3. What is an ident
It‟s a short visual image employed between television programmes that
works as a logo to locate the viewer to the channel an ident is the identity
of a Channel, hence why it has “ident” in short of identity.
It is used to keep the continuity of the viewers watching and it is also a
general reminder of what channel your are tuned to. It also warns viewers
(Etc. a channel airing the Simpsons when they said "And now, the
Simpsons" - that's during an ident)
Many idents are no longer than 30 seconds long, it usually has something
creative which catches the viewers attention like for example the channel
four ident, the camera panes to a position whereas you can see the
channel logo.
Idents are also used to brand the channel‟s show
Its general us is to also warn viewers what‟s yet to be aired. For example
a program could contain nudity, strobe lighting, adult humor and bad
humor a narrator would warn viewers about it moments before its aired.
4. The purpose of an ident
S The purpose of an ident is to show awareness and remind the viewers to
what they are tuned to at the moment. It is also used keep the continuity of
the viewers watching and it is also a general reminder of what channel
you‟re are tuned to. It also warns viewers about what it is yet to be aired.
S Channel Idents are also used to communicate the personality of a channel
to a viewer. For example BBC three channel is aimed/targeted to people
16+ because of the content that is aired .
S Idents are also used to up break up scheduling so this therefore allows the
continuity of the announcements. dents are also used for marketing
reasons, they try to make idents stand out from competitors and also try to
sell and appeal to us as the viewers
S Another purposeful use for an indent is to have a personality for example.
The channel “E4” is targeted at youthful people and that is why it has such
a ident which appeals more for youthful people, this is also similar to the
BBC Three ident with the colourful and more of a digital one compared to
the other BBC ident .
6. Idents must have…
S Setting/ Time- Where is the ident set and in what time period? Is it in the
past, present or future?
S Tempo- This is how fast/slow paced the TV ident is happening and can
often be determined by the music in the background.
S Audience interaction- Do they interact with the audience? Does all the
action happen inside the scene?
S Informative or Entertainment- Is the ident there to be informative or is it
purely for entertainment purposes?
S Density- How much information is in the ident? How full/empty is the
screen? How much space is there
7. Idents in action!
S http://theidentgallery.com/player.php?id=C4-2007-ID-
TOKYO-HD-1 Channel four Tokyo
S http://theidentgallery.com/player.php?id=BBC1HD-2010-
ID-FOOTBALLERS-1 BBC football
S http://www.theidentgallery.com/player.php?id=BBC3-
2008-ID-5 BBC Three – “kickstepturn”
8. Example: E4 super combo
S Time/setting – we don‟t actually know the time but we do know
the setting which is on top off a rooftop
S Tempo – The tempo of this ident is really fast because it is a
battle and it ends after a super fourth combo
S Audience interaction – this ident does not interact with the
audience, there isn't even a narrator
S Informative or entertaining - this ident is purely for
entertainment as it is fast and exciting
9. Example: BBC football
S Setting/time – This ident seems to be in a present time period in some sort of
football practice field.
S Tempo - This ident is approximately 20 seconds long and its tempo is a fast one, it is
fast enough for the composed music and for the narrator to introduce the
forthcoming program.
S Audience interaction – there is no interaction with the audience apart form the
narrator introducing the on coming program
S Informative or entertainment – This ident is both informative and entertaining as the
ident gives you an idea of what's coming on next. It is also entertaining as it has
footballers doing tricks
S Density- there isn't much space being used, everything is mostly done in one area
10. BBC‟s
first ident
1953 –
1960 Examples Design evolutiontimeline
(1960–1964)
This ident is the very first one aired by the bbc during
(1969–1974)
1953 to 1960.
This ident is also known as “Bat‟s wings” renowned for
its sides that resembles a bat
(1981-1985) Also it was in a black/white theme because colour
wasn‟t really developed till the late 60s
(1985–Feb Compared to the first ident and the current ident you
1991)
can see how the design has dramatically evolve
(February 1991–
1997)
(1997-2002)
(2002-2006)
BBC‟s first ident BBC‟s current
(2006-current) ident
12. Plenary
S What are the three main purposes of an ident?
S When did the bbc first broadcast their ident?
S What colour is mainly used in an itv 1 ident?
13. Ident analysis: channel four
Tokyo
Channel four has an ident set in Tokyo. Even as a British channel it suggest that it broadcasts
multinational cultural shows making it appeal to a wide range of people in the world, also it has
big and bright colours and levitating objects form into a channel four logo when the camera is
panning. This makes the logo stand and be easily recognised.
This ident is 42 seconds long and the tempo of it is slow/medium; it is fast enough for the
audience to see the environment of the setting of the ident which is is set in the busy street of
Tokyo, Japan. This is suggested because during the panning of the camera we can see
Japanese writing on the big boards when the channel four logo is formed. The unique point I
found out watching this is that the camera is panning as if you were in the persons shoes
roaming around the urbanised streets of Tokyo
During the panning of the camera the composed music for the ident had a slow and calm beat to
match the ident „s mood, you were also able to hear some kind of chant, judging by their voices it
may have been Japanese school kids. I believe the target audience for this ident could be for all
ages as parent and child could find this ident fun and amusing because of the creative ideas
used.
14. Ident design: BBC football
S The football ident seems to be set in a modern time period and it looks like the footballers
are in some kind of training ground, in the ident, all the footballers are wearing the same
attire; white shirt and black shorts also the colour theme of this ident seems bleak as it
looks black and white, however the ball is red, I think the reason the have done this is
because the want to emphasize the theme of the ident and the colour red is an attractive
colour it will be the first thing our eyes see.
S The tempo of the ident is fast paced; it starts with long shot, eye level of three men doing
kick-ups and there is a visual effect of the male , then it moves on to a close up shot of a
male balancing a ball on his head, every thing behind him is blurred out and the camera is
focused upon him, then the camera moves to a zoom out of all of the footballers doing skills
like balancing a ball on their heads but the majority of the footballers from this angle are
doing kick ups , then without changing scenes the camera goes to a birds eye view point of
all of the players and you can see that they are all around the kick off circle, all kicking the
ball straight within the circle. It stops at the frame where all of the balls are in the center
then rewinds back creating a loop and this loop plays for the whole duration of the ident
with the bbc on logo within the circle; the duration of this ident is 16 seconds long.This ident
is broadcasted just before football or other sport related shows like match of the day
(MOTD) which is a weekly highlight of the premier league games during the past week.. I
believe the target audience for this ident is for all ages because football is one of the most
played sport in the world hence why the purpose of the ident is mainly to attract football
lovers or just to purely entertain.
15. ident design:BBC Three :
“kickstepturn”
S This ident has been made by the bbc. The duration of this particular ident
is exactly 20 seconds long. I think the design of this ident is in a hip/
techno sort of theme which I believe represents the young adult of this
generation‟s type of genre . It has a sort of purple light theme and many
neon type of lights. There are a lot of things happening in the ident Which
makes the viewer of the channel look every where hence why it is very
fast paced. The camera is set in a high angle view off the animated
people/citizen all dancing and twisting them selves in a point to where the
all unite in the center and do some sort of synchronized dancing which
looks similar to the pop legend, Michael Jackson‟s “Thriller”. I believe the
target audience for this ident is for 16+ because bbc three tends to air
programs which are more appealed to them and they can relate
