Television

BBC2 Christmas Animation

(C) BBC
| jamesstodd
(C) BBC
BBC 2 CHRISTMAS. IMAGE (C) BBC

I’m now feeling more Christmassy having seen the new animations for BBC2’s Christmas idents. The Jack Frost character seems to have been thawed out and replaced by scenes from an animated town.

The idents, created by Red Bee Media with 15 Badgers feature a number of iterations including “Turkey” and “Scientist”. They are slightly off the wall, but have a real sense of fun to them. I particularly love the intricate sound design and little design details in the animation – the sort of idents that you’ll see loads more in every time you watch.

Take a look and see what you think.

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What A Wonderful World

| jamesstodd
David Attenborough It's a Wonderful World
Picture from http://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk

How do you celebrate talent? Talent behind the mic. Or in front of a camera.

How do you do that when that talent has been associated with your channel, your brand, your station for almost 50 years?

Sir David Attenborough has been associated with the BBC since 1952. First as a producer, then as controller of a TV channel, and since the 1970s, a presenter of some of the most amazing wildlife programmes ever broadcast.

To many, including me, he is the voice of wildlife, almost the voice of the planet.

This trail broadcast tonight before the final episode of Frozen Planet. It associates him with the BBC, with wildlife TV and with quality. It’s beautifully edited too by the team at Red Bee Media.

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Anti – Christmas: Christmas on E4

| jamesstodd

Last week I shared the BBC1 Christmas film – positioning BBC1 as the home of entertainment for the whole channel this Christmas. Unlike BBC1, Channel 4’s youth brand station E4 has a completely different feel this Christmas – as these short idents from Matt Layzell at Treat Studios show.

E4 (E stands for Entertainment) is aimed at the 15-35 age group.These animations have a distinctly uncomfortable anti-Christmas feel. But then, who says every channel needs look the same?

It seems these idents build on a fairly distinctive visual style that the channel used to promote various other elements of the output too – as shown in this wrapper for film content.

I really like seeing animation in TV idents – it worked so well for MTV for so many years – and in fact, the longer a channel does it, the bigger the impact. The animation doesn’t have to be in a single, distinctive visual style, but it has to be true to the character of the brand; in MTV’s case, the MTV letters become part of the personality of the visual identity. It’s the equivalent of radio stations trying to maintain an element of sonic distinctiveness through “heritage” musical logos.

The success of both a visual and audio identity is to sustain them over time. In a world where brand managers are always wanting the “new” – this is sometimes easier said than done.

Consider Yourself One of Us – BBC 1 Christmas Trailer

| jamesstodd

What’s the best way to showcase the talent on your channel or station? Feature all of them in a trailer for your Christmas programming.

And that’s what BBC1 have done this year. You’ll be singing along..

BBC One’s Christmas 2011 trailer featuring Gregg Wallace, John Bishop, Gary Lineker, Len Goodman, Lee Mack, Guy Henry, Laila Rouass, Hugh Quarshie, Shane Richie, Shona McGarty, Ricky Norwood, Frank Skinner, Brendan O’Carroll, Tyger Drew-Honey, Ramona Marquez, Daniel Roche, Kevin Bridges, Sian Williams, Carol Kirkwood, Chris Hollins, Bill Turnbull, Matt Allwright, Lenny Henry, Tess Daly, Fiona Bruce, Alex Jones, Sunetra Sarker, Alexander Armstrong, Graham Norton, Julia Bradbury, Sir David Jason, Anne Robinson, John Torode, Nick Knowles, June Brown, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Michael McIntyre and Sir Bruce Forsyth

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The Art of the Title Sequence

| jamesstodd
The Art of The Title

I came across this site this week. It’s got nothing at all to do with radio. And lot’s to do with visual design.

It’s a site which showcases great Film and TV title sequences and the work that went into them. Maybe by watching some of them , it will get your creative juices flowing. These examples are all about the visual ideas. Imagine how any of them could be created simply by using sound.

And if not – just enjoy them for their great visual playfulness.

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Utilising User Generated Content

| jamesstodd

Photo (C) Metro
Here’s a fantastic example of using user-generated content to make a really interesting looking TV spot for BBC Radio 1’s Teen Awards. It’s a simple idea – but executed really nicely.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

There’s a little more background on the Earshot Creative review blog here.

I think there are huge opportunities for making great sounding, highly effective promos and imaging using this method. There are countless examples online of contests where bands have let fans download elements from their songs to create alternative mixes. There are also examples of online games where fans can “create” their own programme trails – like this one for the BBC’s Doctor Who from a few series back.

