Ever noticed the music accompanying the Channel 4 idents? Ever wondered who was behind it? Of course you have!In celebration of International Women’s Day 2018, we have made an ILLICIT SOUND Playlist featuring ten incredible female composers.
Update: Director Dougal Wilson contacted us since publishing to provide us a little insight into the music accompaniment.
Channel 4‘s latest idents have been running since November and feature a metallic, friendly giant made out of pieces of the Channel 4 logo. These short films have become a part of our viewing experience, appearing on our screens without us even batting an eyelid. However, there would have been a whole team behind these idents, from designing the character to writing the music. Even if you hadn’t paid any attention to the idents before, you probably still could hum the gentle accompanying tune without hesitation.
Channel 4’s in house creative agency 4Creative created the films in collaboration with award winning director Dougal Wilson of Blink Productions who was behind the We’re the Superhumans campaign. Having a history of directing music videos, this time Wilson took his hand to the music himself, performing the music which would become a trademark of Channel 4.
Wilson provided us a little insight into the track:
“It was originally just a demo on my old guitar but everything else we tried didn’t quite feel right”.
It would have been more fair to the thousands of composers out there trying to find their big break to open up the opportunity to compose the accompanying music to the public, however there is no doubt the current music does the job. It’s simple, gentle and relaxing, personifying the giant on screen and presenting Channel 4 as warm and welcoming.
However, each of the four short films is accompanied by the same track. This may have been intentional and probably a way of saving time and money, but if a composer had been hired, there is no doubt they would have created some variations. In this case, each of the films’ music would vary while in-keeping with the overall ‘sound’.