London Weekend Television (VT Clocks)

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


1st Clock (1968-1981)

Visuals: A large clock is screwed onto the bottom left of a blackboard and counts clockwise to zero. Angular borders on each corner surround the interface and two serifed lines intersect at the center. Labels on the right are in boxes separated by lines:

TITLE (episode title)
VTR REC & TAPE N°. (Production code)
DATE REC (date of recording) TAKE (#)
Variants:
  • 'PROD. N°.' would be used in place of 'VTR REC & TAPE N°.' starting in 1969.
  • 1968-1973: On color programs, the clock is beige with a white clockface and hollow legs. The legs would be removed in the early 1970's.
  • 1970-1973: The clock and clockface are black with silver mechanics and a white dial. The clock, now with triangles at each quarter, counts down from 45 to 0.
  • 1973-1979: The clock is grey with a black clockface, mechanics on the bottom, and an orange dial. The clock counts forward to 60, and the blackboard is dark green with a yellow interface. The two center lines are no longer serifed.
  • 1975-1979: Similar to the 1970-1973 variant, the clock is grey with a black clockface, mechanics on the bottom, and a white dial.
  • 1979-1981: The clock slightly changes, now with a white minute hand and an orange second hand. The mechanics below the clock are now red, white, and green. The blackboard is black with the logo 'London Weekend Television' plastered on the top left and the font of the labels change to Square Slabserif. The lines are also thicker.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: When the clock hand reaches 35, a Stage Manager or Voice-Over reads the slate.

Availability:

  • 1968-1973: Seen on On the Buses.
  • 1970-1973: Seen on Whittaker’s World of Music.
  • 1973-1979: Seen on The Big Match.
  • 1979-1981: Seen on Metal Mickey.

2nd Clock (1969)

Visuals: On a black background is a white dashed outline with a print logo, LONDON WEEKEND TELEVISION, on the top left corner. A VT Clock is in white lines on the lower left corner with the numbers 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5, along with a spoke segment between 25 and 15 indicating the sound ident and an arrow pointing indicating the fade at the 3 second line. A solid box layout on the right labels the program information:

PROD. N°. (production code)
TITLE (episode title)
REC. DATE (date of recording)
PART (#) TAKE (#)
TX DATE (air date)

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: Two beeps of a buzzer.

Availability: Seen on the first episode of The Complete and Utter History of Britain.

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