Westcountry Television

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Background

Westcountry Television is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW (Television South West), on January 1, 1993. Covering Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and areas of Somerset and Dorset, Westcountry has close ties with its neighbor, ITV West, sharing Jane McCloskey as managing director and director of programs with the West of England region. On November 25, 1996, Westcountry was purchased by Carlton Communications, and on September 6, 1999, they were rebranded as "Carlton for the Westcountry".

ID (January 1, 1993-September 6, 1999)


Visuals: Just a blurry background of some different shots around the South West region or more coastal areas, like waves crashing. A large "W" is seen on the right side of the screen, taking up over half of it and providing a clear shot of the background. On the bottom left of it, the word "westcountry" in white is next to the "W".

Variants:

  • Beginning in September 1997, the ident would gain some animation. It starts off completely blurred with a heavy blue tint before many thick and and thin diagonal lines, a couple with some kind of white tint to then, come sliding in and eventually wipe in the regular logo as the tint fades away.
  • "888" also appears in the top left corner if subtitles are available.
  • When used before or during films, only the top left part of the "W" is shown in extreme close-up.
  • Three months after the final set of idents were introduced on March 8, 1999, the Carlton URL appears in the bottom right corner reading "www.carlton.com" and "888" is also now changed to "subtitles" in the Gill Sans font.

Technique: Live-action. The animated version uses CGI. These were created by Peter Leonard and Ortman's Young, while the ones with the diagonal line animations were done in-house.

Audio: A short synth piano tune with some flute notes and ambient sounds relating to the background. An announcer would be heard for continuity as well.

Audio Variant: There exists an extended version of the above music, which starts with a flute playing.

External Links