In the battle of the broadcasters, its seems trailers are the tools of their trade, the BBC & Channel 4 the best of the terrestrial bunch, we taking look at the succession of sword crosses between these two corporations trailers and the music they mustered to win & woo watchers.
We have to confess that when it comes to adverts on television, we find them a total turn-off as well as an annoying interruption to the programme we are watching, some commercial channels worse than others, these constant cuts that can be every 15 minutes irritating to the extreme. However, in this day & age of advertising powering industry, commerce and every day life, understand it is something we cannot avoid, even if we at times restrict ourselves to the broadcasting corporation channels that are not bound by these coffer collecting commercials, while there are a smattering of very sophisticated & smart shorts that find favour, while there is nothing like a terrific trail to tempt us in, the ones championing causes or simply shouting out what to watch, two channels particularly adept at this art. So, given that one so called trail is really turning heads and trending across social media & beyond, we thought, in our first nod to television since our return, we would take a look at the video’s both the BBC & Channel 4 have effectively traded over the last nine or so months.
So to the alter first and Channel 4, since its launch back in 1982 has been renowned for breaking & treading on ground that others were previously fearful to tread, its bedrock of documentaries & reality T.V. shows often making it the one to watch by its rivals as well as its audience. Indeed, Channel 4 can be held to lofty account for some of the most recognisably household programmes in the modern era, “Location, Location, Location”, “Grand Designs”, “Countdown”, “Deal or No Deal” and “Come Dine With Me” schedule stalwarts, while iconic ones such as “The Tube”, “The Big Breakfast”, “TFI Friday’s” and “Big Brother” made Channel 4 stand-out from the competition. So with a solid reputation foundation for good quality programming, its identity has hardly needed change, although additions such as E4, More 4 and its “+1” option (the first channel to introduce this nifty innovation) continue that ground-breaking tradition. However, with its latest innovation, the combining of its family of channels & services into the umbrella that is “All 4”, replacing its previous on demand service “”4OD”, saw the first of what was to become a trading of trailers aimed at stealing the industry best BBC iPlayer thunder, this their eye catching video which went viral within a few short days of release back in May last year.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwCGdoG6AAo[/youtube]
It was inevitable that the BBC would fight back, a corporation that was not only the first in this country, but in the world, its reputation down the pages of history as solid as stone, although in recent years, its dependency on the licence fee to operate and the constraints on its budgets as a result, seeing it’s once dominant position in sports programming dwindle considerably. With Sky’s monetary might, football was first to go, although the back & forth trading of national treasure, the FA Cup saw the Beeb win it back last year. However, gone has much of its golf coverage, mainly to Sky, Channel 4 now very much the home of horse racing, even grabbing the Grand National, once a BBC sports stalwart, while Rugby’s Six Nations tournament has gone to ITV, Channel 5 grabbing much of the cricket available to the free to view broadcasters and the latest casualty in cuts to the corporation’s coffers was the relinquish of its contract to televise Formula One. But sport has not been the only area hit, as its channel expansion in response to the competition, BBC3 & BBC4 having been formed back in 2002/3, have had mixed fortunes, the former about to retreat into an online only service, while the latter at best serves a niche audience. That said, the BBC does have a lot to shout about, its undisputed crown in aspects of radio broadcasting something to shout about, and its ability to secure some of the best individuals of the time & in the business, something to shout about, which it did, hitting back at the Channel 4 video with its own “For All Of Us” campaign
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftf96s_naL0[/youtube]
