Evaluation

By Emily Chapman

LO.1 Understand the Design and Purpose of an ident

An ident (which is an abbreviation of the word ‘identification’) is a short video/visual image that television channels use to identify themselves. These visuals and morals must be a unique and easy to remember in order to have an effect on marketing the television channel from other television channels. Idents play an important role when it comes to keeping a channel’s schedule organised, this is achieved by scheduling an ident to play before and after the advertisement intervals on a broadcasting channel. During these intervals an ident can provide the audience with key information about upcoming programming on the channel this information may entice the viewer to continue watching the channel instead of changing the channel.

Segmentation involves finding out what kinds of consumers with different needs exist. Essentially once the target audience has been established the channel can figure out which characters of their most popular TV programmes are popular enough to feature in an ident and grab attention of potential viewers that are flicking through the TV channels.

For example:

As you can see from the stills of the Disney ident above, it firstly reiterates which TV channel you are watching to refresh the brand in the viewer’s mind. Secondly it then provides the viewers with information about the upcoming TV programmes which will be aired later. This is beneficial because the target audience for this channel ranges from 10-14 year olds and they are able to see and hear a ‘sneak preview’ of what is to come.

This is effective because Disney are highlighting their brand and they are also advertising new TV shows that will soon be released on Disney Channel. As well as promoting upcoming well known programmes scheduled to play after the ident ends. The ident interacts with the young audience through the voice over which tells them to “stick around because more great shows are on the way”. Whilst seeing a trailer on screen for these “great shows” on screen this would excite them and they could easily be persuaded to continue watching Disney Channel.

It’s in the nature of an ident to cause visual stimulation through the use of bright colours, comic imagery or characters and a catchy jingle because these result in the ident and channel being easier to remember. The challenge for these idents is for them to communicate the channel ethos in a short period of time but this challenge is averted by brand identities which are the visible elements

such as colour, design and logo together these distinguish the brand in the audiences mind. These characteristics allow the audience to get an idea of what the ident is about before it’s even really started

BBC Three underwent a complete rebrand in January 2008 where they abolished the classic well known ‘Blobs’. The rebrand costed the BBC an estimated £380,000; the purpose for the rebrand was to transform the BBC Three as a multi entertainment platform for a target audience of 16-34 year olds. This selected audience is young and very media aware and are always on the go so they would want to watch their programmes at a time and place that would be convenient for their schedule. The creators wanted the ‘Threeworld’ ident to “contain energy and excitement but

also to offer something exciting and delicate, even beautiful” – Carolina Melis, Director of the rebrand.

The rebrand was a success because the channel now reaches 4 million views on a weekly basis , which meant that the BBC Three was the fastest growing channel amongst 16-34 year olds. In March 2014 the BBC announced that they were going to make the BBC Three an online only platform, a petition has been signed 274,000 times (as of March 1st 2015) to prevent this change.

Another purpose for an ident is to package and re package the TV channel. For example for the change of branding and identity I just mentioned for the BBC Three, new idents were produced to symbolise the change of the channel and show the viewers that the BBC have adjusted their identity for the BBC Three.

These TV idents have an important role because they reveal to the audience what the channel represents. A TV channel can have one main ident but can re package it at a year time of the year. For example at Christmas most idents are the same but altered slightly to have a Christmassy theme. The changes will be small so that the audience will be able to identify which channel they are watching. See examples below

Christmas themed----------------------------------------------original

LO.2 Understand the opportunities and limitations of on screen graphic representation.

The layout and logo used in an ident is kept similar or exactly the same to encourage brand loyalty and to make the channel more recognisable overtime to the audience. Because idents only fill a slot that lasts like 10 seconds long, the ident needs to be able to communicate the purpose of the channel and what it has to offer the target audience. The name of the channel is included in the ident to reiterate the brand identity.

The resolution of a screen is another limitation for an ident, this results in smaller details like images and text to be of a lower quality because the detail hasn’t been justified .

