumph in branding and incomparable to local offerings. For the full set of Channel 4 idents stretching back to the beginning look here.

Left wing or right wing? MSNBC leans forward.

Published on October 19, 2010 in American TV and Videos: Idents. 3 Comments Tags: , .

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UPDATE: Fox News have responded with their own “Move Forward” spots.

American cable news network MSNBC recently unveiled a new slogan and brand positioning. Directed by Spike Lee, these new spots ask us to Lean Forward, and suggests that the “the future belongs to the fearless”.

Conceptually its a poignant and aspirational message, likely to be identifiable to those generally offended by Fox News. And while Jon Stewart isn’t thrilled with it, it’s hard not to like the idea, with comparisons to Think Different sure to arise.

Unfortunately I’m not sure the execution of these two promos, filled with stock footage and web clips live up to the gravity of the message trying to be conveyed.