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 schedule introduced by BBC One Channel Controller Peter Fincham and marked in a small way a return to the channel’s 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. In the scenario for ‘Mission Control’, filmed in 35mm at Shepperton Studios, a lunar lander is launched, lands on the surface of the moon and leaves its track marks in a circular pattern in the moondust. As it does so, a shadow cast by the mother ship passes across the lunar landscape coinciding for a brief ‘magic’ moment with the circle of the tracks left by the lunar roaming vehicle, thereby emphasising the brand's circle leitmotif and providing the background for the BBC One logo animation.
Post-Production - Tim Osbourne at Framestore.
Creatives - Charlie Mawer (Executive) and Richard Senior.
Producer - Ella Littlewood.
Director of Photography - Clive Norman.
Production Designer - Bruce Hill.
Director - Matthew Losasso.