The tempo for an ident is quite fast in order to fit all relevant entertainment and information in to represent the channel. Most idents represent their channel as energetic, comic and youthful and this is represented by the quick cuts. Therefor if there is a slow cut this would be to reach out to an older audience by creating a calm, tranquil mood in the ident. On the other hand slow cuts can be used to convey the tone of a crime drama or soap opera which relies on dramatic pauses and suspense to influence people to watch the episode.

Channels which broadcast more serious shows such as news, political debates, drama will have an ident which is less colourful and energetic. This is because an ident which is suited to a 16 year old won’t have as much of an impact on 50+ year olds. An example of this is the original BBC One ident you just saw, if you view the ident you notice the movements in the ident are slower, the audio is quieter and calmer and the colours aren’t as vivid as those used in the new BBC Three idents. Still creative the BBC One idents effectively grab the attention of an older generation, like the ident for BBC Three, the logo for BBC One is the focal point of the ident.

The sound used either, a voice over or soundtrack must work well in order to traject the idea and mood that the channel wants the ident to convey. When discussing the tempo of the ident, the

typography has to be considered because if the fast pace ident was to feature for example a curly font, it wouldn’t be easy for the audience to comprehend. If such an unreadable font was to be used this would be a limitation because the audience wouldn’t be able to receive the information that was intended for them. Another limitation would be colour and design, this is because too many bright colours are used the viewer would be distracted and not focus on the content in front of them. This would result in the ident having less of an impact, as the audience wouldn’t be able to process the overall message of the ident. I’m sure that a channel would rather be known for their content rather than bright colours and patterns featured in the background of an ident. Colour is a key factor of brand identity, using the correct colour is imperative to some. Companies depend on colour psychographics in order to apply the ‘right’ colour this is because it has apparently been proven that certain colours drive sales and influence their decision. For example if tough and rugged motorcyclists who wear dark colours saw an advert a bright pink motorbike with unicorns on, it wouldn’t sell. Idents and adverts follow stereotypes ie: blue is for boys and pink is for girls Colour has been studied universally to review the effect it has on product consumers. In my opinion a person’s intake of a colour depends on their personal experience and cannot be used to represent a specific feeling universally.

LO.3

The main purpose of my television ident is for it to create a solid sense of identity and branding of the BBC Three channel which can be communicated to the channel’s target audience. By the design of my ident, its tempo, the colours it uses, density of information, interaction with viewers, space and time, the audio/soundtrack used and whether it’s entertainment or information led all help to signify and represent certain things to the BBC Three target audience.

For example: by using bright, vibrant colours (mostly pink) within my ident, I am connoting and demonstrating to the target audience that the BBC Three are creative, youthful and energetic. This rebrand of BBC Three’s corporate identity and the tone of my idents will help the channel appeal to its target audience of 16-34 year olds. When brainstorming ideas I decided to create an ident which focuses more on entertainment instead of information because the target audience includes teenagers and young adults so I want to make the idents simple, with this I then thought of ideas that linked to BBC Three moving their content to the internet for online viewing only. With this I created a mindmap of possible ideas that I could build upon and create, I decided to include the logos for the most popular search engines in my idents to imply to the viewers that this was the future of BBC Three.

Firstly, I was given a brief to devise 3 original idents for a chosen channel, to prevent the channel from further decline in audience numbers. Each of my idents include soundtracks as opposed to including informative voiceovers, it was important more me to make the BBC Three logo the main focus of the ident in order for the viewers to understand which channel the ident was representing.

I was faced with a limitation from when I received the project brief because each ident was to be only 10 seconds long each, this resulted in me being unable to make 3 long entertaining animations. The content to make it into the final cut had to be of the best standard and some parts of the animated narrative wasn’t included because of the time restriction I was faced with. I was technically

limited by the options of colours that could be included, this is because only bright colours would connote the BBC

Three’s brand identity of energetic, creative and youthful. Also the BBC

Three channel is known for their use of bright pink which features heavily in their logo see below;

I created a storyboard for each of my idents and a gave a brief description of the action that would take place, long each frame would last and with what audio would accompany the frame.

