Watching BBC1 presentation trailers this evening, they've started putting the time and date of a programme at the start of the trailer in a thin red band across the screen. Looks tacky to me, and like someone in Pres has too much time on their hands.
If this has been mentioned elsewhere I apologise profusely in advance and expect shoeings from all the TVForumers who hate my guts.
I really don't like BBC1 current pres package - the dancing idents are OK, but this 'plain red' thing is just ridiculous. The 'coming up tonight' thing looks like something knocked up in about 2 seconds flat or something that some people in the mocks forum who make images that aren't even TV sized could do on powerpoint.
Don't get me started on the dance idents - I think everyone knows my views on them. However I did quite like the original graphic package that went with the 2002 identity; that was before I realised the choice of colours (red logo on white strips) gave BBC1 the feel of a tabloid newspaper. Combine this with an unfortunate choice of font (Franklin Gothic Demi) which also happens to be widely used in The Sun.
Not the most flattering way to brand BBC1, was it? Perhaps someone else thought the same, hence the "blinds" refresh.
I actually think the thin red band at the start has improved the trails - fits in with the end where the red comes from top & bottom and makes the whole thing work.
They did look far better with the Olympic rings in the corner though didn't they!
All this red on the trails etc. really doesn't work. On older or badly adjusted TVs, the red bleeds really badly into the white text so it's almost unreadable at times, especially on programme menus where the text is a lot smaller.
I also really dislike the way the red used is more orangey than on the BBC ONE block in the corner. It just clashes really badly. If it was simply a darker shade it wouldn't be so bad.
What BBC One needs is a more prestigious presentation/ident package which actually gives it the feel of being the nation's flagship channel. The whole red and dancers stuff still looks like something wishy-washy off Living TV to me.
I think the dancers are ok though - they do need some tweaking and a dancer-based clock would be ace - if they filmed 3 people of different height doing a flying spin around a pole and then edited to 'tick' like a clock on computer, then overlaid some ballerina's doing spins from above into each corner. You could even see them on ground level before seeing the clock in full... it'd make for a really prestigious and awe-inspiring centrepiece into the news.
I've always preferred idents which come to a definite end - by that I mean any integral animation, theme music, live action or the like is over by the time the ident finishes and the announcer....er, announces. Examples of what I mean are the ITV Hearts (both Carlton and Granada), BBC2 current set, and Sky Sports idents. They are just neater and you get uniform ident presentation.