Channel 4 Idents : 25th Anniversary
To mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of its launch in 1982, Channel 4 went retro for the entire day on Friday November 2nd 2007 and completely replaced all its current branding with both original and faithfully recreated presentation from 1982.Here are four of the original idents, enlarged to occupy the width of today's widescreen broadcasting standard.
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Probably the most well-remembered spinning blocks ident, but with a light version of the Channel 4 signature theme 'Four Score'.xVid Video
480x270 0.67MB 9sec
An alternative version of the particles style ident, with a brasher fanfare.xVid Video
480x270 0.66MB 7sec
Finally, an original ident, but with the new Channel 4 theme that was introduced around 1993.xVid Video
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During the day, a select few programme menus were shown in the channel's original style. The music in the background of this one is the alternative synthesised version of 'Four Score'.xVid Video
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A recreation of the style of programme menu as seen from day one on Channel 4. It uses the original layout, typeface and highlighting to create a little nostalgia trip.xVid Video
480x270 0.83MB 14sec
A very short and simple animation to promote a single programme later on in the day.xVid Video
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Another example of the programme menu from the 25th anniversary of Channel 4.xVid Video
480x270 1.10MB 14sec
A final outing for the recreated menus.
During the early years, Channel 4 was well known for showing world sports. For its anniversary, three of the idents used before its most popular sports programmes were brought back as break bumpers.American Football.
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Sumo Wrestling.
Italian Football.
Gone for the day the monochromatic shadow 3D '4' and custom typeface, and in there place the original Channel 4 logo and clean and clear Gill Sans - as perfectly shown on this trailer end-board.
Even the in-programme pointer (certainly not around twenty-five years ago) received the same attention to detail.
And finally: the end-credit promotions boards -here advertising the Channel 4 microsite dedicated to all things 'home'.
Next, a promotion for the documentary 'Channel 4 at 25' already shown a few times on More4 and now to be shown on the actual channel itself.
And at the end, the production board complete with a fully animated Channel 4 logo.
