Tuesday, 7 October 2014

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.

Friday, 3 October 2014

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.