Concept and creative process
By 1997 the BBC2 branding was a firm fixture in the broadcasting landscape and the ‘2’s had established their value in terms of audience appreciation and expectation, to the point where a little self-parody was in order. ‘Paint Pot’ was a nice in-joke for the many aficionados of the idents. In this homage to ‘Paint’, the first of the rebranded 2 idents of 1991, a similar idea and the same film technique was used. The model paint pot and the camera were both turned on their sides and filmed at high-speed, making the stream of miniature viridian ‘2’s appear to fly horizontally through the air and bounce off the silver paint pot. The original ‘Paint’ itself was still very much in use and continued to be used right up until the latest channel rebranding ‘Curve’ in 2018.