Understand the design and purpose of television Idents
Purpose of Idents
An ident is call sign or brand name used within types of broadcasting or media to self promote companies such as film distributors, television channels and video game companies. Companies uses idents as a way of branding and self promotion but also to remind the specific target audience what the company stands for. The majority of television stations and radio stations shall have idents as a part of their corporate identity. The visuals and audio should reflect a clear image that the company wanted to portray about themselves and should be clearly representational for them. The ident should have advertisement connotations and would have memorable moments such as music or key points in the visuals. BBC’s Eastenders Ident is a famous Television programme ident which serves as an opening to the programme. The audio in the ident is famous for its unique piece of music which is recognizable and public members can make these links to the Television programme.
CBBC Ident
CBBC is a sub unit television channel to the worldwide television channel BBC. It specializes in children’s programme broadcasting and also was give airing hours on BBC channels in afternoon times when children would most likely be watching television. This Ident is used to attract a very specific target audience and get them to carry on watching CBBC but also have memorable links so the viewers shall return to watch the television station. The ident is made up of different animated scenes which correspond to programmes aired on CBBC. This is a clever technique as it gives a direct link to what is aired on the channel therefore viewers will always associate those programmes with CBBC; it also gives the programmes promotion so viewers are most likely to return to watch that programme on the channel. The colours used within the ident are bright and vibrant creating an uplifting mood which is exactly what children (the specific target audience) would want to see for entertainment. CBBC however have chosen a green house colour theme which is also present throughout the ident. When the letters to make CBBC appear; they are all green or turned green. This then relates to the final scene within the ident where the letters all come together and make the CBBC logo.
MTV Ident
MTV is a television channel specializing in music related programmes and teen orientated documentaries and dramas. The popular brand of MTV is well known for its creative and arty representation and this is easily reflected within this ident. In this ident it starts with showing dark lighting and depressing words littered around tower blocks. The fonts used on these words are also harsh and edgy reinforcing the negative undertones. Then the MTV logo appears and the lighting brightens and the depressing words are transformed into positive words which then shows the uplifting transition. This con-notates that MTV can change a depressing mood into a fun experience . Its a clever ident which give subtle hints at what MTV want their message to be.
PlayStation Startup Ident
The start up ident for Sony’s 1994 video game console PlayStation creates a memorable and nostalgic feeling among many gamers from this era. The console was a break through in gaming technology and still holds the award for being announced as one of the best video game consoles to date. The ident for the PlayStation is shown every time the player loads up the console, so Sony had to ensure that they created an ident which served great purpose. Firstly the idents timing is at a slower pace than most other idents in its time, however this could be due to hardware limitations. The audio of the ident gives a subtle but empowering feeling as it creates a message that the console is starting up and the power is about to be released. The sound can easily be related back to the PlayStation. Although this ident is somewhat basic and doesn’t display many visuals other than the Sony and PlayStation logo however the audio and memorable timescale of the ident makes the PlayStation ident so powerful as an ident.
Understand the opportunities and limitations of onscreen Graphic Representation
Opportunities
The idents purpose is to promote and summarize the piece of media its designed for; whether that be a television station or television programme. Idents for television can become a major part of a companies corporate identity and marketing strategies. For any company the outlook to a specific audience needs to be perfected in order to grow in popularity, this can be a difficult task to achieve but earning the trust and sending over messages on a more personal message through their corporate identity can develop a better foundation for the company in the future. Idents can help to get that connection with the audience with a clear and developed choice of graphics and sound which reflects the companies main intentions. This is crucial for television stations and media alike as they want to make the audience entertained and feel like they should invest their free time into watching their media.
The on screen graphics aswell can display not just visuals but text based information which can influence the audience in many different ways yet also be informative. Although many idents don’t last very long so text is reduced to the minimum within the majority of idents. Many television channels aim the programmes they air to a loosely based audience so that they have a clear foundation however certain programmes they air will appeal to a more niche selection of these people. The company wants to create a specific branding of content for the audience so they know what kind of thing they expect to see content wise from the televsion channel. Its not just tv channels however which have to use idents to help brand their content but also television shows themselves have idents created to promote their content using idents.
The Walking Dead Channel 5 Ident
This ident was created to promote the new american horror series “The Walking Dead”. The ident had to promote not just the genre but also give a brief back story of the series within a few seconds. The clever tool here was how the audio was used to explain most of the content while creepy visuals of faces pushing through walls was shown; creating a sense of ambiguity and interest of the unknown. This technique can be very gripping from an audiences perspective as it makes them want to watch the television programme. Another method used in The Walking Dead ident was the relation with Channel 5. Channel 5, a famous British television channel promotes the Walking Dead and will happily show a connection and associates themselves with the television show. As audiences will already have trust in Channel 5’s different broadcasts and programmes, enthusiasts of television which have a trust with the channel will feel a recommendation from them to watch the show feel more personal and can add positive popularity to the show and channel.
Ident Limitations
Idents can require alot of computing power to create them. The rendering of graphics, high quality audio and sometimes video footage and CGI. The software which creates components for idents will have system specifications and if the systems which are being used to create the ident then companies have to manage finance so that they can create the ident or pay for a sub company to create it for them. Systems for creating idents usually have to be advanced as possible as they may have to render 3D graphics, 2D graphics and high definition videos at the same time as well as high quality audio. This requires alot of processing power and memory on the system regardless of the kind of software that is rendering this.
The main limitations of ident production for television comes down to the quality of equipment being used to make them. One example is if the ident will include any real life video or recordings and if they were recorded in digital or analogue. An analogue recording is recorded on tapes or VHS, method of recording is very outdated and no new types of equipment are now made to record on this format. Although the colours blend smoother in analogue recordings as they are not pixel based like digital recording which can make file sizes very large. The other issue with analogue recordings is the transfer and visual editing of it; as the analogue method of recording is very outdated transferring the recording into a digital format can make the recording loose different elements of quality and resolution. As television is now televised digitally using an analogue method to film for an ident would be very limiting and pretty much useless. However digital methods do have their limitations aswell, as a smaller pixel camera might not be able to reach the desired resolution to be televised. Pixels in digital recording also have a more defined colour system where each pixel displays a colour so the better pixel and resolution the more detail in image and colour quality there is; however in a low resolution or lesser quality digital camera the colour can be more defined loosing the greater detailed needed to be professional. The resolution has to be considered all the way through ident production aswell as all assets created must be able to fit the resolution of the television channel. This can also be considered when setting the aspect ratio for the ident as it must fit the aspect ratio for all the other programmes, idents and adverts being televised on the television channel. Idents are now usually created in widescreen ratios.
Creative Communication
With creating or producing a successful ident it is all about the personal and memorable link with the audience so they feel that the company is trustworthy through methods of corporate identity and content branding. This is important as it creates that communication and popularity to audiences
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