Research

- What is an ident? -

An ident is a short clip that plays before a show starts to inform the viewer of what channel theyre watching or to promote the channel they're watching, it is a critical part of a tv stations branding identity. These days they are usually animated in a surrealist style.

examples of idents

This is a Spotify ident. I think it's very effective because of the smooth waterdrop-like animation that shows the logo through different forms before showing the text 'Spotify'. If I were to create this ident I think I might slow it down a few frames as it's quite fast and you can get a bit disoriented or confused while watching it.



This is a carton network ident. I quite like it as it's relatively minimal and pays homage to the old style of idents which were simple black and white squares. It is interesting as from a childrens cartoon network you would assume it would be big bright colours and characters however that is opposed by the minimalist style of the black and white ying yang style text of CN and creates a contrasting atmosphere.


This is an ident from channel 4. This was a revolutionary ident from channel four during the 80's as it was one of the first ever three dimensional idents and was absolutely mindblowing for the time of production. This was the start of idents becoming as we know them today. The bold colours and sharp edges created a bold and new atmoshpere for Channel 4.


This is an ident for amazon. This is quite a minimalist ident as it contain no massive fancy graphics but it still works well. The continued motif of the orange smile stretching from A to Z symbolises the website having everything you could want to buy. It then fades and two dots appear to create a smiley face which gives the signal that the consumers are always happy with the production and the company.





Comparing two idents

This Spotify ident is quite conservative compared to its apple music counterpart. With its plain black background and swirling reveal of the logo which then acts as an anchor for the company name to spill out of it is quite intriguing and attention-grabbing without it being particularly in your face. The apple music one is different in the way it makes somewhat of a show out of itself, which there's nothing particularly wrong with as it does a good job in showcasing the artists they have supporting their platform (such as Sia). There is also a stylistic, surrealist aspect to the way they show the artists. Take Sia for example. You don't explicitly see her however she is nodded to by showing the apple music logo in the form of her grand black and white wig. They are both very effective idents however I think that the apple music ident is more attention-grabbing and showing off.

motion graphics

How do other people feel about an example of motion graphics? (this can be for any type of motion graphics even if you did not talk about it previously)

Film and TV idents reviewed


How could a piece of motion graphics be improved? If not, what do they do better than others?

Find examples of better ones to compare to. If you cannot do this, find worse examples and state how they could be improved.


(Check peoples motion graphics showreels on youtube, are there any youtube channels you watch where you don’t like the intro logo animation, are there any old fashioned motion graphics that look very dated? Why does it look dated? Do any last too long, are any too complicated, are any too simple (e.g. static logo zooming in))

Target audiences


Choose any ident (even if you did not talk about it above) and answer:

8) How do idents cater for different target audiences? (age, gender, interests, compare the cbeebies logo with a horror tv show opening logo etc)

9) How are different cultures around the world captured in their TV

idents? (UK vs USA vs India vs South Africa vs Japan vs North Korea. Youtube search these)



TARGET AUDIENCES

AGE

Different idents would cater for different audiences. If you were to cater for a younger audience, someone whose attention is less focused, then the perfect ident would be something bright and bold with moving colours and shapes as oppose to someone who is older and has a more focused attention.

Cbeebies ident

This ident is perfect for a younger audience was it contains bright bold colours and shapes. Also the yellow blob creatures will catch attention due to the erratic and crazy movements they are making.

The Walking Dead ident

This ident is perfect for capturing the adult attention. The big bold letters make for a stunning watch and subvert expectations by revealing the world in the wrong order. The textured background also helps as it conveys the idea of a gritty and dirty atmosphere.

Around the world

RESEARCH IDENTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

How idents have developed


How has a logo or tv channel ident changed throughout the years?


What design trends in can you identify? (research into logo/graphic design trends with examples)


40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90, 2000, modern

Technology considerations.


What technology considerations are there?


Research and define the following:


  • Frame rate (google: what fps should I use in video?), (15fps: stop motion (Wallace & Gromit), 24/25fps: film look, 30fps: tv broadcast look, 60fps: arguably makes things look unrealistic (used in the Hobbit and dank gifs)

  • Video format (google: what video format is best? (H.264 MP4 is best, but why?),

  • Compression (google: what is a bitrate. What bitrate does youtube recommend?)

  • Screen ratios (google: What screen ratio is most common?)

  • Safe areas. (google: What are safe areas? Get an image of safe areas and overlay it above a piece of motion graphics. State whether any important logo or text elements are outside those boundaries.


Conclusion

Conclusion (How my research is influencing my artistic and technical decisions for my own production)

13) What specific design trends can you identify would you need to follow today? (simple shapes, block colours)

Motion graphics trends 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRlp8dMNsi8


14) What problems are you going to try to avoid that you have noticed others do? What are you going to do to ensure your production is professional both visually and technically (use safe area template)


15) What tools are you going to use to create your motion graphics, what do you need to focus on learning more about the most?