BBC Family Clock

[Steve in Pudsey]

Completely an excuse. Otherwise the BBC should have got rid of the pips when DAB and radio streaming launched.

And the on screen clocks were always at least half a second early so they hit the top of the hour before cutting to the programme.

[Matrix]

Completely an excuse. Otherwise the BBC should have got rid of the pips when DAB and radio streaming launched.

And the on screen clocks were always at least half a second early so they hit the top of the hour before cutting to the programme.

I mean, if we’re talking about clocks — it’s worth keeping in mind that both of the news channels have literal countdown clocks into their programmes and even Breakfast now uses a clock into its intro so I don’t really see the ‘digital delay’ issue

[Humphrey Hacker]

Quite a discovery indeed. Once we had heard that such a clock existed, I had tried to imagine it, but the real thing is quite beautiful in a way. I'm obviously glad that the circumstance for us to see it on air never arose, but also a little sad that it never got an outing as a piece of presentation.

I can't really say I like the Rhythm and Movement clock, though. It looks a little bit cheap compared to the ones from the 1990s. I don't like the BBC ONE box either - its positioning makes the clock as a whole look unbalanced. I'd rather have the logo centred underneath the clock.

That being said, I do wish that BBC One had persisted with an analogue clock. I know the reasoning at the time was that it wasn't truly accurate due to digital television (or at least I think that's the reason that was given) but personally I don't think that would have mattered. Apart from probably a small percentage who have radio-controlled clocks, in my experience most people's wall clocks and watches are a bit off anyway! I always thought the clock was such an effective way of handing to the news. Certainly better than the standard idents complete with music track.

I'm glad it was never used either. It would have had the same impact as Channel 4's #stayathome.

[thegeek]

It's interesting that there seemingly wasn't such a clock for the previous Family ident that was used when Diana died. The One O'Clock News was introduced off the ident.

https://youtu.be/Gn8jOdwy0ZM?t=14405

I don't think I'd previously paid attention to the animation that family ident. There's a bit of gentle clockwise rotation going on, and the colours are similar to the 1991 globe. I'm now wondering whether it was one the shots which was composited into the 'virtual' globe, and was produced at the same time.

(It appears once or twice more earlier in that YouTube video, along with the female CA I vividly remember from that morning - her intonation and the "This is BBC Television from London" announcement made it seem like the end of the world.)

[madmusician]

This is a brilliant thread - thanks, everyone and especially VMPhil and Mike for their insight here.

When thinking about 'family' branding for the BBC, I'd like to give a shout-out to the briefly used 3D blocks which came into use in 2007. I think I'm right in saying that it was used by Worldwide for the start of DVDs etc, and it replaced the ribbon ident in that regard. It only lasted until 2009, though, when the purple identity came in. Can anybody remember if it was used for anything else?

(Forgive the fact that this YT upload has been shatliffed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uploZG7Sb58

On another note, I'm visiting my parents this Easter week and I've spotted that their recently received issues of the BBC Music Magazine (a licensed effort from Worldwide - not actually produced by the BBC itself) no longer has the purple box around the BBC logo, which it carried since that purple Worldwide look came in in 2009. Has the purple been dropped now that it's all become BBC Studios? I'm probably quite late in the game noticing this one!

[GraphicsMan]

When thinking about 'family' branding for the BBC, I'd like to give a shout-out to the briefly used 3D blocks which came into use in 2007. I think I'm right in saying that it was used by Worldwide for the start of DVDs etc, and it replaced the ribbon ident in that regard. It only lasted until 2009, though, when the purple identity came in. Can anybody remember if it was used for anything else?

I remember that part of that animation sequence was used as the holding animation on the clean feed to the BBC Nations for quite a while.

[VMPhil]

Seeing the family clock has reminded me of the excellent and downright terrifying mock by MrTomServo of what would happen in a nuclear attack. Some of the images are missing but the main story is still there (scroll to bottom of page)

Do not read just before bed or if you have a nervous disposition!

http://web.archive.org/web/2013101521034...ocks-1795/

[Mike]

Seeing the family clock has reminded me of the excellent and downright terrifying mock by MrTomServo of what would happen in a nuclear attack. Some of the images are missing but the main story is still there (scroll to bottom of page)

Do not read just before bed or if you have a nervous disposition!

http://web.archive.org/web/2013101521034...ocks-1795/

I think the reality is in the event of a nuclear war, even then, getting studios on air or even a caption on air would be difficult at best.

One wonders if the newsreaders would just go home to watch the world end with their families!

Reminds me of the 'CNN' end of the world doomsday tape; 'HFR until end of the world confirmed'.

[EeveeSparkles]

Here is a full, longer version I found of the ribbons loop
https://youtu.be/Shvn7NtTY10

They used this on BBC Four during the Rio Olympics and CBBC before it began airing till 9pm.

[Richard]

[
that has really amazed me is that this was a practical effect - I would have assumed it would have been cgi - even in 1997 this wouldn't have been mega hard to produce, and today, you could do it in your bedroom in blender, fully rendered out in 4k in just a few hours - an amazing nugget of trivia.

it actually amazes me just how much of the MLN stuff was practical - the BBC smokey globe just blew my mind.

I suspect that these days a lot more is based on a physical items than you'd think. It's very easy just to assume that everything is 'CGI', but using real life elements presumably both looks better and is quicker

I know for a fact that all the Martin Parr stuff was CGI though.

?