Unit 32 Assignment Two - Task One

I had an idea for a suite of idents for the children Cbeebies TV channel which included using stop motion animation and playdoh animals. The suite would include one ident where dolphins would be swimming around in the ocean, one where a snake would be slithering into the sand in a desert and out again and finally one where a rabbit would be parading in and out of the dirt in the forest. I think this would work great as a concept as the idents would really work well with each other due to their similarities. With these idents i would be using play doh which allows me to shape into different shapes and animals, this can connect with the audience because the animals aren't real and would allow the audience to use their imagination to turn them into life. As Cbeebies is a children's TV channel then they would feel very connected to the playdoh animals and they would also be interested to the bright colours.

The selection for the suite came to animals because i thought it would connect more with the audience of the channel especially when the animals are made of play doh and are animated. In the photo to the left you can see how i came up with the idea, it started as a mind map to give an idea of what we could create. The mind map included many things we could've made the ident from that suited the channel from music themed, live action, animation etc...
We could've used Toys or even C.G.I however i figured that it could be too overcomplicated and expensive whilst you can gain the same effect from just using playdoh animals, it allows the ident to simple and creative. As an idea the idents could also include the upcoming show schedule on several different places during the idents, during the dolphin ident you can have upcoming shows on top of the ocean playdoh or during the forrest ident you can have a close up of a tree that would include a list of upcoming shows. This allows the audience to know when their favourite shows are coming on and when to be back to watch the channel.

After we created a mind map we began to create three storyboards where we would play around with potential ideas for a ident suite once we made them we would then pick out our favourite and use it as a template for a suite. In this storyboard you can see how the ident is going to look, the first ident would include two dolphins, the sea and the sun. The idea would be that i would create the ocean using blue play doh, the sun from yellow play doh and make the dolphins out of light blue play doh and have them on a sky blue piece of paper. The playdoh will be quite bright colours which will be appealing for the audience of this channel. The dolphins would be jumping in and out of the ocean, the play doh ocean would make it very easy to animate it by sculpting it so it would allow me to make it look like it splashes as dolphins jump out and into the ocean from just a couple of finger strokes on the playdoh. The ident would end when the dolphins would be in a repeated loop where they would pass a ball to one another (in this case being the sun when a dolphin hits it out of the sky), the cbeebies writing would show up on the center and will be dancing whilst the ball is thrown back and forth to show the audience what channel/show they are watching.

Here in the picture above you can see a mind map i created about my ident above to show ideas of what my ident could do differently to suit different times of day, year and holidays, for example for different times of year we could have more sunshine during summer with low(ish) waves while during winter the waves would be higher as well as snow and christmas themed content. This could allow the children to familiarise themselves with the seasons and teach them how ocean waves could change depending on weather. For different times of day we could have the sun at different positions to begin with and maybe higher/lower waves as well as maybe have weather effects like rain and storms. For holidays we could have halloween style dolphins and sea (maybe red sea?) or for new years have fireworks etc... This allows the audience to get into a festive mood and enjoy the idents and look towards the festive season holidays and idents.
The suite ideas could also come in handy here as they could be played at different times of year as the desert and snakes can play during summer. The forest idea could come through during autumn or spring which gives the suite an all year round vibe. Each ident could be changed and include new features like for the dolphin suite with higher waves; we could include trees in the forrest that would not have leaves during autumn and have leaves during spring, the idents would be very easy to switch between for the channel.
Also as an idea you can even promote events such as the world cup by creating a monkey ident where  it would include monkeys together as they would play football, or maybe just have miniature playdoh humans kicking the ball around.

Unit 32: Assignment One - Task Three 2.0

What is a suite of idents?

A suite of idents usually contains several different idents that have a similar theme that links them together. Having a suite of idents rather than one provides a variety and interest for the audience, the one single theme helps to create/maintain brand identity.
When a television channel designs a new ident they don't just design one, they create a suite.

The BBC Suite

The BBC usually tend to create a suite of idents like from 2002 - 2006 they had a Rhythm and Movement themed idents and from 2006 - 2010 they had a BBC 'Circle' theme. Both ident suites seem to range from 10 seconds of movement to 30 seconds however they enter a 'loop' which can stay looping a whole day if needed, this allows the ident to be able to fit into any channel schedule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjhNhEwzKt0

The video above is from the rhythm and movement ident theme, the suite theme is about movement and as you can see all the people in the idents are all moving in different ways. Notice how all idents have a red colour associated with them either through subtle clothing or objects in the background. This allows the audience to link together the channel to the ident easily and simply, it also allows the audience to be reminded to what channel they are watching. This theme seems to be more upbeat and would make the people watching a bit more energetic and active.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md6XXMe9S34

