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British broadcaster Channel 4 has a legacy of taking creative risks, even in its own branding. So when it came to creating its new idents–short sequences between programming that identify a channel–it approached them not just as promotional material but as a massive public art project.
Channel 4’s series of idents, debuting on June 14, are a tapestry of modern Britain through the lens of 17 different artists, creatives and filmmakers. The broadcaster has released five 40-second spots that will run between shows on linear TV and streaming, and for the first time also combined into one standalone film.
Created by in-house agency 4Creative, the idents represent five themes–identity, the land, system, release and love–with literal, surreal, hyperreal or abstract interpretations of those concepts. They combine live-action, animated and computer-generated filmmaking, with scenes including an urban fox hiding in a decaying telephone box, teenagers on their last day of school, a frozen moment on a Friday night and Zoroastrian New Year celebrations.
A spoken-word piece by British writer John Joseph Holt narrates the long film.
“Channel 4 has a history of creative innovation, risk and working with brilliant people within the British creative industries,” 4Creative executive creative director, Lynsey Atkin, told Adweek. “We would have been doing the brand a disservice if we didn’t continue that.”
A complicated task
The brief for the idents is a tricky one, because they have to serve multiple purposes.
One is functional: “We still need them to guide viewers through the day on the channel. They provide a visual break and are designed to be talked over,” Atkin explained.
The brand identity has to work throughout a wide range of content spanning vastly different tones, whether it is the news, soap opera Hollyoaks or reality TV show Gogglebox.
The idents are also “the purest expression of who we are as a brand,” so the aim was to “give them life outside of their functional job,” Atkin continued.
