The history of TV Idents can be found on sites likewww.transdiffusion.org/emc/ident/history/ and in this unit you need to show your understanding of the design and purpose of television idents and the opportunities and limitations there are for such creations before embarking on designing and creating television idents of your own. Below are some contemporary examples from terrestrial television.
Another great resource is http://theidentgallery.com for examples of Idents in current use and there history. http://idents.tv/blog/ http://www.youtube.com/user/UKTVIDENT |
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BBC Three Ident | BBC Four Ident |
LO1 Analyse the purpose and design of idents
Task 1.
Introduce the purpose of idents either as a Mind Map / Diagram or an opening paragraph Illustrating the purpose of TV Idents. link to purpose of idents wordsearch Task 2. Focusing on the BBC3 Ident "Kick, Step & Turn" provide detailed examples that illustrate your explanation of the purpose of idents - so the following model will apply: Focus on providing detailed examples covering mise-en-scene, camerawork, soundtrack and editing to illustrate the purpose of idents; AND focus on using lots of subject terminology. You need to cover all the following purposes of idents (POINTS) in your analysis (see help under this list): TIP: the grading criteria on the right will explain to you how important giving examples and explaining is... The first 3 points (identity, brand AND market & promote) are focused on how the channel uses idents to express its IDENTITY, in order to appeal to the target audience. You need to keep reiterating identity and appeal to audience. (400 words) (point) A major purpose of TV idents is that a channel can create designs that express their identity in a way that will appeal to the target audience and complement the programmes it shows. (evidence and explain) A detailed analysis of how BBC3’s identity is expressed through the design of the ident, and what BBC3’s identity is and how it creates this identity in order to appeal to the target audience. YOU SHOULD BEGIN BY SETTING OUT WHAT YOU THINK BBC3'S IDENTITY IS - choose 3 or 4 adjectives that best describe their identity. This should then be a detailed analysis of the design of the ident focusing on the mise-en-scene and the soundtrack of the ident, and how they clearly show BBC3's identity (the adjectives you have chosen) - using terminology and constantly explaining how the m-e-s and sound create a young, ‘cool’, vibrant (and other adjectives - fun loving, exciting…) design, expressing the identity of the channel. Explaining how the aim is to design the ident in a way that provides entertainment and uses this as a key way/technique to appeal to the audience. How do the separate parts of the m-e-s and soundtrack create the identity and why does this appeal to the target audience? mise-en-scene: props & settings ----- costume & make-up ----- body language and facial expression ----- colour and lighting soundtrack: music - some analysis of the volume, pace and tempo of music (and how it is in sync with the visuals/mise-en-scene - i.e. how the two work together to complement each other) and also focus on the terms diegetic and non-diegetic sound (400 words) (point) a further way to express the identity of the channel is branding - through the visual brand (i.e. the design and the ‘look’) of the BBC3 logo and how this logo embodies the channels identity (evidence and explain) -firstly analyse the design (visual look) of the BBC3 logo - pink, lower case, ‘handwritten’ font, curved looking and how each part of the design you analyse will appeal to the younger target audience, as it expresses a brand identity teenagers can associate with -secondly explain how the design of the logo embodies/represents the channel’s brand identity; use quotes (key words and phrases) from the commissioning page to ‘prove’ this (innovative, groundbreaking, new…modern) never afraid. Explaining how the channel itself considers this to be its identity and how the logo creates this brand identity for the young target audience to associate with. The pink colour (loud) and neon look suggest this, in addition it makes it stand out within the ident - as it is the brightest part, and it makes BBC3 stand out as they are the only BBC channel with such a bright logo/brand image (‘stand-out’ comedy is another quote from the commissioning page). (300 words) (point) This part is the opportunity to continue mentioning brand and identity but with the focus on how the ident is the channel’s main opportunity to market and promote themselves to the target audience through their USP (unique selling point) (evidence/explain) The USP, in the case of BBC3, could be considered as: NEW, FUN, LOUD, young, “never afraid”... (and various other adjectives); continue to explain how the logo is a major part of the promotion as it helps create the USP. In other words they use idents as the main place to promote the brand identity of the channel. Your evidence here would be to reiterate certain phrases and keywords from the commissioning page and to give other examples of the m-e-s and soundtrack you have not yet analysed from the ident. However to conclude I would criticise this tactic of idents as marketing and promoting a channel - because advertising and marketing - for most products does not take place on the product itself, in other words how effective is marketing and