So – how about someone publishing some imaging elements online and giving their listeners the chance to create the idents for the station. Just imagine the creative treats that might emerge.

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Torchwood – The Lost Files

Torchwood
| jamesstodd
Torchwood
Image (C) BBC

Having been a Torchwood fan since the series first started (as a spin off from the BBC’s long running Doctor Who), I’m really looking forward to the new series which starts this week.

Before the last series – Children of Earth – BBC Radio 4 commissioned a couple of radio plays to bridge the gap between the series. They have done it again with a 3 story run of Torchwood: The Lost Files. The series is running this week in the Afternoon Play slot in BBC Radio 4. And they’ve handily made all 3 stories available as downloads.

I listened to the first file – “The Devil and Miss Carew” this morning on my commute in to work. It’s all standard Torchwood stuff – though the “alien” seems to be called Fitzroy – and seems to live within the Radio 4 Shipping Forecast (played by Radio 4 drama stalwart Martin Jarvis).

If you’ve never listened to a radio drama, this could be your ideal stepping off point. It’s nicely acted, pretty close to the feel of the Tv series, and has fun performances from the main Torchwood cast.

You can download it here

And the new TV series starts this Thursday night (July 14th) on BBC 1

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Torchwood Miracle Day – USA v UK Trailers

| jamesstodd
C.I.A. agent Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer), Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). (C) BBC

The new series of Torchwood hits screens in the UK soon July 14th.This time, Captain Jack is out in L.A., and the series has a distinctly US feel – with some Welsh bits too to tie it back to the show’s origins. It’s as if the programme’s origins as a Doctor Who spin off have finally disappeared.

One day, nobody dies. All across the world, nobody dies. And then the next day, and the next, and the next, people keep ageing – they get hurt and sick – but they never die. The result: a population boom, overnight.

The marketing phrase “nobody dies” does however remind me of this sketch from The Day Today.

The trailers for the show have just started airing in the UK. Here’s the launch trail from the BBC website:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

And the American versions are online too.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

It’s interesting to see how the US versions go all out for action, whereas the UK version has a nice feeling of suspense, drama and then a huge hit of action too. True, the US version is doing a job to fill in the back story – and it is a web trail rather than a true TV trail. But even so, it’s not necessarily subtle. Then again – it’s not meant to be.

And the US version has a nice hint of sonic  branding at the end – with a sting from the original series’ theme tune. The use of audio branding in TV trails can always be powerful, particular when it’s long established. On radio, we know it works too, but builds it’s effectiveness with repetition.

As a Torchwood fan, I’m hugely looking forward to this new series. Camp, yes. But then how could anything with John Barrowman be anything but…?

UPDATE:

I’ve just heard that, like the last series, there will also be be a radio prequel to the series.

Search Me? Finding content in a search driven world

| jamesstodd

In a world of content – how can we expect people to find our great work?

I was intrigued by a session at Radiodays Europe last month presented by Jakob Bjur – the researcher in residence at Swedish radio. His presentation was based on a research paper he’d written on “Transforming Audiences – Patterns of individualization in Television Viewing”. It’s a weighty document and you can read it all here.

He made many interesting points, including the fact that “the content we deliver now falls into the web and is resocialised”. But he asked the question as to whether radio/sound now needs to be visualised in order to be found?

Think about it; you can search online for text and images and video, but sound is harder to search – unless it has loads of relevant metadata. Or maybe a full transcript?

As we consider the digital future, (or as someone put it today, the post Digital future), what content exactly do we want our listeners/audience to search out? And are we being far too prescriptive in how we categorise our content and how they consume it?

I’m not for a moment suggesting that our traditional, linear forms of broadcasting have had their place. Far from it. But in a world where our younger audiences are consuming 9 hours worth of content in less than 7 hours – ie using at least a couple of media simultaneously – should we be helping them find that content in a way that’s more suitable for their lifestyles?

Could we see a future where people could have an app on their smart phone that simply has a BBC search box – much like the Google search. It could learn who you are, what you like and give you it.

Maybe it’s a future where you select the type of content you want and it’s delivered to your phone – ready to consume on the way to work. But now, it’s not simply radio, but the funniest bits of last night’s Mock the Week, the must-see film from last week’s Top Gear, a video of the Taylor Swift Live Lounge performance, and the latest film review from Mayo and Kermode.

In short, I don’t care whether they are consuming Radio, or TV, or online content. I just want to make sure that, as future licence fee payers, and therefore our future audience, that they consume BBC content.

Or at least know that it’s there.

[Disclosure: Whilst I work for the BBC – these are my own views].

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