The video above is from the 'circle' suite idents for the BBC, notice how the kites are red to show the colour theme for the BBC one channel and also how they fly in a circle to represent the BBC logo. Some of the suite idents are to be used in particular times of the day and I think the kites ident is to be used at around mid-day as most of the audience would have just come back from work and would want something relaxing and peaceful to relieve their stress at home. Some idents in the suite are to be used during different seasons for example you can sometimes get a suite ident that features snow and santa that should be shown during winter and christmas and not to be shown during summer as you can get people to feel the wrong vibe to the channel and therefore make themselves seem unprofessional.
The circle idents seem more calm and relaxing than the rhythm and movement suite idents, the idents are meant to show how the TV channel is for a calm and relaxing audience and the ident shouldn't be played during a workout channel as they would want to be more upbeat. The circle idents show how the BBC One is now a more calmer channel with gentle programs which would make the people watching a bit more relaxed and maybe want to just stay and watch the channel.

The BBC idents are entertaining in my opinion rather than information led as the idents seem to have more visuals rather than information. The BBC idents seem to have a voice over that can give you information. Some idents can show upcoming programs which will keep you on the channel however the BBC idents seem to not do that.

Unit 32 Assignment One - Task Three

What is a suite of idents?

A suite of idents usually contains several different idents that have a similar theme that links them together. Having a suite of idents rather than one provides a variety and interest for the audience, the one single theme helps to create/maintain brand identity.
When a television channel designs a new ident they don't just design one, they create a suite.

The BBC Suite

The BBC usually tend to create a suite of idents like from 2002 - 2006 they had a Rhythm and Movement themed idents and from 2006 - 2010 they had a BBC 'Circle' theme. Both ident suites seem to range from 10 seconds of movement to 30 seconds however they enter a 'loop' which can stay looping a whole day if needed.

The video above is from the rhythm and movement ident theme, the suite theme is about movement and as you can see all the people in the idents are all moving in different ways. Notice how all idents have a red colour associated with them either through subtle clothing or objects in the background. This allows the audience to link together the channel to the ident easily and simply. This theme seems to be more upbeat and would make the people watching a bit more energetic and active.

The video above is from the 'circle' suite idents for the BBC, notice how the kites are red to show the colour theme for the BBC one channel and also how they fly in a circle to represent the BBC logo. Some of the suite idents are to be used in particular times of the day and I think the kites ident is to be used at around mid-day. Some idents in the suite are to be used during different seasons for example you can sometimes get a suite ident that features snow and santa that should be shown during winter and christmas and not to be shown during summer.
The circle idents seem more calm and relaxing than the rhythm and movement suite idents, the idents are meant to show how the TV channel is for example a calm and relaxing ident shouldn't be played during a workout channel. The circle idents show how the BBC One is a more calm channel to watch than before which would make the people watching a bit more relaxed and maybe want to just stay and watch the channel.

The BBC idents are entertainment led in my opinion rather than information led as the idents seem to have more visuals rather than information however a voice over can give you information. Some idents can show upcoming programs which will keep you on the channel however the BBC idents seem to not do that.

Unit 32 Assignment One - Task Two

Television idents may have limitations when creating them for example:

Typography - The Art of Written Language, can be limited when creating idents for television channels as one particular set of font has been introduced into an ident you begin to associate a channel with a type of font like the BBC for example.
BBC One, Two, Three and Four have really similar idents with the typography however they still have certain differences despite the similarites for example BBC One has lower case letters the same with BBC Three whilst BBC Two and BBC Four have capitals. BBC Two and Three even have BOLD letters whilst the other two don't. Even though the typography of the idents are limited doesn't mean they can't be creatively different whilst having similarities.

Adhering To A Desired Tone - A channel tends to have the idents have the same tone, for example the BBC four idents have the peaceful four image show or CBBC has the green children style idents. This tone is to familiarise the audience to the channel and can be used to keep the appropriate audience for their channel to continue watching without turning to another channel. The peaceful suite of idents tend to be more popular with the working class people who seem to just want to sit down and relax after a long day of work for example and energetic suite of idents like the BBC One Rhythm and Movement suite would want the watcher to want to watch people move around and be more ecstatic. The BBC Four idents are more peaceful and would suite the more intellectual people that have had a long day at work and just want to relax and watch something calm. BBC Four follow a four image layout that people would move between and would disappear, the movements of the ident are slow and fluid and are often set in areas that would appeal to the more intellectual audience.
Colour - This can be really limiting when creating idents as a channel because once an ident has a coloured theme the colour begins to become associated with the channel for example BBC One has the Red theme and BBC Two has the Blue/Green theme. Other notable coloured channels is E4 which is purple or even BBC Sport which is yellow. This can be great for channels as when viewers have seen the channel before they will associate the colours with the channel and psychologically be reminded to watch the channel when seeing the coloured theme. E4 for example when having their idents shown on their channel they would always include the purple colour throughout the ident which is their coloured theme, this is so that when people notice the colour purple in real life or other channels they would be reminded to switch onto E4 to check what shows could be on to watch.
This allows for creativity when creating idents as they would have to include the coloured theme and can do it in creative ways. The BBC have done a great job by gently adding in the red theme in their idents by having people waving red cloth around for example.
In the video above you can see how all the idents of BBC one from 2002-2006 have a red coloured theme. In this video you also can notice how the idents are all pretty similar and have the same tone.
Aspect Ratio - Every ident is created to have the 16:9 aspect ratio, the reason for this is so that it can fit perfectly onto all the modern televisions without having the ident to be only half seen by having it distorted off screen. All modern high definition televisions can view the 16:9 aspect ratio without adding any black box to fill up space on the screen.

