Task 2B - Limitations

i. Typography (e.g. having to use a particular font for image or clarity)  
ii. Size (considering the consumption on portable devices)
iii. Colour (e.g. specific colours for a specific channel, programme, department or to ensure visibility)
iv. Aspect-ratio (the dimensions required to fit the screen)
v. Resolution

Typography
The font on idents must appeal to all viewers, however, this is a limitation because the person who is making the ident can only go to a certain extent as to how large or small the font can be for the ident. Another reason is also the font for the ident, this can also be a major limitation because some creators may wish to use fonts which cannot be read by everyone. In the example below of Comedy Central, the font of this ident is a basic size, however, everyone may not be able to read it, as it does not appeal to everyone. 

Size
The size for idents is critical, however it varies. One example is the channel having the ident and also trying to squeeze in the scheduling. This can be a limitation because size is the most important thing when it comes to idents, as it has to be visible and clear for the audience to see. Another example is the logo being too big on screen for the ident, as positioning of the logo is important. 

Colour
Colours are a major limitation when it comes to idents because saturated colours tend to bleed in the idents. Safe colours are the broadcast colours which are under 235 (such as red, green and blue.). This is a limitation because it doesn't allow the creator to use colours they wish. Bright colours can create an electrical disturbance. The example below explains and also shows how colours can become saturated and bleed into the idents. Another example is MTV, they use bright colours to appeal to their target audience, which is 12-34 year olds. 
Colour can also become a limitation when used by other channels because certain colours may already be used by existing broadcasting channels, so this means that channels have to be branded by specific colours used, such as their logo colour will be based around the colours of the ident. The colour pink, can be a limitation when making idents because male viewers may react negatively because of the fact that pink is a feminine colour, and the channel may be for women. This relates to 
 M you must explain how it relates to communicating visual ideas to a non visual audience and appealing to them also.

Aspect-Ratio
Aspect Ratio is a limitation when it comes to idents because if you don't get the right aspect ratio, it will ruin the footage with black boarders as it will cause stretching and make the ident look bad. Another reason is that the aspect ratio must be precise so that the creators can know how much content they can fit into the ident. 
4:3 - old, but common, used on standard television screens such as a box tv. 
16:9 - standard, more natural ratio which is used on YouTube, phones and LED TV's
21:9 - used in films, high quality cameras and super high screens. 
When an ident is created, the ratio is chosen, if the ratio for the display is wrong, then the the ident will get cut off. So in order to prevent this, the ratio for the ident must be designed to fit the suitability of the most common ratio of where it will be most popularly used. 

Resolution
The resolution of idents is also a limitation because if the resolution is poor, for example: 144p, it will become pixelated. 
720p is HD.
1080p is the HD standard for resolution in videos.
The quality of the ident must look correct on all resolutions, as they cannot look poor on a low resolution and stretched on a high resolution. A limitation of this is that if the resolution is low, it will be difficult for viewers to see what is going on, so it is a necessity to have a high definition standard in their videos. 

Below is the resolutions of the quality of the 20th Century Fox ident , from 144p to 1080p.

Task 2A - Opportunities

i.  creation of corporate identity 

ii.  branding of content 

iii. creation of tone

iv. appeal to target audience

v.  encouragement of brand loyalty

Creation of Corporate Identity

The purpose of idents is to identify the channel. The reason for this is to allow the audience to identify the channel. Another reason is that this can also create brand loyalty, for the audience to stay loyal to the channel, as it allows them to become known to the logo as it is recognisable. An example of this is Cartoon Network's ident. This ident is pretty basic, but allows the viewers to identify the channel from its logo, which is Cartoon Network. With idents like this, the channel's logo will always appear in the centre of the screen; so that it can be easily located for the viewers eye. An opportunity of this is that it becomes iconic and recognisable, as it creates a bond with the audience. Another opportunity is that it creates a visual reminder, to make viewers tune into the channel again.

Branding of content

Branding of content links with marketing, as it is an marketing opportunity as it is a way to get the channel recognised, by including the logo in the ident. In the example below, the logo for BBC One appears in the mid-low centre of the screen. This markets the show by using idents, as it gains more publicity as they put the logos on their idents. 

Creation of Tone

The tone of idents must over arch the visual style, as it needs to reflect the programming and it needs to be appreciated to the audience. I have used VIVA as my example because it reflects the progammes shown on the channel. As you can see in the video below, the idents are full of teens/young adults, doing what people that age usually do on weekdays or weekends, savouring the moment and celebrating being young. This channel broadcasted a number of programmes from different channels such as MTV, Channel 5, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. The ident is full of bright, neon colours (colours are overpowered with green and pink, which is the colour of their channel logo) with sparkler's and sparkly colours. This is used to appeal to their target audience, because of their short attention span, as they need to keep engaged. 

