AS1: Task 3: Suite of television idents

Suite of television idents

What is a Suite of Idents?

Its when a television channel designs a new ident and they dont just design one but they create suite. A suite of idents consists of several different ideats that all have a similar theme that links them together. Rather than having a suite of idents that provides one variety and interest for the audience. Having a single theme helps to create/maintain brand identity.

A suite of idents invloves of  different types of idents that all have a similar theme that links them together. A single theme helps to maintain/brand identity, which is useful because it's less complex than having lots of theme. Having a suite of idents rather than just one offers variety and interest for the audience.
Channels have them to offer a variety of different themes to specific audiences; this will bring in a wider audience. For example, BBC One has a different idents relevant for the next program on or the time of year. So if it was winter, it would show the ident but it would be snowing around it.

An example of a suite of idents:

BBC Suites

• BBC 'Rhythm & Movement' idents- 2002-2006 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx8CncpfgzU
•  The BBC one 'Circle' idents- 2006-2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P62npJkxji4

BBC One- Hippos 

The main thing about BBC One's ident is that all of the ident they have created continuously forming a circle. It may be through dogs going round a pole or hippos swimming round but what ever it may be it will always be forming a circle. This is then the theme of BBC One- forming circles within their ident.

This theme appeals to the viewers because from every ident they have created they never failed to form a circle. They managed to create a circle by using the dogs to go round the pole continuously, hippos swimming around, bikers wearing different coloured capes and going round a circle. Having to have a different style of ident not just animals all the time create an excitement towards the audience because theres always new style coming out.

Time and Place

A suite of idents helps to ensure that the right type of ident appears next to the right type of content. It also allows the channel to always appeal to the right target audience. Different times of the day might require an ident with a particular tone. A programme content might also require an ident with a particular tone.

http://theident.gallery/c4-2004-2.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R94X1M7r1SU

4 Creative's Tokyo Ident first aired 15th July, 2005.

You can see the formation of the number 4 towards the end of the video.

Having a coloured idents like neon lights in Tokyo will catch the audience's interest because its rare to see an idents with lots of different coloured, not to mention, neon lights. Also, the location is, Japan, having an ident that was filmed in a different country is exciting because we don't get that much ident that are filmed from different country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZEbv7tTVnk

Ident for channel 4 first aired November 07, 2007

Seasonality

Christmas always signifies a new suite of idents across almost all channels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69quw1y-iak

AS1: Task 2: Limitations

Understanding the limitations of the television ident

Limitations:

A limiting rule or circumstances; a restriction

Typography:

The art or procedure or arranging type o processing data and printing data and printing from it.

The typography of a logo in a channel should be kept consistent so that the audience know that they are watching BBC one, two, three... From the picture above, in the first column we can see that the one that stands out the most are both cbbc and CBeebies. The reason for this is that their target audience are children. If for example they had a logo like the BBC One , it will seem like as though its not for children since the typography in BBC one is simple and bold unlike cbbc and CBeebies where the logo is more catchy and stands out more.

Colour:

The key accent colour for BBC One is red. In compare, colour also needs to be kept consistent when it comes with its colour like typography. The reason for this is that it will look strange for the audience to see a different colour version of BBC One because they are used to seeing red as the accent colour. Seeing the same colour such as red in the ident of BBC One will make the audience immediately know that they are watching BBC One.

This is one of the ident BBC One plays on their programme. In the beginning of this ident it shows more of the' 'red' colour that shows the key accent for BBC One. If the ident showed the yellow capes first then the red capes, the audience will wonder if they are in the right programme because they know that BBC One always have a red colour on their idents.

BBC Three's key accent colour is purple. If the audience see this on a BBC One's ident they would immediately change the channel because its strange to see purple theme on a BBC One's idents.

Aspect-ratio:

All high definition indents must be delivered in 16:9 widescreen. Different radio will give a strange feeling to the audience to watch it. It must also be kept consistent at all times.

Adhering to desired tone:

This are the idents BBC Four have had on there programme.

From the BBC Four indents example that i have showed you from the link above, it shows a gentle and calm atmosphere. This ident is more suitable for adults because if children where to see this they will be bored and decides to change the channel in which BBC Four wouldn't want to see. 

It must also be kept consistent because for example, if your dad where watching a film on Friday night to relax and saw a Cbeebies ident on they would be surprised to see and ident at that time and they would immeditely change the channel.