promoting yourself on your own channel? (branding exists on the product you are marketing - i.e. logo/brand on trainers etc - but promotion and marketing is usually presented somewhere else to make you want to buy into a product - perhaps this is the reason for some channels - Viva, Comedy Central, Food network putting less and less effort and money into producing TV idents...) Unlike the first 3, this point is about how the other key purpose of idents is less about identity (& entertainment) but about breaking up the programmes and providing information - but still in a way that is appealing to the audience. You need to keep reiterating information and appeal to audience (400 words) (point) Start by discussing that as well as expressing the channel’s identity another purpose of idents is segmentation and providing and information to the audience - explain how this is in some ways a major part of what an ident is for, in other words they are used to break up programming (maybe more important for channels with no adverts than others…?). (evidence and explain) Analyse and explain how the information is provided to the audience, using detailed examples of quotes (and the humour involved) from the continuity announcer on the voiceover…. (it may help here to briefly compare BBC3 to BBC4 or BBC1 and how they are more formal and less ‘funny’ i.e. the voiceover is an extension of the identity - loud, fun...). Focusing on how this is another way to appeal to the target audience - by the humorous, sarcastic tone of the voiceover; and of course that the knowledge of the next programme is something that will appeal to the audience and keep them watching (if they are part of the audience for the programme). Try to be a little critical in your thinking here - introduce that segmentation and providing information is maybe more important than to market through entertainment. Because telling you what is on next (and later on that night) may be a better way of appealing to you than trying to entertain you - especially as you watch TV for the programmes so will be more likely to continue watching BBC3 because a programme you like is on next - and are not really going to carry on watching just because you like the ident. Clearly explain that the point is to literally tell you what is on next and later - to inform you and hopefully keep you interested and ‘hooked’ into continuing to watch the channel. However be critical again - why provide this information when we have this everywhere else (TV guides on screen and in papers/magazines/online). Are idents starting to look like they are a little bit pointless….? You could spend some time here assessing whether you think this. This point is about how the other key purpose of idents is about changing or ‘refreshing’ identity through rebranding the channel - hence identity, brand AND market & promote are important again but you are considering how they have been changed in order to create a new identity and target audience. (4-500 words) Rebranding is where you discuss the changes from BBC3’s idents between 2003-8 and the Kick, Step and Turn ident (2008-13), you should have substantial notes here to help your analysis, and you can also use the audio recording here to help you: http://tallismedia12.tumblr.com/post/98301300984/bbc3-rebrand-comparison-of-2003-8-and-kick Task 3. Focus on the BBC4 ident and illustrate in even more detail the purposes of idents - using the BBC4 "Library" ident as your example. While doing this you need to begin making comparisons between the BBC3 & BBC4 idents focusing on the different identities andtarget audiences of the two channels. The comparison of BBC3 and BBC4 is simply for you to analyse BBC4 - in a similar way to BBC3 focusing on the design of the ident and how BBC4’s identity and brand/logo markets and promotes them very differently than BBC3 as they have a very different target audience. Remember to provide evidence and explanation of this from the m-e-s and soundtrack of the ident as well as from the commissioning page - where very different phrases and keywords are used as the audience and brand identity are very different. There is an audio recording to help you with this also: http://tallismedia12.tumblr.com/post/99048500439/singles-hodges-bbc4-comparison-recording Use the following links from the BBC commissioning page to help you define the target audience and to define the channel's brand identity: BBC3:http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/briefs/tv/browse-by-channel/bbc-three/ BBC4: http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/briefs/tv/browse-by-channel/bbc-four/ Task 4. Introduce the Uses and Gratifications theory and explain how this can be applied to your idents - using both the BBC3 and BBC4 idents as your exemplification Task 5. Write up the analysis of the Sky One ident in detail focusing firstly on the design: Use these 4-5 (points) to structure your analysis of the Sky One ident: The below design elements are your (evidence and explanation) for your points: To finalise your analysis of the Sky 1 ident you need to refer back to the purpose of idents (i.e. refer to how the design elements and the overall design reinforce the purposes of idents). Do this by focusing on the 3 following purposes AND making comparisons between the Sky One ident and the BBC3 and BBC4 idents we have already analysed: e.g. "Sky 1 promote and market themselves very differently to BBC3 - Sky are