Task 3 - Understanding the design of a suite of television idents AS1

Task 3  - Understanding the design of a suite of television idents 

A suite of idents is where not only one ident is made but a whole suite of an idents are made that are based on one theme but they are different, that are similar to each other. Having a suite of idents is better than one because it provides a variety and interest for the audience, this is also good because, since it has a variety of different idents and the viewers wont always have to see the same ident over and over again. Having a theme helps to create and maintain brand identity also, another thing why its good to have a suite of idents of a theme that are similar to each other is that, for example, if the BBC were to make an ident of christmas they would rely on that one ident which would probably be overran, and it would be boring to viewers. Whereas, a suite would be reliable as there a different ones, which will engage viewers to the suites of them. 

The theme of the suite is christmas, BBC One are very consistent when it comes to Christmas idents. This appealing to the viewers because the theme is bright and white, I think that this particular tone is used to attract families as its the time of year about family, and it really appeals to them. 

The BBC idents have used the same theme of christmas, most of them include snow. But different content for the ident. Firstly, the Doctor Who idents, the first one below and the third one with the reindeer. This implicates that there is going to be a Doctor Who christmas special only on BBC 4. The other idents, are based on other TV series like Wallace and Gromit and another TV series Gruffalo. Through all the idents below it includes snow, which really maintains the theme of a white christmas. The difference are the content of the idents.

These idents are entertainment and information led, this is because, for example, the Doctor Who idents are 7 or 8 seconds short to inform the viewer that they are coming up with a christmas special of Doctor Who, so this ident is information led as its short and its a little sneak peak of whats to come. Whereas, the Gruffalo and Wallace and Gromit idents are more for entertainment purposes as they are longer. With the Wallace and Gromit ident, you see Wallace and Gromit on a slay riding on the snow. That goes for the Gruffalo ident, where the Gruffalos are sliding on the snow. 

The particular time of day it should be on is from the 8am - 8pm, this would then give a chance for every single viewer to watch the idents, but it would make sense if it was around the time of December which is the time of christmas, if it was around summer time and they had these type of idents it wouldn't match the season, BBC are intended to make idents for a particular time of year to show as it can attract many viewers as possible. 

This suite of idents are effective because, the tone of the idents are bright with a white theme to represent christmas and they all have different content that goes with the theme of the suite. Also its suitable for the right season, it could also inform the viewer of what time of year it is as this is a seasonality suite. The idents last for 30 seconds, which gives the enough time the viewer to see what's going on in the ident. 

Task Two – Understanding the limitations of the television ident AS1

Task Two – Understanding the limitations of the television ident 

On television idents they have their limitations on channels such as the BBC, E4 etc.

Typography is where their channel uses a particular font, size for image and clarity. For example, the BBC's typography. Most of BBC of typography is the same font apart from BBC three's typo. The good thing about typography are that they are clear as to most of the other BBC typos are the same and it is simple to viewers to understand what the typo of the channel says. On the other hand it has its limitations as it has to be original and it must be consistent, this is good because it needs to stay original in order for the audience to understand the channel that they're on. 

Colour is used to represent a specific channel, like the BBC one channel is represented the colour red, BBC three is represented by the colour pink. In any of their television idents they will always have the colour red to represent the channel so viewers know what channel it is, this is a good limitation because, it uses the some colour which the audience would quickly recognise what channel that they are on. A different example is the channel E4, using the colour purple and using the original theme, to notify the viewers what channel they are watching, instead of using a different colour to confuse the viewers. 

Aspect Ratio is important, because when an ident needs to be released in the right size for it to fit inside the television perfectly. Its no good if its no the right shape for the T.V. because on the ident, it could show what's about to be on, and it may not be seen because if the size is 4:3 for most televisions, it won't fit but 16:9 would fit for all TV's and everyone can see whats going on. This is a good limitation because this is to give viewers no hassle, and it always has to be made by its format, so that viewers won't be worried about, whats wrong with their television. 

Adhering to desired tone, when a television channel shows their ident for viewers to identify their idents, the channels ident has to stick to their tone. For example, E4 has a very bright purple theme to set the tone for what type of shows are to expect from the ident they are watching. Comparing it to a BBC 4 ident, it is more mature with calm music and its more for adults as it shows a library with a huge shelf of books, while E4 has its bright purple ident with random things, to show that its more fun and weird. This is because the shows that they show such as 'Big Bang Theory' and 'Two Broke Girls', those are comedy shows are funny and weird so it matches. This has a good limitation because, the channel's ident has to stay consistent with the colour or what channel is about, so viewers know specifically what channel they are watching. Also, if BBC 4 was to use E4's ident it won't match the programmes that they are about to watch, as BBC 4 is more of a intellectual ident than E4. Same thing if the BBC 4 ident had the E4 ident, it just wouldn't be relevant for the channel because its not a funny or weird channel. 

Duration, this is important because on the schedule it needs to take up the missing space for the schedule. It can't be too short, this is because the viewers may miss the ident of showing what channel it is and it also can't be too long because viewers may get bored of it going on and on. Duration is an important limitation for the channel to think about how long they are going to run the ident.