Task 3 - Understanding the design of a suite of television idents

Here with have a recent BBC One ident created in 2009, the theme of this suite is a dog show and the dogs constantly going in and out of the poles in a circle to represent the BBC One circle. The reason why this is a good theme is because the majority of the people in the world tend to love dogs, hence why BBC though it would be a good idea to put this in to shape and create a good ident out of it. The audience would see this as a soft and settle ident to represent on how they might be feeling at the time. As well as this, BBC have been smart in the way they have kept their circle theme the same by using real life features so show the circle as well as by using animation to show the circle with the white lines. This type of ident has been used for entertainment in order to show how smart dogs can really be once they have been well trained up, the reason why they have used this is because it gives a different feel to the audience rather than having the same ident being played repetitively. When it comes to using this ident for a particular time of day, it is not relevant. I would say that this design of the suite is not really effective although there has been many days of attempting to get this suite correct. but if there was more of a story to it such as a teaser to Eastenders then it can show a different effectiveness. This ident managed to last up to 36 seconds so that it can either be cut short or so that it can be played for the full length in order to kill some time. 

Here we have another BBC One suite of an ident, the theme of this suite is to yet again show the circle of BBC One logo which is represented the by propellers spinning AND the circle of the heli pad. Unfortunately this ident may not be suitable for everyone, but there are people out there who may want to be pilots or even want to work at sea. Yet again BBC have been smart to use their circle logo within the ident but have used a different location and also a different object in order to show their circle. Personally I would see this suite of ident as another entertainment suite, the reason for this is because there has been no information being fed to the audience. This type of ident however is most likely to be shown midday as they know not many people would be watching the TV channel as it is not seen as appealing. Seeing this does not have a related theme to be shown during the year, this mean that it can be shown at any point during the year. I see this ident as a non-effective ident because it doesn't show much of a great image and only shows a helicopter landing and taking off again. This is one of the shorter idents that managed to last up to 22 seconds. 

This BBC One ident is famously known as "Kites" simply because that is all it is. The theme of this ident is to show how good editing can be used by the repetition of the kites going round in a circle. I think that this ident is a good ident, the reason why I think that is because it shown a family having fun at the beach which so many people can relate to. As shown in the previous suites, BBC have shown their circle but this time by using kites and white lines following the kites to make sure that the circle is still outstanding. As most have been mentioned as entertainment, I also believe that this is another entertainment ident because it does not display any information and it shows the family entertaining themselves at the beach. This ident can be shown when everyone is home from work or school after 6PM, this tends to be when the family are sitting down together watching TV, as well as time it can be shown sometime on a cold day as it looks like it is a gloomy day. This ident tends to last up to 20 seconds but it can either be made shorteror longer.

Finally we have the last suite of ident for this post, this ident shows a group of footballers kicking a ball to the center and it rewinding. Now the theme of this is once again the circle which is represented by the circle at the centre of the football pitch and the group of men on the circle. This ident can be target to a particular audience and that is any football fans or people who actually play football, as I mentioned before they have used the same theme by using things to create a circle in order to show their BBC One logo. When looking at this ident I would say that this ident has been used for entertainment purposes so that the audience of BBC will not get bored of being fed information all the time unless its to do with the next channel upcoming. I would say that this sort of ident can be played at any-time of the day seeing as it doesn't grabs everyone's attention but there could be times on when to play it such as after 3PM, a good time to display this ident during the year is when BBC One get a chance to host football live on their TV channel so that it suits on what they are going to play next. Overall I think that this suite of idents are very effective and lasts up to 20 seconds. 

Task Two - Understanding the limitations of the television ident

When you need to create an ident, you will have to make sure that your ident can meet all of the requirements and avoid any limitations. 

The first category we will will discuss is typography, this is basically the text for your ident that the audience can read and identify who you are. When it comes to the limitation of typography you would have to make sure that your text is readable, we do not want to have any text that is a horrible colour or a type of font which could then offput the audience from watching a particular TV channel. But if you stick to a design that basic it will probably end up looking really good. 

Next we have colour, an example of colour would be that BBC One have decided to use the colour red to represent them, the good thing about using one colour to represent a TV channel is that the audience will easily remember a specific colour to know a channel. But if you was to use more than three colours in order to represent an ident / TV channel, people will find it hard to remember and you will end up running into a limitation. As well as this you want to make sure that the colour you use the same colour text as the background or a colour that does not match the background, this could cause confusion and make it unclear to read.