Appeal to target audience

The idents must appeal to their target audience because the channel must consider what they should include in the ident, such as tone, colour, etc. In this case, MTV created ident for one of their channels, MTV Classic. Due to the fact that MTV have a number of channels, so they have to brand each and every channel because they are subtly different. 

MTV Classic is a specific channel that only appeals to a certain target audience, as this show was introduced in the 1990's, and broadcasted a number of 90's shows, which makes it an opportunity because it memorable to the audience. 

Encouragement of brand loyalty

Brand Loyalty is building a brand for a channel it is important because it can help them stay loyal to the channel. This can prevent the audience in a way to not watch another channel. In order for the audience to keep a specific channel in their top five of choices, it is essential to keep people watching the channel, as the ident is one of the strongest representations of the channel. In the examples below, they are all Family Guy idents for ITV 2. They tend to make idents which relate to Family Guy because it appeals to their target audience. This creates brand loyalty because whenever new episodes of family guy come out, it is a must that ITV 2 make idents for the channel, another reason is that ITV 2 is a multi channel, as they have ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, and CITV. 

TASK 1B: Report on Design & Purposes

P: Describe the purposes and design of 3-5 Idents for Television Channels by correctly identifying purposes

Design: 
density of information
space and time
screen tempo
interaction with viewers
information-led
entertainment-led

Purpose: 
identity
branding
marketing
packaging and re-packaging
scheduling
segmentation within scheduling( christmas) 

M: Explain the purposes and design of 5 Idents with reference to examples, analysing the use of visuals, colours, logo etc to create the correct tone, audience etc

D: Compare the design of a range of  5 Idents and argue how they are designed for a specific purpose, justify your points with detailed and specific examples 

Ident 1 - BBC 1 | Christmas Jumper

Design: 
density of information
space and time
interaction with viewers
information-led
entertainment-led

Purpose: 
identity
branding
marketing
packaging and re-packaging (branding and re-branding) 
scheduling
segmentation within scheduling( christmas) 

Design
I found this ident on YouTube, this ident is from BBC, where a man is in a pub and shows his friends his christmas jumper. As it lights up, the BBC One logo forms on the nose of the reindeer from his jumper. The design of this ident is information-led, however it does not contain a lot of information in the ident. With density of information, there is not much information on the screen, as it is a pretty basic ident but has a lot of content and small movement in it, where there is only the logo shown in the centre of the screen and 'subtitles' in the top right hand corner of the screen. The effect this has on the audience is that it keeps them engaged because of the little of information that is shown on screen. The reason for this is because people that watch TV, have a short attention span, so by having a small density on an ident, it keeps them engaged. If this ident was to have a lot of information on it, it will become boring for the audience. With space and time, the ident is quite short as it 30 seconds. However, BBC One tend to make their idents last at least 10 seconds on television. This is to keep the audience engaged due to the fact that they have a short attention span.

Purpose
The purpose of idents is to identify the channel. This allows the audience to recognise the name of the channel. Idents are used to brand the channel, in this ident, branding is used at the end of the ident as the BBC One logo has been formed on the nose of the character's jumper. BBC have decided to re-brand their suite of idents to use real life people from society rather than use animated animals (e.g the hippo ident). The reason for this is because BBC have always been about diversity and 'oneness'
There is a seasonal segmentation. The purpose of this is where a seasonal ident is created and then used for the Christmas period, used on BBC One, 2, etc. 

Ident 2 - BBC Three | Three is a Magic Number


Design: 
density of information
space and time
screen tempo
interaction with viewers
information-led
entertainment-led

Purpose:
identity
branding
marketing
packaging and re-packaging
scheduling
segmentation within scheduling( christmas) 

Design: 
With density of information, there is hardly any information that is shown on the screen, only the word 'THREE' which is dominant in the ident. With space and time, the ident is 20 seconds long, they are mini movies to let the audience know about the content in its own right; as it creates a separate content that the audience can enjoy. It is entertainment led because the animated characters are singing 'Three is a magic number' this song is related to the channel because it is called BBC Three. 

Purpose: 
The purpose of this ident is to identify and brand the channel for the audience. However, BBC Three have re-branded their channel in 2016 for a new look and new beginning. Idents are all about the image, as they are very focused on how the channel is presented because they are used to regulate the channel. In my opinion, I think that this ident is more suitable for the channel because they are short and entertaining. This is suitable for their target audience, which is 16-34 year olds. Millions of pounds are spent on idents because they are used to encourage the audience to stay loyal to the channel. 

