Val Meets the VIPs (1973)

Concept and creative process

Valerie Singleton, the former ‘Blue Peter’ presenter, talked to people who had earned the title 'Very Important Person'. An audience of children joined in and put their questions to the celebrity VIP of that week. The artwork for the titles consisted of the logo, photographed and made into a reversed-out clear on black Kodalith, then shot on the back-lit area of a film rostrum camera. Coloured cinemoids (gels) were cut up and placed to be viewed through the clear area of the logo. Only parts of the logo were seen initially. The letters not seen were simply covered with black card. The shoot involved some pans and zooms. The words 'meets the' animated on simply by using two identical Kodaliths and panning them in opposing directions over each other until they matched up. The wipe at the end was created by doing a matte run to reveal the words VIPs. Everything was shot in-camera to timings taken from the music track and so no editing was necessary.