As you can see in the picture above each ratio fits onto different television screens for example the 4:3 ratio was for box televisions from 1990 televisions. 16:9 is the ratio that fits for modern HD televisions.

Unit 32 Assignment One - Task One

TV idents were first introduced in 1953 by the BBC to remind viewers watching the channel that they are watching the BBC, TV idents would be introduced in multiple TV channels in the years to come and would soon be changed as technology progressed and would be used for different purposes.
Almost every TV channel would have a television ident and are usually shown before and after a programme has finished. When idents were introduced they would usually consist of a little animation and were very basic and simple just to show the television channel name and logo.

As the years progressed and technology got better television idents would begin to change, they would even show snippets of upcoming shows that were going to start or even whats going to be on soon to keep the audience watching. The BBC would change their ident every couple of years whilst keeping with the same template (a circular image logo), they would have better animations and also introduce a smooth and soothing voice over telling you that you were watching the BBC channel. One of the BBC's famous idents were introduced during the 1960s which would have the globe as the circular image and the BBC name underneath.

Television idents purpose was at first to remind people what Television Channel they were watching, this was because when the idents were first introduced the televisions wouldn't either have a remote control or TV guides so knowing what channels you'd be watching would've been a challenge. As televisions and technology improved the idents would begin to change purpose and generally improve. In recent times idents would be used in a more smart way by enticing viewers to the channel, depending on the channel and what types of programs they air on the channel they would begin to have idents that suit the channel for example national geographic channels would have idents featuring animals and wildlife which tells the viewer that the type of programmes shown on this channel will be about wildlife whilst comedy central would have idents which are funny and vibrant which show that they will have comedy type shows. BBC four have the library ident that would include a woman in a library placing books on a shelf with a moving ladder. the library setting gives a very intellectual feel to the ident which is important for a channel like BBC four as they include intellectual programs.

Any audience members that do not enjoy the programmes shown on idents or the ident style can easily switch off and watch a new channel whilst any audience members that enjoy the show and style would stay on.
A television channel would use schedules to see what programmes would be on during each hour, for example a programme would start at 5 and end at 5:30 where another show would begin till 6. Schedules can sometimes lack behind or get ahead and that is where television idents would be used by taking up time in a channel's schedule for example when a schedule on a channel is at least a minute or thirty seconds ahead/behind they would maybe have an ident play right before or after a TV programme to fill up space on the schedule, this allows for a much smoother run on the channel and allows for a schedule that fits into an hour. Idents would often be too short or too long for the schedule they are meant to play into, to fix this idents are often cut short or made to be fit into a loop which could play for the extra couple of seconds. An example of a looping ident would be the BBC One ident where hippopotamus mammals would swim in a circle to form the BBC One logo.

Television idents would also be used to brand an identity to a channel or maybe tie in a particular brand with a channel for example the TV channel 'ITV' would use the programme 'X Factor' in its idents as a promotion for the programme as well as a promotion for itself by having the X Factor fans to check out the channel as well as the fans of the TV channel to check out the programme. Television channels can use brand loyalty in order to create merchandise related to their channel by using idents in order for advertisement, this can go with many different products and is an easy opportunity for channels using idents for advertisement. Using this advertisement the channel can gain more popularity and the product being advertised can also gain popularity. Television idents are used to create brand loyalty which makes the viewer more familiar with the brands; this allows for a marketing opportunities for large companies to show off their products or make them want to take a look at their products.
Television idents would also use events to promote the channel such as seasonal events like christmas or maybe even major events such as the World Cup on sports/news channels, audience that enjoy those types of events can familiarise themselves with the channel due to the idents.
ITV Christmas Ident 2013:

BBC Sports World Cup Ident:

Television idents could even have a continuous series of idents such as the BBC Sports ident above which show famous football sport players on an adventure to get to the Brazil World Cup. This allows a promotion opportunity for the channel to even use famous celebrities to gain viewers, fans of these football celebrity players can take a look at the channel that shows this ident. Television channels can package and re-package television idents that are often used to sponsor and promote larger events or new series of programmes.