Unit 32 Designing Idents for Television

Creative Communication - Appreciation of Desired Tone Audiences will appreciate the tone of an ident if it matches with the channel's overall ethos. For example, the majority of BBC's idents are based on nature, animals, multicultural societies and daily activities. This represents the overall aim of the channel to inform, educate and entertain, therefore covering all aspects of their ethos.

Creative Communication - Appealing to a Target Audience Channels can use celebrity endorsements in order to appeal to their target audience. Therefore, if their target audience is a younger age category, then they will use celebrities that are popular amongst that particular age group. The same would apply to those who are older.  Channels can also choose to include references in their idents to shows that their target audiences are fans of, therefore connecting with them in a way that it would make the ident (and the channel) stand out more towards them. 

Creative Communication - Creating Under Pressure of Time and Budget Time Time can be a major restriction for producers as the more rushed they are, the less thought and effort will be put into the actual ident. It is important that time is invested into creating an ident in order for it to effectively appeal to the channel's target audience, otherwise, it may be an entire waste of time and money.  Budget Smaller scale channels may not be able to compete with companies such as The BBC when it comes to budget, as they are the ones who have the largest funds available for investment. Although having a larger budget will result in the channel having a more appealing ident, those with smaller budgets can create idents with much more meaning even if it meant that it has less effects than the idents shown on The BBC. 

Creative Communication - Communicating Visual Ideas to a Nonvisual Audience Producers can choose to include physical objects, animals or people that the audience will feel connected to and admire. For example, Sky Arts used a Dalmation in its ident later shaking off different colours of paint and splattering it all over the wall. This would visually appeal to both dog lovers and those who love art (of course, all those viewing Sky Arts). Although the creators cleverly used CGI on this, they still included a type of animal that the majority of households truly admire, therefore drawing their attention to the screen. 

Creative Communication - Pushing the Technology Up-to-date softwares allow producers to create unique and never-seen-before idents as they have the capability of creating an ident that isn't the same as something that has to be physically filmed. Sky 1, 2 and 3's boxes idents are an example of producers using CGI as they are images that cannot be conducted in real life. This makes it visually appealing to the target audience as it attracts their attention and makes them think "That is clever, I wonder how they did that" as it stands out to the human and cartoon movements usually seen on tv. 

Creative Communication - Enhancing Ideas Channels often create a particular type of ident that the audience reacts really well to; if they like it, then they will expect to see a development of that type of ident and expect to see more of a similar style. An example of this can be through Channel 4's 'The Simpsons' idents, as different ones were released on account of a new series coming out. This means that the audience could always look forward for 'what Channel 4 will bring out' whenever a new series would come on. A similar example of a Simpsons ident could be on Sky 1, as they have also created Simpsons themed idents. 

Limitations - Analogue and Digital Recording and Transmission Systems An advantage to using digital over analogue signals is that unwanted noise can be cancelled out. Creating Digital idents will allow producers to create a clearer sound and picture, therefore making it appeal more to its target audience. 

Limitations - Aspect Ratio If the ident is created at a 16:9 source and is shown on a 4:3 monitor, black bars will appear at the top and the bottom of the screen, cutting off what could be essential parts of the ident.  If the ident is created at a 4:3 source but it shown on a 16:9 monitor, then black bars will appear on both sides of the screen. Therefore, producers must conduct extra research on its target audience and what television sets they own as creating an ident that is not entirely view-able to its target audience will be not only pointless but a waste of time and money as it will not send out the message that the channel wants to send out. 

Limitations - Size The most frequent width vs height ratio on newer televisions are 16:9, whereas older televisions have less space. This impacts the types of idents producers can create as it is pointless creating a particular type if the audience are unable to view it. Channels that appeal to the older generations such as BBC One can be an example of having to ensure idents fit within a smaller screen, as it older viewers may have older television sets. Therefore BBC One must focus on keeping all text towards the middle of the screen so that those with older televisions are still capable of viewing them.  Channels that have a younger target audience may differ to this, as younger viewers are more likely to have updated televisions. This means that they have enough television quality to view different types of idents on larger screens, therefore producers will be able to come up with different ways of arranging their ident so that it fits the entire screen. 

Limitations - Colour The type of colour a channel uses does not only identify its target audience - it is also for the ability for it to visually appeal to anyone watching it. If a channel chooses to use bright colours it must be careful that it does not use any colours that may cause eye strain, making it difficult for viewers to look at what is on screen.  Here is an example from CBeebies, as although it contains bright colours (the blue and pink backgrounds) it still has bright yellow blobs that stand out, leading viewers to focus on the screen. This is effective as CBeebies' target audience is young children, therefore they will be drawn to brighter colours and the bright, moving characters. 

Limitations - Resolution Not every TV ident will appeal to every viewer at home. This can all depend on what kind of television they own; producers can invest large amounts of time and money and it still may not have the same impact on all of its viewers as their type of television can impact this entirely. 

Limitations - Typography External agencies employed by institutions are limited to ‘house fonts’ used by that company. An example of a company not being able to change its font is Disney, as on every single Disney product and production there is a particular font that is only used by Disney. This makes Disney and unique to its audience as everyone will know no other company can use that particular style of font.  Disney's blue castle ident is famous on all of its productions, therefore here is an example of this particular font being different to the 'Pictures' text underneath; any member of the audience who sees that font style will think of Disney, therefore increasing brand reputation. Therefore, Disney cannot use any other type of font as it goes against their logo.  

Opportunities – Encouragement of Brand Loyalty Idents have an opportunity to encourage brand loyalty via repetition and audience involvement. The greater the involvement the greater the chance the institution has of securing their loyalty. This can include social interaction via social media. 

Opportunities – appeal to target audience This is an example of Disney Channel reaching out to its audience by showing their target audience’s favourite characters (from Lizzie McGuire to That’s So Raven) which appeals to all of the target and drawing their attention. Bright colours and light backgrounds are still included in the idents, therefore appealing to Disney Channel’s target audience of young children and teenagers.

Opportunities – Creation of Tone One of the opportunities you have as a producer is to install your own ethos or ideology. This can be achieved through the tone of your ident. Serious tones are more likely to attract a more mature audience. The tone of an ident will be affected by its use of colours, therefore determining its audience.  The tone of this ident is bright and colourful as it includes clips from popular family Disney films, therefore the target audience for this channel would of course be families and young children. The light colours indicate that the films shown will be child appropriate, therefore making it more appealing to a younger audience.

Opportunities – Branding of Content This is the idea that it broadcasts. This is to make it clear to the target audience what channel it is going to be broadcasted from. The logo and brand of a channel represents the aims and values of the channel itself, therefore reflecting this on their idents that are shown in between channels. This is to increase brand loyalty and viewing figures.  Here is an example of a Sky Cinema ident for its own Disney film channel. The ident still contains connotations of Disney’s logo (sparkles and fantasy music). The ident at the beginning is interesting for viewers as they must continue watching to find out what is being ‘advertised’ on the ident. The sparkles ad fireworks creating interesting shapes is also a relation to Disney as it related to the fireworks behind Disney’s castle, therefore maintaining the audience’s focus.

Opportunities – Display of text based information Text is supplied onscreen as a way of providing information to the audience, however channels use on screen graphics as a way to brighten the text up and make it more appealing.  This is an example of an ident from BBC One that has text with on screen graphics. This ident also has a moving image next to it as it represents what is about to come on (live football). The rest of the text tells the audience what the following programmes are on afterwards, which could potentially allow viewers to schedule when to tune in for the news. Many on screen texts are considered boring however this particular ident has a lot to look at as well as it being informative.