Photographer Martin Parr Shoots BBC One's First New Idents in Over a Decade

BBC Creative has turned to renowned photographer Martin Parr to create BBC One’s idents for 2017, replacing the previous clips, which have been on the channel for over a decade.

Following the theme of ‘Oneness’ the first ident, ‘Swimmers’ aired on New Year’s Day, with more idents planned to appear throughout 2017. The campaign will feature various groups of people coming together across the UK united by their shared passions and interests. Directed by Matrin Parr, the groups are chosen to reflect the diversity of modern Britain and the changing mood of the nation through significant moments in the calendar year. The portraits feature sea swimmers from Clevedon through to an energetic exercise class from Bristol.

BBC Creative worked with Final Cut to create the offline edit, and then continued to work with Final Cut Sound on the composition and sound design.

Patch Rowland, Head of Audio, said, "It was great to be involved with the music & sound design on the new BBC One idents. I have always admired Martin’s style for its realism and truth. The production audio wasn’t always usable, therefore huge attention was given to the smallest of details, to ensure the realism and integrity of each of the locations was maintained."

"For a number of the idents I spent some time finding my ‘inner twitcher’ ensuring the correct birdsong corresponding to the correct time of day was used for the specific locations around the British Isles, (allegedly one of the beebs bigger gripes is when the wrong bird is singing!). You don’t have to watch the channel for long before you see one of these idents and it’s then you realise how far reaching they are to so many people. This meant authenticity was at the forefront of my mind."

Adam Rudd, Editor at Final Cut added, "I'm a huge fan of Martin's photography so it was fantastic to work on a project directed by him. There's a perception that single shot edits may not need much editorial input beyond picking the best take, but actually finding footage that works both to the creative brief and fulfils the timings required by the channel creates its own unique challenge."