We then move on to aspect ratio, this is basically the ratio of the width to the height of of an image that is being displayed on your screen. You may see examples such as 16:9, but in this case there are other examples to match such as 2.5.1, 2.5.3 and so on. The disadvantage with this is that if you do not get the right aspect ratio, this could affect on how your image would look. It can go from a really high quality image to then downgrading it so that it does not look as good as it use to. 

After this we then have the duration of an ident, you can ask yourself many questions such as does my ident have to be long or short? But if you were to make your ident long then you will end up losing your audience and will struggle to get them back.

But when it comes the limitations you will have to think about the advantages, an ident cannot to be full of limitations otherwise it would not be successful.

The good thing about typography is that if you decide to choose good text that stands out and it contains the right colour, you sure will have a good ident.  The reason why you want to do this is so that you can grab the audience's eye and make them think positively about your channel as well as your ident. This would then lead to a bigger audience and ways to improve your channel / ident.

The good thing about colour is that it is one of the things that brings out your ident, this means that if you was to choose a colour that everyone knows or even a vibrant colour. It will lead to your audience remembering who you are seeing as you chose the right colour. The good thing about choosing a colour is that there are many to choose from, although some channels have already been allocated colours.

When it comes to choosing a size for your indent you want to make sure that the size is important. If you end up having the ident at a big size then this will be a god thing, the reason for this is because you have made sure that everyone can clearly see what your ident is representing and what it shows.

For duration, the good thing about having a short ident is that you are able to keep it short and sweet and keep the attention of the views. As well having a short ident, having a longer ident is always good. The reason for this is so that the TV channel can kill some time in case a previous programme have finished a little early.

Task One - Understanding the purpose of television idents and the opportunities they present

There are many ways of identifying a channel but the obvious way of identifying a channel is by their own ident. The very first ident that appeared on TV was in 1953 by BBC seeing as viewers needed to identify the channel, this TV ident was nicknamed "Bat Wings" as you will be able to see in the picture shown. As technology has developed over the years, idents have become much more developed and detailed compared to when they first out and have always played a big deal for TV channels. BBC then created their most famous ident nicknamed "The Globe" with then a voice over the top saying "This is BBC Television".

As well as idents representing the TV channel, they can also allow you to organize the schedule, this basically means that it allows the next programme to come on air the time it has been set to. This allows the TV channel to be much more organised. Another role of TV idents is that it allows the viewers to see what is upcoming on the TV channel for the next two hours, also known as key information. A good things about this is that it will allow the viewer to stay on this particular TV channel so that they do not miss the programme they want to watch.

Fortunately the BBC is a non-commercial channel (does not display adverts), it does not have anytime to waste, whereas other channels such as ITV or Channel 4 are eligible to display adverts. So this means that if a programme was to finish early, they can include their idents followed by adverts. Idents therefore add time in between programmes so that they can provide information for the viewers, to help promote other programmes or businesses.

Seeing as technology has developed over the years, TV channels are no longer aired in one country, they are now shown all over the world, therefore the ident of the TV channel is important. It helps to create its own identity so that the different locations know what channel they are watching, a good example of this is the BBC logos from BBC One to BBC Four. They all represent BBC but with different colours. This is the reason why it is called a corporate identity. Other things that are linked to a TV programme such as the BBC iPlayer need to have a corporate identity so that people can easily recognise what it is. 

For all TV idents building in what they call a brand for a TV channel is extremely vital, the reason for this is so that the audience is encouraged to stay loyal to the channel. This basically means that they continuously watch this TV channel and hardly watch any other channels. A good ident helps to brand a particular TV channel, for example the BBC have specially kept the circle in order to represent them. With this being done the audience can then recognise that they are watching one of many of the BBC channels, if the are able to create a successful ident then the audience should have a visual reminder of the ident. This makes them more likely to come back to the TV channel again.

The good thing about TV idents is that you can create many different types of idents, an example would be if a new series was to be shown, the TV channel would create a special ident to showcase the new programme. An example of this would be when "The Voice" first came around. As well using new programmes they can also use seasons such as winter using snow. 

As well as idents representing the TV channel, it is also good to promote and market other things. A good example of this would be the ITV ident at Christmas time where they are promoting Christmas as well as other programmes to be shown over the Christmas period.

Finally we have the last section of idents, idents need to be updated every now and then because of the development of technology. An example of this would be channel 4, previously it use to be about homes, holidays and so on. Now they have managed to update it where they match up little parts in order to make the number four to represent they different programmes they have.