Concept and creative process
Marc Ortmans’ first brief at the BBC was to design the opening titles for ‘Crackerjack’ a children's entertainment and variety show. The concept was an animated neon sign of the programme logo he had designed. The show’s producer looked at it and said “I will run black (ie a blank screen) to the nation next week unless it has stars on it. All Light Entertainment programmes have stars”. A kind rostrum cameraman offered to help Marc and together they added the twinkling stars around the logo via a second aerial image shoot. Backlit Kodaliths with gels were used to create the neon look for the logo and pin pricks in a Kodalith to create the stars on a rostrum camera.