Ident 3 - ITV 2 | Family Guy
Design: 
density of information
space and time
screen tempo
interaction with viewers
information-led
entertainment-led

Purpose:
identity
branding
marketing
packaging and re-packaging
scheduling
segmentation within scheduling(christmas) 

Design:
This is a family guy ident from ITV 2 which is used yo let viewers know that family guy is coming on next. ITV are used to using television shows as an ident for what is coming on next to keep viewers engaged. This ident is 29 seconds long which has the show, Family Guy. The ident has humor in it and is entertainment-led because it shows the main character, Peter Griffin carrying the ITV 2 logo and attempting to put it down. It is also information-led because it lets the viewers know that new episodes are coming soon to ITV 2. With density of information, there is not much information on the screen as the ident was created for entertainment purposes. In the screenshot below, you can see that the information on the screen is on the left hand, as this is where the ITV 2 logo usually stands, in the centre. 

With  space and time, the ident is 30 seconds, however because it is comedic, the attention of how long the ident is goes away, it makes the viewers want to see the new episodes of Family Guy after the ident. 

Purpose: 
The purpose of this ident is to identify and brand the channel as it is one of the strongest representations of the channel. This Family Guy ident was created to tease the audience by advertising to them. This is done to keep the audience watching the channel, ITV 2. For scheduling, it lets the audience know that new episodes will be airing on ITV 2 soon. By using these idents, it markets the channel because Family Guy is a popular television channel that airs on ITV 2 in the night times, so by airing it in the day it can gain publicity. The purpose of this specific ident is to promote a programme on the channel.

Ident 4 - Disney Channel | (0:25-0:40)

Design: 
density of information
space and time 
screen tempo
interaction with viewers
information-led
entertainment-led


Purpose:
identity
branding
marketing
packaging and re-packaging
scheduling

Design&Purpose :
Idents are used to brand and identify the channel, Disney Channel. It will always include the logo in either the background or bottom left corner. With density of information, there is not much information on screen, however, it lets the viewers know that a specific channel is going to be broadcasted straight after the ident. Disney Channel tend to have less information on screen because if there is too much, the main focus won't be on the ident but will be on the typography. Because of Disney Channel's target audience, their aim is to make the idents not have a lot of information it because of their short attention span. Their idents must stand out because of the other competing channels. With segmentation within scheduling, it tells viewers what is on next. As you can see in the screenshots below, it lets the viewers know that the show, A.N.T Farm is coming on next. It also has a voice over of the presenter presenting the show that is coming on next. "Have a happy Sunday with your favourite Disney Channel stars like Chyna and the gang in A.N.T Farm" The disney channel idents always have the theme song instrumental in the background of the ident and voiceover.

Ident 5 - BBC Sport | Olympics 2012

Design: 
density of information
space and time
screen tempo
interaction with viewers
information-led
entertainment-led

Purpose:
identity
branding
marketing
packaging and re-packaging
scheduling

Design:
For density of information, there is not much information on the screen as it just lets viewers know at the end of the ident that the Olympics 2012 is soon and when it comes on people should tune into or watch BBC Sport. For space and time, the ident is quite long, in my opinion I got tired of the ident because it dragged on a bit too much, and if idents last over a minute like this one, the audience may tune out of the channel. This ident is information led because it lets the audience know that the olympics is going to be broadcasted soon. 

Purpose:
The purpose of having this ident is that the the channel can be identified. This ident is broadcasted for marketing purposes. By having idents, it markets the show and brands the channel. The more advertisers, the more money that is made. It is designed like this to perform this function because everyone around the world tunes in to watch the Olympics and by having an ident for it, an identity is being launched for the channel. 

Task 1A - History of Idents Timeline

Mine:
https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/774083/Disney-Channel-The-History-of-Idents/

Rest of class timelines

https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/762807/ITV-Ident/
https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/762796/Sky-sports-Suite-of-Idents/
https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/771859/History-Of-Idents/
http://jameswhite102.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/timeline-film-4.html
https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/771873/IDENT-TIMELINE-MTV/

Prep Work for Ident (Christmas Work)

Task 1

Channel's Identity
By having an ident it is critical by making sure the audience is able to identify what the channel is about.

To Brand the Channel
By making a television ident for an particular target audience, it supports the channel further through the content that is getting shown to them because it will provide a theme for the channel.

Brand Loyalty
By building a brand for a channel it is important because it can help them stay loyal to the channel. This can prevent the audience in a way to not watch another channel.

To Market
The broadcaster will normally place it at the start before the show starts for the audience to watch because it will remind them of what channel they are watching, they can easily find out about the channel's branding and identity so it will give them an chance to return back to the channel after seeing one of their programmes broadcasted.

Segmentation
Television idents have a segmentation where there is a voiceover being heard which it tells the audience what tv programmes are going to be shown. By having a voiceover on the channel, it allows the channel and programmes that are getting shown on there to be advertised.