Hard hitting it was, as the video highlighted some real BBC gems, “The Great British Bake-Off”, “Doctor Who”, “Strictly Come Dancing”, “Last Night of The Proms” and “Wildlife on One” the latter also reminding viewers of some of those industry impressing individuals, David Attenborough one of their trump character cards, while pitching the increasingly popular Nick Grimshaw, whom ITV had plundered for their plummeting in the ratings flagship show “The X Factor”, right at the start of this video was genius. But what was even more impressive was their use of a masterful piece of music which, ever since its inclusion in the soundtrack for blockbuster movie “Cloud Atlas” was pretty much one of those iconic tunes that has since been used in a whole host of film trailers, television titles and even adverts, this track responsible for elevating what looked to be a clumsy like a clumsy commercial for Persil wasjing detergent, into one of the biggest trending adverts of its time. Indeed, band M83, a French electronic music band will, rightly or wrongly, be forever best known by this track and while some have called for it to be stopped being used, the Beeb scored a gigantic goal using it, very much fitting in with its ethos combination of nostalgia, anticipation, jubilation & triumph to help boost its flagging image
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyjj8BgsBGU[/youtube]
So while some would say the battle of the promotional trailers had been won by the BBC, it wasn’t going to sit on its laurels, a series of promoting specific programmes throughout the rest of 2015, culminating in the head turning Christmas tail of “the sprout” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnoxGr_sTz4) a cute & cuddly commercial a little leftfield of his previous huge hot, as it wasn’t pushing 
programmes, rather reacting to other festive adverts such as those for Waitrose & Sainsbury’s, it definitely doing the business for the Beeb and really cementing their reputation for a terrific trailer, in some ways leaving Channel 4 in their wake. And the BBC started 2016 with a real bang, a video featured pretty much hourly from the first day on all of its four television channels, really turning heads as well as returning to the theme of promoting its programming generally specific to BBC1 but picking out a small handful off BBC4 gems, although not only was it clever in overlaying the voices & conversations from key programmes, but by literal listing them, including “The Voice”, “EastEnders”, “The Apprentice” & “Call The Midwife” among many others, shouting spectacularly for the breath of brilliant broadcasting within television on the Beeb.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX0fgfepf5k[/youtube]
And they hit musical gold as they had one of the biggest scoops we have come across, an at the time little known track that nevertheless starting trending almost immediately, we ourselves scrabbling to find out just what it was & who was singing it, so catchy was the tune that also, it has to be said, fitting this BBC video trailer like a glove. But we should have recognised the voice, as Birdy is no stranger of adverts, her previous single “Wings” lauded out on the noteworthy Lloyds Bank commercial which, for a good few months was played out in during the advert slots of every film we saw at the cinema. However, her new single used by the BBC in their latest trailer had not even been released, we struggling to find the full version anywhere online, although “Keeping Your Head Up” has since been soaring up the charts right across the world and looks destined to be bigger than “Wings”, no mean feat considering how huge a hit it was.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8AXUq5uA0Y[/youtube]
But of you thought Channel 4 had been left for dead by these Beeb trailers, you hadn’t accounted for their truly touching & timely trailer, piggy backing on the subject of the moment, diversity in the entertainment world fuelled by the controversy surrounding the all-white nominees listing for the upcoming Academy Awards in America. Headlined by transgender singer & performer Asifa Lahore, a British Pakistani & Muslim, also a hot potato subject of controversy, the video was a head turner from the moment we saw it, thrusting Channel 4 right back into the race for best trailer, Asifa covering the Studio Killers hit “True Colours” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3aY2JeQJH0), amidst a superb string of minorities being celebrated including the lesbian scene from our film of 2015, “Carol”, to the brilliant documentary charting the building of the way-out & whacky house in Wrabness, designed by the cross dressing Grayson Perry. But this amazing advert also includes blacks, the disabled, gays and more, the video underpinning Channel 4’s commitment to “…providing an alternative voice and reflecting Britain through all its diversity…” tagging the true colour theme, the final moments going to Asifa who peels off her wig looking proud with his/her identity
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ot_Q99MvqU[/youtube]
So, with the gauntlet laid back down by Channel 4, what can we expect in future? Well the Beeb have supposedly already responded with an updated version of their “For All of Us” video from last year, but bigger & better things are sure to come from the Beeb, while we hail these two brilliant broadcasters for spearheading the significance of the trailer. (DISCO MATT)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-NS979Oksk[/youtube]