Existing Ident's

Existing Idents

What is an Ident?

Station identification (Ident) is in basic terms a moving logo usually shown on TV channels such as Channel4, ITV, MTV, CBeebies, ect. Idents could last anything between 5 seconds to 30 seconds depending on the channel and their audience most Idents are just to remind you what channel you’re watching but most of the time there not long enough to make you lose interest or want to change over.

Channel4

Channel4 has a cool and complex design to their Ident as the camera moves these random floating blocks from one angle turn out to be the number 4 at another angle the picture to the right is the Channel4 Ident I chose to look at which is 28 seconds long like most Idents this one creates an identity for the channel for example if you were to show this to people they would probably know what channel it’s from so they have created a worldwide image and achieved world renown for this special design of Ident there is quite a big limitation with this Ident in particular because its 28 seconds long which means you would need to have a lot of patience to watch this Ident but you could make it more bearable by having someone talk over the top saying what’s on next or you could try to cut it shorter but the problem with cutting this Ident is it may lose its achieved effect of everything coming together.

 CBeebies

The next Ident to look at is completely different from the Channel4 Ident and that’s because of the difference in audience this Ident is only 19 seconds so it’s around 9 seconds shorter then Channel4. The Ident starts with just 2 blobs climbing over each other simple but effective then after a quick transition there are lots of yellow blobs playing around and the title of CBeebies it mainly targets its audience by being playful and bright which would draw in a child or people of young ages also if parents saw the Ident they might think the channel is suitable for their children which would ultimately increase their audience this Ident is also very limited for example this would work great for bringing in people of a younger age but on teenager this wouldn’t work I don’t think that many teenagers would want to watch this channel after seeing this Ident so it limits there target audience but in saying that as I said earlier some parents might want to watch this with their children but mainly this restricts the channel to only children or very young people’s programmes. 

ITV

This is one of ITV’s Ident’s called “Pugwash” ITV are famous for how simple their actual ident’s are for example you have “itv” come in there’s no real complex design to it this Ident  is around 30 seconds which is really long for an Ident but it seems quite easy to cut it if needs be unlike channel 4 but without cutting this Ident down I think that no matter who the audience is it might make them lose interest but I think that point is up for argument because they decide to put in a “cute” dog being washed in a sink which could actually keep the audience’s attention I would think that ITV has a worldwide audience because I know personally they have shown for all age ranges but this Ident in particular targets a younger age and at risk of sounding sexist I think it leans more towards female who would find this sort of thing cute which although it helps target their audience it also restricts it and might be placed incorrectly for example if it’s put on before a show a man might be watching they might be put off by this Ident.

Comedy Central

Next I Looked at a Comedy Central Ident this Ident was a lot shorter than I expected this Ident is only 15 seconds long but that may be down to the channel considering is a comedy channel with funny entertaining show they might only want a short Ident so you don’t want to turn the channel over the Ident consists of the Comedy central Icon rolling on a train and a bridge simple but effective I don’t think that this Ident has any restrictions I think due to the fact it’s you could probably replace the Logo with that of ITV or Channel 4 but not CBeebies because I think that this Ident seems mature and sophisticated which a child probably wouldn’t enjoy watching this and may find it boring so I think that this targets a mature audience maybe from about 18+ but I personally don’t get this I mean it’s a Ident for a comedy channel so I think it should be funny so I think this Ident is slightly misleading.

MTV

Next I looked at a MTV Ident at 28 Seconds long which is longer than expected consider it’s a music channel the Ident  features four birds on a line singing different notes then a fifth bird comes along playing a really high note then the bird actually explodes I think that this is maybe the most misleading Ident I have seen because it’s quite graphic it starts the birds are colourful happy and playing a nice tune then one just explodes I personally think that it starts out looking suitable for children to watch and they would like it but if a child watches the bird blow up it may not like it whereas older audiences may find it funny so I think this is majorly restricted to an older audience which is a bad idea to do considering that it’s a music channel and would like to have a broad audience.

 BBC

Next I looked at a BBC Ident the Ident was only 19 seconds long but I was surprised to see how boring the content actually was even though the image to the right looks interesting it wasn’t the Ident consisted of a flock of flamingos that’s all then the BBC name comes up very basic and really puts you off the programs that are coming up I would actually change the channel if this came on but to improve it I would cut it to at least 7 seconds long I think the main reason I didn’t like it maybe that it targets an older more sophisticated age then myself but clearly this Ident limits the channel.

20th Century Fox
The Final Ident I looked at was for 20th Century Fox I think the Design of this Ident is both clever and simple  because at first look you think its basic but after looking at it again you begin to realise all the small details involved but I doubt with my level of After Effects knowledge I could create this Ident I think the Purpose of this Ident was to create a global recognisable brand that everyone would know when they saw it The Intent of this Ident is to grip peoples attention and establish the company allowing them to be recognised by this Ident.