Provide Information
For different Television idents that is seen today, they would provide key information about the programming of the channel mainly because it allows the viewer to be formed and enticed to keep on watching that certain channel so it does prevent them from switching to another channel that has very good indent which appeals better to them.

Re-brand the Channel
In terms of the television ident that getting shown on the channel which is presenting the broadcaster, they would often change the indent to keep up with the times of today like for example: the technology has evolved from black and white to more full colours that are seen in different programmes today. This is mainly because by having an channel having different ident, there is a change in terms of the branding, identity and brand new programmes that are getting shown on the screen so this completely changes the audience as well but this does not happen all the time.


Task 2
1. E4 ident - Living Room (December 2007) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDA8ZEkYA2E
I found this ident on ident gallery.
This E4 ident is a stop motion, which means that it is an animation technique that physically manipulates an object that appears to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. E4 have a primary colour which is purple but does not represent anything. However, the colour is recognisiable to the audience.
i. E4 idents mainly have the logo coming into the screen
ii. E4 rely heavily on moving images in their idents.
iii. There is always a purple colour scheme in all E4 idents.

2. BBC One - Hippos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_134C8xQIBU
I found this ident on YouTube
This ident is about hippos swimming, it is used mainly during daytime television, while they swim around in circular formation. However, it is a computer animation but uses real life backgrounds to create the perfect ident.
This ident is 30 seconds long, however, when it was broadcasted on television it lasts around 15-20 seconds. Idents are normally around the amount of seconds listed above because when it is short, it grabs the viewers attention.
i. There is a voiceover which lets the audience know what is about to be shown next.
ii. This ident is used whenever a documentary is about to be aired next.
iii. The ident is fast paced, as it is shown when the hippos are swimming.

3. ITV 2 - Family Guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKsSq_iwWfM
I found this ident on YouTube
This is a family guy ident from ITV 2 which is used yo let viewers know that family guy is coming on next. ITV are used to using television shows as an ident for what is coming on next to keep viewers engaged.
This ident is 29 seconds long which has the show, Family Guy. The ident has humor in it because it shows the main character, Peter Griffin carrying the ITV 2 logo and attempting to put it down.
i. This ident is in relation to the show that will be shown next. In this case it will be Family Guy.
ii. The main theme of ITV 2 is blue
iii. The logo of the channel is always shown in the center left

4. BBC - Christmas Ident (Jumper) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI5aJsDq-Rw
I found this ident on YouTube
This ident is from BBC, where a man is in a pub and shows his friends his christmas jumper. As it lights up, the BBC One logo forms on the nose of the reindeer from his jumper.
i. The colour scheme of this ident is grey, brown and red
ii. The theme of this ident is Chrismas, as it was shown in 2016.
iii. BBC idents have real life people and not cartoons.

5. BBC - Christmas Ident (Party Hat) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o19wtg5bnf8
I found this ident on YouTube
This is a christmas ident from BBC One also, where there is a family sitting down on sofas, the main attraction is one man's head with a party hat, as it zooms in to the party hat and his head, the BBC One logo appears in the center of the screen.
i. The BBC One logo will always appear on the character's body.
ii. The colour scheme of this ident is green and read which appeals to the theme, Christmas.
iii. This type of ident is shown in December because it gets everyone in the Christmas spirit.

6. Sky Cinema Christmas Ident https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8lAZ869EKE
I found this ident on YouTube
This is a sky cinema christmas ident which is shown in Italy. It has a range of colours and is highly dependent on computer graphics. This is because it uses moving images to create the sky cinema HD logo.
i. The colour scheme of this ident is green, red and white. (red and white is the primary colour for sky cinema.)
ii. The ident is fast paced to catch the viewers attention
iii. There is no voiceover in this ident.

Task 3 -
(Notes are in my book)

Task 4

For this task I am going to pick the ITV 2 Family Guy Ident. This is because it is eye catching and humourous.
An ident is used on television channels which is shown before and after television programmes, by having a short clip lasting 5 or 60 seconds, which broadcasts or shows the channels logo. The majority of idents have a primary colour to make the channel stand out and have originality.
The purpose of having an ident is that it gives the audience recognition of a particular television channel. It is also to stand out to audiences by giving them an insight in to what the channel does, to identify and brand the channel. The purpose of idents have changed over time because in the early 1950's, idents were only 15 seconds long where it only showed the channel's franchise logo (ITV) then going into a sliding sequence featuring a dove, a couple in period dress, Big Ben, an athlete and a pair of dancers before thr regional ITV logo is formed. As the years have passed and technology has improved, they have become more colourful and interesting, by having moving images in their idents.
This creates Brand Identity of ITV by presenting the television name and logo. to let viewers know what channel they are watching. Colours and graphics are important when it comes to idents because it keeps the audience's attention to the channel.
It attracts the attention of the audience because if the ident is eye catching, it will make the audience watch the channel again.