promoting themselves through making a dark, tense, realistic (as it is filmed and not animated) ident with the actual star of a major programme (24) rather than an animated, fun, silly, and 'loud' ident. Sky are also using a high quality (high production values - i.e. expensive) American TV programme to help promote themselves which means their brand identity is improved, whereas BBC3's ident is actually quite cheap and is not directly linked to the programme that follows." LO2 Understand the opportunities & limitations of on-screen graphic representation Task 6. The focus now is on the opportunities and limitations of idents, which will mean you still needing to focus on the purpose and design but to explicitly analyse how these offer opportunities and limitations for TV channels. You will need to research and 5 Idents (or more) of your own choice to your analysis explaining for each what is effective / not effective about them. At least one should be from a 'niche' TV channel that specializes in one genre/style of programme - such as Sky Sports, Dave, Alibi, Comedy Central, G.O.L.D, London Live, 4 Music, SyFy, Film 4, CBBC and at least one should be a mainstream broadcaster - such as BBC1, Channel 4, BBC2, ITV or Sky 1. Initially you will need to embed/add the YouTube URL (or other web hyperlink) to your presentation and some screen shots of your idents. Then we can begin to analyse the opportunities and limitations of idents for TV channels: OPPORTUNITIES & LIMITATIONS A. (write about 2 idents for this part - 1 niche and 1 mainstream) min. 600 words The first 3 opportunities & limitations we will focus on are: -Audience -Budget -Time spent making the ident (and amount of staff) Your point will be one of the below - and you need to focus on an ident for one mainstreamand one niche channel for this part: (point) (evidence) (explain) Your evidence is you discussing examples from: i - the design of the ident (mise-en-scene - colour, props etc) proving the ident as low budget (cheap/basic looking) for a niche audience (focuse don one genre/type of programme) ii - and the viewing figures you have found from BARB (proving the channel is niche/mainstream based on the amount of people viewing). Which you then need to use to help you explain how the ident’s design (i.e. how good or bad it looks) is related to the budget, time, amount of staff spent making it - and how whether the channel is niche or mainstream can affect the amount of money spent and therefore the quality of the ident. B. (write about 3 new idents for this part - 2 more niche and then BBC1) min. 1000 words Now we need to focus on how idents are an opportunity for the TV channels to: (points) (evidence) (explain) niche - Dave, E4, Film 4, 4 music, BBC3, MTV are good examples of niche channels that set a specific tone or mood and that have a strong logo that acts as the visual brand i - Find some evidence of the identity/brand image of the channel (e.g. BBC3 "Never afraid to try new things") and target audience (e.g. BBC3 16-34 "young in spirit") of the channels by going to the channel's 'commissioning' pages to help you do this (this pinterest board will help you with this also: http://uk.pinterest.com/samo72/idents/) ii - AND give detailed examples from your idents of how they create this mood/tone and brand image/identity through the mise-en-scene and soundtrack (point) (evidence) (explain) E4 or BBC3 have found a way to make the graphic design ('on-screen text') look like it is part of the mise-en-scene and are therefore paying attention to the design of the text and the image together (neon sign for BBC3, which looks like it is an actual sign in the setting of the ident - and the 'eefer' character in the E4 idents, where the logo is the character and is therefore 'part' of the ident's setting). See screenshots here. BBC4 and BBC1 on the other hand have not attempted to do this and have just 'stamped' the logo onto the ident - it seems that the logo and the mise-en-scene of the ident are separate. Therefore you could argue their use of 'on-screen' text and graphic design is less creative and therefore more limited than E4 or BBC3. (point) (evidence) (explain) mainstream - This is proved by the fact that BBC1 have a wide variety of different idents which reflect many genres (sci fi, drama, dance, sport...). Give examples from lots of their idents to prove this point from the BBC1 page on the ident gallery websitehttp://theident.gallery/bbc1-2010.php (screenshots with some description of these as depicting a variety of genres will be enough for the evidence/examples). Conclude this part by discussing limitations of idents setting the tone (or the mood) of the channel and branding the channel: (point) (evidence) (explain) Choose any specific niche channel for this - such as BBC4 (expressed as 'knowledge' and therefore often coming across as 'slow' or 'dull') Sky Sports & Good Food - will alienate anyone not interested in the programmes as they are not part of the target audience. AND give detailed examples from some idents explaining how they are limited by the genre and programmes they show. (point) (evidence) (explain) Channel 4's logo has stayed very similar over the last 30 years (find visual proof of this as evidence) and explain why this is important - i.e. why does the visual brand image need to stay the same/similar? Perhaps you could argue that some channels have felt the need to change their brand a lot though....? C. (write