Concept and creative process
‘Television Top of the Form’ was a quiz programme for schools across the United Kingdom. In 1953 it made a successful transfer from radio, where it had already built a large audience on the BBC Light Programme since its launch in 1948. On television it ran continuously until 1986. Sixteen teams from schools in all corners of the United Kingdom competed for the chance to win the Owl of Wisdom trophy. The idea was to create a sequence that summed up learning and knowledge in a single, simple idea to music that already existed. It evolved as just an animated logo. The abacus was made specially by a model maker and it was shot single frame on a film rostrum. It was shot in reverse i.e. the logo was formed perfectly, then the balls were repositioned frame by frame. It was important to analyse the track with a frame counter beforehand to get exact timings for the animation.