I haven't been seeing a lot of mocks recently. I'm not talking about mocks based off of real channels and events, I'm talking about classic APFS or What If? Archives-style mocks like fictitious ITV regions and niche satellite networks (Keltica comes to mind). Most of the mocks I do see nowadays are underage kids slapping the CBBC logo onto SML videos from YouTube and trying to pass it off as "real".
So the question I have is: whatever's happened to the decent TV mocks and the people that made them?
What happened to TV mocks?
When those sites, and TV presentation sites were in their heyday, it was (rather terrifyingly) 20+ years ago. A few things have changed significantly since then.
Firstly, the mocks of fictional companies you mention were built off an interest in mocks of existing ones existing earlier/later than they did, or various IRL rebrands not happening or happening differently, which in turn was built off a general interest in TV presentation which at the time had suddenly became a much more accessible interest with the rise in internet access (and lets not forget the holy grail of being able to watch any ITV region from anywhere when it went on Sky at the end of 2001, 1 year before that largely became irrelevant), at the same time that the average person still watched a hell of a lot of TV and there was access to an awful lot of presentation to pique the interest for people who found it interesting. Now that far less TV is being watched than was at the time, and modern presentation is arguably so boring, there are just less people interested in presentation that will make these mocks.
Secondly, at the time, every man and his dog was building websites, there were no video streaming sites and no social media (none in common use by Joe Public anyway). The expertise, time and money to maintain these kind of sites is vastly increased from how things were in the early 00's and the interest in doing it has vastly decreased.
Thirdly, fewer people will have the skillsets needed to make mocks anyway. Back then virtually all internet access was done on a computer, with the vast majority of home users only having internet on dialup and would both commonly use the computer offline and also be far more skilled with software than the average modern user who does little else than run a web browser or play games. Basic skills in software like Photoshop (or even something like Corel Photo-Paint) other than by people who need to be able to use such software for their job were actually a thing that commonly existed in a way that it doesn't now. There were ready made tools available for would-be mockers to use with minimal skills - things like TV Logos Font, pre-made generic backdrops of the 1989 ITV logo and spinning blue hearts etc that could be used to fairly easily knock something up aren't really a thing anymore. Yes at the time there were some awful mocks about (I include the few I dabbled in with that), but there was also a lot of talented people interested in doing it which there isn't to the same level at all now.
Firstly, the mocks of fictional companies you mention were built off an interest in mocks of existing ones existing earlier/later than they did, or various IRL rebrands not happening or happening differently, which in turn was built off a general interest in TV presentation which at the time had suddenly became a much more accessible interest with the rise in internet access (and lets not forget the holy grail of being able to watch any ITV region from anywhere when it went on Sky at the end of 2001, 1 year before that largely became irrelevant), at the same time that the average person still watched a hell of a lot of TV and there was access to an awful lot of presentation to pique the interest for people who found it interesting. Now that far less TV is being watched than was at the time, and modern presentation is arguably so boring, there are just less people interested in presentation that will make these mocks.
Secondly, at the time, every man and his dog was building websites, there were no video streaming sites and no social media (none in common use by Joe Public anyway). The expertise, time and money to maintain these kind of sites is vastly increased from how things were in the early 00's and the interest in doing it has vastly decreased.
Thirdly, fewer people will have the skillsets needed to make mocks anyway. Back then virtually all internet access was done on a computer, with the vast majority of home users only having internet on dialup and would both commonly use the computer offline and also be far more skilled with software than the average modern user who does little else than run a web browser or play games. Basic skills in software like Photoshop (or even something like Corel Photo-Paint) other than by people who need to be able to use such software for their job were actually a thing that commonly existed in a way that it doesn't now. There were ready made tools available for would-be mockers to use with minimal skills - things like TV Logos Font, pre-made generic backdrops of the 1989 ITV logo and spinning blue hearts etc that could be used to fairly easily knock something up aren't really a thing anymore. Yes at the time there were some awful mocks about (I include the few I dabbled in with that), but there was also a lot of talented people interested in doing it which there isn't to the same level at all now.
