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| Out with the old: The BBC One hippos. |
After more than a decade of paddling around in circles, the BBC One hippos are finally going into retirement.
The 2006 BBC One "Circle" idents, of which the hippos were a part, were widely criticised for being a waste of money. In addition to the hippos, the £1.2m campaign featured lawn circles, a helicopter landing on top of the Bishop Rock lighthouse and dogs jumping through hoops to name but a few variants.
This time it looks like the BBC has sought to avoid any accusations of profligacy by asking a GCSE Media student to create the new BBC One "Oneness" idents for the price of a sherbert dip.
There are currently three variants of the new ident - Clevedon Sea Swimmers, Avonmouth Exercise Class and Llantrisant Wheelchair Rugby Team. As the campaign progresses there should be around 20 variants of the BBC One "Oneness" ident.
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| In with the new: The Clevedon swimmers. |
Of course the BBC didn't really ask a GCSE Media student to create the new films, but commissioned documentary photographer Martin Parr for the task instead. The 64-year-old's brief was "to capture an evolving portrait of modern Britain in all its diversity" for 2017.
Parr said: "To have the chance to makes stills and film these diverse groups of people, but sharing the same interests or roles all over the United Kingdom is a real privilege."
Charlotte Moore, the Director of BBC Content, said: "What better way to demonstrate this than by commissioning Martin Parr, one of the most celebrated documentary photographers of our time, to create idents from a series of portraits that reflect and represent the rich diversity of communities living in the UK today?"
Over the years there have been some truly iconic television idents. The Yorkshire Television chevron emerging from the darkness to a booming rendition of "Ilkla Moor Baht 'At" immediately springs to mind. Channel 4's colourful flying blocks is another.
In contrast, the new BBC One "Oneness" idents are cheap and chatty in the extreme. Filmed as a single shot and with poor quality audio, they really do look like the sort of thing a teenager would knock up for their YouTube channel.
Penny pinching and pathetic.
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I could have saved the BBC some Licence Fee payers cash for their new BBC One "Oneness" ident.
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Here's some more $hite on BBC One this evening, You may have seen this show before
But why should I help them out?