about 2-3 idents for this part, but ones you have already analysed) min. 600 words Another factor to consider as an opportunity and a limitation is the length of TV idents: (point) (evidence) (explain) Provide examples to back this up from at least 2 idents from different channels -giving the timings of them. Make sure one of them is very short (5 seconds) and explain that idents cannot be too short so that the continuity announcer cannot speak over them to provide us with the necessary information (i.e. what is on next); sometimes though (as you will have noticed) they are really short and do not have a voiceover at all (remember these are 'entertainment-led' idents). On the other hand some idents are just about providing us with this information, including on-screen text listing programmes (known as 'information-led' idents) and these are longer. Provide one example to back this up from some of your idents (some e.g.s provided below). Film 4 information-led ident (at the bottom of the page advertising 'Elektra' & 'The Big Lebowski') : http://theident.gallery/film4-2009-misc.php Film 4 information-led ident ('Young Sherlock Holmes' & 'Sexy Beast' between 0:57 and 1:22): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2QETEqf3rQ'Bravo' information-led ident (advertising 'World's Strongest Man:2009': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgPrbPmjR2w&list=PLF24C434EDB90282A (point) (evidence) (explain) Give examples of strong logos or use of colour to back up this point (it could be ones you/we have already looked at - BBC3, E4, Dave, Film 4, Channel 4) and how this expresses something about the channel's identity. Then go on to explain how this backs up the channel's USP - using examples from the 'commissioning pages' to help you define the USP and from the ident to prove this. Detail how the channel need to find quick/simple visual jokes/puns or other strategies to express their visual identity/USP in their idents. Explain how the USP - expressed in the idents - is a strategy used to appeal to the audience and keep them watching. D. (write about 2-3 idents for this part, but ones you have already analysed, including BBC3) min. 600 words Finally idents are an opportunity 'Pushing' the technology, and rebranding to keep up to date. (point) (evidence) (explain) They need to use ever developing technology (technological advancements in camera technology, 3D, CGI and animation) to keep the look of the channel up to date. Give detailed examples of recent rebrands for this - such as the BBC3 2013 rebrand - and explain how this is a definite improvement on the previous idents, which looks more professional and more technologically up to date. Otherwise the audience will see them as out of date or old fashioned - so the rebranding is about keeping your audience watching and continuing to appeal to them through your channel's idents (you may argue on the other hand that people only turn on the channel to watch the programmes and do not really care about the idents - remember they are not the reason we watch TV). (point) (evidence) (explain) Maybe this is a problem as younger people, especially, are watching less TV (find some figures to back this up). However BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4, Channel 5 all have online i-players, and for the channels this is an opportunity for them to show their idents in a situation where you cannot fast forward and have to watch the idents - all the online players do this by showing an ident before a programme you watch online. Give examples - screenshots from the players perhaps..?
REBRANDING help/advice and examples
Link to BBC4 idents which have not really changed since 2005 http://theident.gallery/bbc4-2005.php Link to Channel 4 logo, which has not changed in any substantial way since 1982 http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Channel_4 Channel 4 logos and idents which show how despite the logo (and brand) staying similar how it is attempting to stay in touch with and up to date in terms of motion graphics and animation design, so it looks modern, even though the brand is 30 years old: http://theident.gallery/c4-2004-misc.phphttp://theident.gallery/c4-2004.php BBC1 idents usig the globe from 1960-2002 and then changing this to a circle (keeping the round part of the brand) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BBC_television_idents Dave used to be called UKTV2 re-branding the title of the channel has really helped improve their profile and 'visibility' as a channel - as regardless of whether you watch it or not, almost everyone has heard of Dave and even knows some of the programmes they show
BBC3 idents 2003-2008:
"Kick, Step & Turn" at the top of the page is part of the suite of idents from 2008-2013 - BBC3, it seems, re-brand via the idents and/or logo every 5 years; below are the current idents...
BBC3 idents 2013 onwards |  Grading Criteria
Click on the below images to see grading criteria and what they would expect to see for that grade.
Strand 1
Strand 2
Strand 3
Strand 4
Pinterest board with channel info on it (above)
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LO3 Originate and Plan television idents to a brief
IDENT E-BOOKS
| alinawheeler-designingbrandidentity.pdf |
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Example Idents produced by students
What grade would you give the below collection and why?
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