1. The current TV presentation discussion forum has a ban on mocks
2. People of the age inclined to/who have the time to make mocks now tend to have tablets instead of PCs and therefore not the software used to create mocks (probably not even PowerPoint) and it is harder to create mocks using one
2. People of the age inclined to/who have the time to make mocks now tend to have tablets instead of PCs and therefore not the software used to create mocks (probably not even PowerPoint) and it is harder to create mocks using one
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Dr Lobster*
- Posts: 2107
- Joined: Sat 30 Aug, 2003 20.14
I think the very short answer is that they are pretty pointless for the most part.
Only real reason I can think of would be for a portfolio / showreel or to teach yourself how to do something with the software.
Other than that, why bother?
Only real reason I can think of would be for a portfolio / showreel or to teach yourself how to do something with the software.
Other than that, why bother?
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all new Phil
- Posts: 1967
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- Location: Next door to Hell
I think this is pretty much it. It’s so easy to do stuff now. I use software now for work that makes something of broadcast standard in a matter of minutes. Add to that how prevalent things like TikTok etc are with quick easy editing, I think anyone with the urge to design something can get their fix there instead.Dr Lobster* wrote: ↑Thu 25 Apr, 2024 08.17 I think the very short answer is that they are pretty pointless for the most part.
Only real reason I can think of would be for a portfolio / showreel or to teach yourself how to do something with the software.
Other than that, why bother?
Also, certainly within the TVF/TVLF community, it's the case that anybody with anything useful to say simply got bored of The Gallery and it gaining a bit of a reputation for crapness - over time, poor quality PowerPoint (often GMB graphics) mocks proliferated, putting more serious minded people off, making the low quality mocks more dominant, and so on. Towards the end, the engagement and conversation was weak, with very little constructive discussion or criticism. As somebody who used to contribute to The Gallery, getting nothing more than a 'Wow! Amazing!' for something eventually made it all seem a bit pointless. I might still get the odd idea, but no audience and not worth it.
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Knight in West
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Mon 21 Mar, 2022 10.30
Throwing my 2 cents in as a current 'artist' on this sort of thing...
- Like everyone have said, those decent TV mocks people have either moved on, or turned their sights onto (occasionally) current things. The media landscape have changed too, be they the UK, Australia or the US. There's only that many ways to imagine a new look for ITV, or what would the WBD logo be.
- Sure, the software and know-how is easily attainable now, but it still takes time to familiarize yourself with Photoshop, Blender etc., getting the general style of motion graphics in said era and keep on trying. Sadly most of the people working on them now are, as you said, kids that just slapped a logo on random things on MS Paint and calling it a day.
- Even not all of those kids are into this - movie studio openers (eg 20th Century Fox) or US production house captions (eg the Viacom of old) are more likely their favourites (and weirdly TVO Kids but that's not the point).
- Websites: Hate to keep beating on a dead horse, but there's not a good central place for these type of things than The Gallery - I know I'm seeing it through a rose-tinted glasses! DeviantArt is just awful to use - before all the AI kerfuffle, there was the daily spam ad posts and, of course, the same group of kids lurking around. For me, I'm thinking about putting my profile to a rest, just because the audience for them are always the same few user IDs, not from the people who cared about this. I wish I have this sort of motivation to do better.
- The interest for recreating old-time TV seems to have shifted across the pond - there're people recreating US local TV graphics and setting up 'fantasy networks'. They're spread across YouTube and DA if you know where to look, but the quality varies - sometimes they did a nice job recreating Quantel Paintbox/jcbD aesthetics, but more often than not they're as terrible as you may imagine. The rise of 'analog horror' channels (like Local 58) might have boosted this, but I doubt it.
Knight in West - W. Knight on Pres Café