Animation techniques have developed vastly over the last 200 years, this is due to the increase on the development of technology. A technique called The Zoetrope was invented and first used in 1833 by William George Horner who was also famous for being a mathematician. The Zoetrope is a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images which when rotated formed a sequence of moving pictures, creating the illusion of animation. A modern use for this technique is used in public as a way of advertising products. The Zoetrope system is larger and so are the images, this is an example of the development that the Zoetrope has experienced. This method makes the advertisement easy to see which is effective for the company which is advertising.

The Praxinoscope was the improved version of the Zoetroppe, similar in design but rather than including ‘slits’ it was equip with mirrors on the inside layer, this resulted in the viewer seeing bright images due to the light being able to reflect inside of the Praxinoscope. This was invented in France in 1877 by Charles-Emile Reynaud.

Rotoscoping was invented by cartoonist/illustrator/inventor Max Fleischer in 1915. It is an animation technique where the animator would trace over footage frame by frame, this device was later replaced by computers. A famous example of Rotorscoping was Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwars(1937) the animator observed live action movements and traced them throughout the who process of making the film, this made the movements in the film seem real to life.

Parallaxing is a modern method of editing 3D animations, where characters and objects in the background seem to move slower than those which are in the foreground because they’re further behind. It is used in modern animations to draw the audience’s attention to what is happening in the foreground, it using involves a main character, object or an event which is imperative for the narrative. The use of this technique makes the animation seem realistic in the sense that when we are focusing our eyes on something, the surrounding seems blurred/ slowed down.

2D animation is slowly becoming less frequent on our screens because technology is evolving and able to do more than what is has in previous years. Better software has allowed creators to make 3D effects. These 2D animations are frequently created using a software called Flash, this is because it’s advanced and allows the user to make stunning animations. Early techniques for 2D animation included methods such as Flip Book which was where a book would have images on each page but as the book and narrative progresses each image is altered slightly so that when the book is ‘flipped’ you see the image make movements. Another method was Cut Out which involved illustrations being cut out of paper or card, the camera would capture the cut out and the creator would move the cut out slightly and then take a photo, this would happen repeatedly until the who animation is filmed.

Cel Animation is a technique that introduced back in 1914 by Earl Hurd. This process involves drawing frame by frame all of the characters, objects on transparent plastic sheets, known as celluloids. The image in the background remains static and can be reused in other animations because it is essentially left untouched. This method is effective because the colours are more natural and the outcome is usually always of really good quality.

Walt Disney Company more commonly known as Disney in recent years, was formed by Walter Elias “Walt” Disney who was a cartoonist, animator, voice actor and film producer and his brother Roy Disney. Walt pursued a career as a newspaper artist. His brother Roy got him a job at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio, where he met fellow cartoonist Ub Iwerks. It was from there that, Disney worked at the Kansas City Film Advertisement Company, where he made adverts using cut out animation. Disney began experimenting with a camera and cel animation, when he decided to open his own animation business. The Walt Disney Co. was founded in October 16, 1923. Disney is now a multinational mass media corporation headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios which are situated in Burbank, California. Having worked alongside animation companies such as Pixar, together they have produced 14 animated films which are universally adored. Because the Disney Co. was started up during the silent film period this resulted in no spoken words included in the classic Disney animations, these were the ones that introduced Mickey Mouse to our screens. Due to technology advancements Disney were able to add voice overs which gave the illusion that characters were talking. Following after this advancement Disney hired Foley Artists to add realistic sound effects over their films, this was effective because it made the films sound realistic The first animation which was produced by Disney was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, like I mentioned before this was created using Cel animation.

