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 BBC One Channel Controller Peter Fincham and marked in a way a return to the channel’s brand 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 a brief that gave free rein to the imagination and resulted in a memorable series of channel idents which were used successfully throughout the decade. ‘Hippos’ was pitched as 'Planet Earth meets Fantasia'. A bunch of hippos lumbered off a mudbank and began swimming in synchronised and balletic circles. In development with Mike McGee at Framestore, we wanted to maximise the time in the water and also introduce the cuteness of a baby hippo – not least because adult hippos don’t really swim, they bounce off the bottom of lakes and rivers. (We were delighted with how many people contacted the switchboard to inform the BBC of this fact when the ident aired – seemingly less concerned with the veracity of the concept of synchronised swimming!) The opening shot is from BBC Natural History footage but then after that everything is entirely 3D animation in a real underwater environment. Long discussions were had about the red colour of the fish, which was the only way we could introduce the BBC One brand colour. It was one of the early idents which ran from 2006 for a whole decade.
Creative Idea - Charlie Mawer.
Directors - Charlie Mawer and Mike McGee (Framestore).