Duration:

Why produce an ident that lasts 2 minutes?

Most of the indents that we see only lasts up to 30 seconds or less therefore having at least 2 minutes long idents will be interesting since for a long time they haven't seen a long idents.

0:45 duration version

On the other hand, some people love who loves dogs and would want to see more of the ident would prefer to see the longer version of this ident therefore playing this ident from time to time would make the audience stay on the programme.

Why not produce an ident that only lasts 30 seconds?

Some may not like the particular ident and would prefer to see it end as quick as possible because it may be boring, not for their interest, or doesn't like it therefore before producing the ident they should think about their target audience first.

0:15 duration version (Short Edit)

Some people would prefer to see the short version of the ident because the theme may not suite for their liking. They might find it boring to just see dogs going round in a circle therefore they would want to see the ident finishing as soon as possible.

AS1: Task 1:Purpose of television idents

Designing Idents for Television

What is ident?

A TV ident is like a video but it plays before a programme starts and usually it takes up only few seconds.A promotional sequence, it's a critical part of a TV stations brand identity.

Identifying the channel
 The most straight forward function of a Television Idents is to identify the channel. In 1953, the first Ident appeared on the BBC as commercial television began to expand and viewers need to be able to identify different channels.
On BBC, the first Ident was nicknamed the 'Bat's Wings'. Idents have changed a great deal and new
 technologies have played a large role in their development.

Bat's Wings

The first 'BBC tv' logo within a  circle was introduced in 1960. It appear on top of  a map of Britain split into the BBC's. The 'Globe' was the most famous ident that appeared in 1963. It rotated as the BBC TV logo would appear and a voice would announce "This is BBC Television".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xOCBj_PACE

BBC 2 arrived in 1964

In the early 1990s the emergence of satellite television meant that television idents were even more important!


Segmentation of the scheduling
channels like the BBC is a non-commercial channels that do not have the time between programmes that advertisements provide for commercial channels (ITV, Channel 4).
Idents therefore add time in-between programmes to:

1. Provide information
2. Promote a variety of programming
3. Regulate the scheduling (fill time)
4. Provide a break for studio workers (News, Sports)

Organising the schedule

An ident plays an important role when it comes to keeping a channel's schedule organised. An ident is an ideal opportunity to provide the audience with key information about programming on that channel. This may entice the viewer to continue watching that particular channel rather than switching over to another channel.

Creating corporate identify

Television channels are no longer restricted to one country. An ident therefore helps to create a brand in range of different locations. 

Consistency across a range of channels such as the BBC helps to establish a corporate identity that can be sold across the world.

With the growth of online platforms like the BBCiplayer it is vital for the corporations to retain the image that could be easily diluted in the online world.

Creating the right tone and appealing to the target audience

As well as simply identifying a channel an ident is a chance to provide the audience with information about that channel. It can easily reflect the type of programmes that are shown  on it. It is important that an ident sets the right tone for the channel it is on and is appealing for the target audience. 

When the channel BBC Four arrived it built its reputation on having more factual and informative programming. The initial indents therefore reflected this. It is also important that the tone set is appropriate for the age group of the channel. Cbeebies and CBBC have different indents that are appropriate for the different age groups they cater to.

Creating a brand and encouraging brand loyalty

Building a 'brand' for a particular channel is vitally important. It encourages them to stay loyal to that particular channel. 

An ident helps to endorse the brand of a particular channel by allowing the audience to become familiar with the logo and the style of the channel.

It is visual reminder of a particular channel and imprints the 'brand' into the mind of the audience. This makes them more likely to watch the channel again.

Branding of particular content

An ident can be used to identify that particular content or a particular program belongs to a certain channel and therefore 'brand' the content. It can also be used to provide a consistent theme across a range of platforms.

Re- branding a channel

 More 4 recently re-branded their channel and entirely changed its image. The new suite of indents was used to help to do this.

A marketing opportunity

An Ident is  clever promotional tool.

• ITV Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceW6mNDFRVI

Packaging and Re-packing a series of programmes or event

Often Idents are used to promote large events or a new series of programmes.

• Strictly Come Dancing Idents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM5_4qGWRC0
• Sky Movies Drama & Romance Uk- New Ident https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW5LBsl3cvk