Overview

Running alongside this unit I had a project with an actual client, the Mayor of Basingstoke for this I had to add the final touches to three corporate videos that I made for him. In terms of this animation and ident unit for my first submission I only handed in my three animated cut out idents that conform to the project brief but did not hand in a completed evaluation. As a result of this I feel that I could have managed my time better and should have set a deadline for each piece of work. I managed to ‘film’ and edit each ident in the space of 3 days which I think was efficient use of my time for this project.

Throughout this unit I noted down progress made into a production schedule, I also included details regarding which resources I required in order to make progress. Until resubmission I didn’t realise we were able to create an ident for a channel of our choice, therefor if I could change my ident I would create a parallax animation that includes characters that feature in a programme that I like. Before the production of each ident I storyboarded each of my ideas thoroughly and gave a brief description of the action that would take place, how long each frame would last and with what audio would accompany the frame. These can be found on the preproduction paperwork page on my Weebly.

At the start of this unit I didn’t set myself a budget because I already had the equipment that was required to make my 3 animated idents for the BBC Three which conform to the project brief. I used my own DSLR camera because I felt more confident using my camera rather than a college camcorder. When researching for ideas for my idents I watched back on BBC Three that already existed and I thought that the ‘Blobs’ weren’t very interesting to watch. My first ident that I made involves a rocket ship flying through space (which was representing cyberspace) and the rocket ship crashes into a bright pink planet on contact the planet explodes and in the middle of the explosion the BBC Three logo appears in cyberspace. To improve this ident I could have added more detail to the background so that it was more obvious to viewers that the rocket ship was in cyberspace. My second ident included a pink power switch that gets turned and attracts all the most popular online web browser logos, for this ident I had to improvise with my props in order to make the ident fit the briefs requirement of being 10 seconds long. Lastly someone is flicking through the television channel in search for the BBC Three channel but they cannot find it, the viewer then results to searching for BBC Three online and the video ends with text saying ‘#findBBC3’ I think this is effective because the target audience for the BBC Three channel are constant users of social media and by hashtagging a word on the media websites it forms a hyperlink and you can connect to others online that have also tweets ‘#findbbc3’. Included in each ident I used the colour pink because that is the BBC Three’s signature colour and it would be recognisable to viewers as to which channel they were watching if they were unaware.

In order to produce my idents I had to research different animation techniques and then decide on which one I should use. I chose cut out animation because I’ve had experience with this technique because I have made one before, however if I had more time to complete this unit I would have created a flipbook. I showed my finished idents apply to the BBC Three target audience of 16-34 years olds who are within the C2 & D demographic, their responses were mostly positive. I received feedback from Nicole Fettin, Stacey Willis and Alex Butler. I selected Nicole because she has stereotypical feminine opinions and traits, Stacey has tom-boy traits and Alex is male and has a

stereotypical masculine opinion. I wanted my idents to be unisex this is why I carefully selected the students that I did to review my work also they have different opinions on television programmes and have different preferences of what is funny and what’s not.

My Power Switch ident feedback from Nicole:

“I think that this is very colourful, creative at fits the description of the brief. If you had more time, you probably could have made the editing run smoother at the end.”

I accepted Nicoles feedback and took on her comments about the improvements that could have been made although with my time limit do not think that it was essential to smooth out the ending of the ident.

My #FindBBC3 ident feedback from Stacey:

“It represents the transition that the BBC Three will become and online viewing only platform really well, its colourful, fits the brief and is creative. I also think that the audio was well suited.”

I appreciate the positive comments that Stacey made about this ident because I think my idea for this one was very original and I worked hard on it, Stacey didn’t have any constructive criticism for this ident.

My Rocket Ship ident feedback from Alex:

“Appropriate for the teenage target audience but could have stronger brand identity”

Alex’s feedback was quite vague, he felts that I did a good job when attempting to make it suit the target audience. To improve he thought I needed to make it clearer the rocket was in ‘cyberspace’ I accept his comment and that’s how this ident can be improved.