ITN - The Classic Years

Well your memory may be deceiving you. The Lunchtime, Nightly and Weekend News all started with the headlines first, followed by the titles, right from the word go in March 1999. It was only the Evening News which had the titles first, as it was trying to be like News at Ten. As others have said, this method was finally dropped in January 2001 when News at Ten returned and the Evening News started being co-presented. The flying text certainly didn't last that long though. Don't think it even lasted until 2000. During 2001, the Morning News didn't even have a proper title sequence. After the old 1995 titles were eventually dropped in 2000, it used to start with the postcom music, over which a few headlines were read. I don't think it got a proper set of the "new" titles until the launch of the ITV News Channel in 2002.

Can anyone remember when they edited the 1999 end music to add on the extra drums? I think it happened some time in 2000, but I don't know when exactly. Was it when they started plugging itn.co.uk, as I remember the extra drums being in time with that appearing onscreen?

Ah that's why I think it didn't lasted as long, I completely forgot it was only used on the Evening News. I just presumed that was how they were all like at the start of the rebrand, as that Evening News version is the version they use on the library music site.


The itn.co.uk text appeared before then as static text, but they did start having it animate onto the screen each letter one by one with a "flip" effect from right to left.

All this talking of rebrands has got me thinking lately...

It would seem that certain looks lasted for years without even feeling stale or outstaying their welcomes - here I would cite 1990s NAT which lasted for nearly seven years with only minor changes. Yet, in the last decade or so, we've had many brief looks which haven't really stood the test of time - nor have they aged well.

I'm all for tweaking a look here and there to get the formula spot on. Watching clips of that first NAT from the 1992 relaunch, I think it's clear that there were some things that needed to be changed or corrected - and although it's not good practice to keep chopping and changing, I'm glad they revised the look quite a few times until they got it right. The last change was probably in early 1995 (when the "new" ITN logo was introduced) and it seems like everything was perfect - in any case it ended up staying the same for four solid years.

For me, the 2006 look in particular got very stale and unwelcome after only a couple of years in use. For some reason, chopping and changing it as they did - first to change some aspects from teal to blue, and then to make daytime versions of the NAT skyline - didn't quite work as well as the tweaking did for the '90s NAT. The 2009 rebrand was much-needed as it was cohesive from scratch and finally got rid of THAT MUSIC ( ), the only problem was that NAT also got the same generic look and has suffered (in my opinion) from not retaining even a little of the individuality it had, in terms of branding. And, I must say, perhaps this current look would have benefitted from a few tweaks here and there. The only thing I really do like about the look is the music. But it's not as classic as those orchestral pieces of years ago...!

Of course, we don't really know if ITV News will rebrand or just tweak the current look - but if indeed there is a full rebrand later this year, what would people genuinely like to see? I really do think making the Big Ben clockface more prominent would be a good move... it is a unique branding device - as soon as you see it, you think of the news. It is to ITV what the globe/world is to BBC News.

That music had been in use for 5 years at the time and had become associated with the ITV News, but I think dropping it really signalled the end of this era of ITV News and a move to less sensationalist bulletins.

As for the rebrand, I think I'd like to see a less virtually-dependent set and probably moving away from the black and yellow colour scheme.

I do agree that it would be nice to get away from those colours, but I think virtual is probably here to stay for the time being. The real thing is so much better, of course, but virtual-reality sets don't always look that bad - and it gives them flexibility to create whatever they want without spending a ton of money building it physically. The only thing I didn't really like about the NAT 2008 was the tar-like flooring.

I think it's easy to say that with rose tinted spectacles but News at Ten did seem somewhat dated ahead of the rebrand, and indeed the rest of the ITN bulletins too (and BBC for that matter). ITV probably went a bit too far with the new ITV News look but from what I remember a revamp was very much required, even if that package has now aged very favourably.

You make an interesting point, Nicky. When you mentioned brands that stuck around for years without ageing, I instantly thought about the ITN News at 5:45 from the late 70s and most of the 80s. OK, it looks like it came from the 70s. But, in all honesty, I still think it looks quite good all these years on. It was really quite minimalist, the music was just insanely catchy and totally random but I just think it worked. It wasn't fussy, and it got the job done. It lasted from 1976 until 1987, so it got a good innings:

Intro: http://youtu.be/zjNE5hTXL3k?t=15s
Outro: http://youtu.be/zjNE5hTXL3k?t=9m19s

LOVED the ITN News at One package in 89 and all their newscasts and anchors. Here is my personal contribution - I taped this while off school for some reason - with a rather long close:



Used to get up before 5 as an 11-year-old to catch this!



I am glad I left England in 89 in a way because, as a "fan", ITN has gone steadily downhill ever since.

Thanks for those fox1. They're great examples of the wonderful simplicity ITN had back then, in music, titles, graphics and studio sets. The News at One look and theme is so minimalist and typically 80s, and the Morning News closing theme... well, I think epic describes it nicely! They never used to give it much of an outing on the Weekend News programmes, as the closes were usually fairly short. But it seems the Morning News always used to play it out for a good 30 seconds.

Ah. Brenda Rowe.................

I have to agree with itsrobert, the late 80s era of ITN News programming was amongst the best we've ever seen. I'd add in that the Channel Four Daily, even though it's not regarded as successful, was a part of that great era, as the visual look for the news bulletins and World News especially, was uncomplicated and brilliantly executed.

If and when ITV News rebrands, I'd like to see a reworked version of the '99 set, although not as much ugly looking wood. Obviously a green screen area would be needed, for elections and stories with a large amount of graphics, like the link below.

For graphics, I liked the way the Big Ben clockface for each bulliten was superimposed onto the walkway at the end of the 2006 titles, so something like the Five News 2003 titles, resulting in the final shot being live, with the clockface.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15445092