Concept and creative process
The Circles campaign was launched in 2006 as a replacement for the ‘Rhythm and Movement’ series of channel idents that had been in use since 2004. The change was driven by the new schedule introduced by BBC One Channel Controller Peter Fincham and marked in a small way a return to the channel’s heritage of the circular globe. The creative brief was to devise and film sequences of people, plants, machines and animals which ended in a circular image incorporating the new BBC One logo. It was one that gave free rein to the imagination and resulted in a memorable series of channel idents which were used successfully throughout the decade. The ident ‘Footballers’ was filmed at the Haberdashers Estate in North London on the hard pitch. An ident was required to introduce ‘Match of the Day’ and live football matches. Executive Creative Director Charlie Mawer wondered if something visually remarkable could be achieved in-camera with live coordinated passing. It turned out to be unachievable and so complex post-production involving ball tracking was required. The ‘Footballers’ ident was one of the first to air and it was on air for a whole decade.
Creative Idea - Charlie Mawer.
Producer - Ella Littlewood.
Director - Howard Greenhalgh.