https://youtu.be/3uad2RNmUWs
This absolutely stunning ident, but really a shout-out to that whole balloon era. Both the 1997 originals, which are obviously really gorgeous, but I also have a soft spot for the later additions, where they’ve been a bit more ambitious in placing the balloon using CGI - the Blackpool Tower, Needles and Angel of the North style idents, not to mention the themed idents.
Whilst the four ‘people’ idents are a bit weaker, I know, I still look back to this era of BBC One pres with a real fondness, and this Millennium Dome ident just caps it off for me. I was just the right age for the Dome to be really exciting (8 going on 9), and I totally missed out on all the cynicism and just thought it was really cool. Seeing the balloon over it is wonderful: it’s perfectly lit and shot, really displaying that excitement of the new millennium, I think.
And that soundtrack is superb! I have a hunch that this ident was commissioned around the same time as the four ‘people’ idents as the soundtracks are extremely similar in terms of their structure and musical motifs (whilst I know there are certain motifs that are similar throughout the entire set, these idents from 2000 are different enough from 1997 but very similar to each other to be noticeable).
Plus, we see here that the pictures ‘loop’ at the halfway mark and this is the same for the full versions of all the 2000 people idents, again suggesting a common production decision. I think I’m right in saying that at the equivalent point of a ‘long’ 1997-era ident, the picture cuts to a different angle at that point, but obviously that can’t be done when this ident is a single shot.
Anyway, this is just about top of the list for me, taking me back to my childhood and just summing up a brilliant era for BBC pres.
