The Scots That Rocked
January 1st, 2010
Blink and you’ll miss it, but this is the little ident I produced for STV’s (Scottish Television) hogmanay show ‘The Scots That Rocked.’ The interesting thing about this one is that this was not the original sequence or title that I was commissioned to produce.
Producer/director Dani Carlaw was making a documentary about how Scottish people seem to excel on talent shows such as the X Factor, what with Susan Boyle having recently cracked the American market. The programme was to be called ‘The Scots Factor’ and the opening titles were to parody the glitzy, light-entertainment look of the X Factor, using the cross of the saltire in place of the X.
So the original titles looked like this:
However, I had no sooner finished this sequence just before Christmas when I was told that it was unlikely to be used – ITV, which licences STV for central and northern Scotland, was threatening STV with legal action over the show.
I didn’t see the problem myself – it wasn’t a talent show, it was a documentary and it’s in the nature of parody to mimic the look of the thing being parodied. But STV and ITV have ongoing legal wrangles and this just seemed to make everyone nervous. Poor Dani had a very hard time keeping the legal department happy.
But what do I care. I liked the original sequence too so I include it here for your delectation and delight. Unless Simon Cowell gets litigious.
Categories: Television Graphics | Tags: Scottish Television, X factor, stv
