The design and purpose of television Idents is to prepare the audience for the start of the programme or adverts, and to remind the audience which channel they are watching. By introducing the programmes using Idents the audience are forewarn what the programme following will be making sure they have time to change the channel if they want to. It will also forewarn them about the adverts. An example of this is the 5USA Ident where a voice over is being used to tell you which programme is coming up next. The page linked here has a variety of examples for the channel 5USA.
There were some opportunities of onscreen graphic representation; the idents give the audience a preview of what’s coming up either straight away or next. By allowing the audience to know what is coming up, it lets them decide if the program is not appropriate for themselves or others and they are able to switch the channel before the programme begins. Also as the idents are before adverts as well it can allow the audience the time to go and do something if they do not want to watch the adverts.
There were some limitations of onscreen graphic representation, screen resolution was one as on one screen the Ident could look fine but when exported and shown on a different screen the image quality could be reduced, so a higher resolution was needed when exporting and creating the animations, this is also to do with the size and aspect-ratio. Also the colours used had to reflect the channel looked at while not being too distracting, this is so the idents link with the channel and do not look out of place.
The techniques and development of 2D animation has evolved from traditional editing to digital editing. Some traditional techniques involve; flick book, cel-animation, hand-drawn rotoscoping, drawn on film and photographic stills. Some digital techniques include; 2D bitmap graphics, 2D vector graphics and many more.
Click here for an animation timeline showing when the different animation techniques were invented and first used.
I looked at a few developers and pioneers for the above techniques such as the pioneer Thomas Alva Edison, who improved and took credit for the invention of the light bulb. Hanna-Barbera were developers of animation who produced shows such as; The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, The Ruff and Reddy Show, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, Tom and Jerry and many more.
When preparing to produce my television Ident I had to make sure that I had planned my time effectively to be able to complete my work to the deadline. The pre-production paperwork took a couple of days to complete, making sure all ideas were thought through effectively while keeping to the brief, story boards were made to make sure I had a visual idea of what the final Idents would look like.
For my research I looked in to 5USA’s background and looked up their ethos and target audience, as well as the typical shows they air on the channel. I created mood boards which are associated with the target audience of the television channel; this helped me to create my animations as I was able to be target specific.
The timing in my final animations varied depending on the idea, however they were all created effectively. I did modify my second idea a few times as it was proving difficult to complete, I am happy with the final animations. The animation technique I used was photographic stills which involved moving the images on Photoshop frame by frame, so when they were put together it created the animations. The audio used in each animation was specific to what was going on. Ident one used a footsteps SFX followed by a gunshot SFX. Ident two used a sketching SFX and ident three used a car crash SFX.
When creating the Idents I tried to link them to the USA as much as I could, I used an outline of the New York skyline and American figures in the animations, the audio linked to what was happening on screen and was different for each Ident. My test audience said that my television Idents worked well and they linked to the American theme and target audience. They also said that I should make my animations look smoother; this can be done by creating more frames per second.
If I were to redo my animations from scratch I would possibly try a different form of animation, such as using Flash instead of hand drawing and using Photoshop. However I am extremely happy with the final products as they have followed the brief and have tested my skills in creating an animation.
There were some opportunities of onscreen graphic representation; the idents give the audience a preview of what’s coming up either straight away or next. By allowing the audience to know what is coming up, it lets them decide if the program is not appropriate for themselves or others and they are able to switch the channel before the programme begins. Also as the idents are before adverts as well it can allow the audience the time to go and do something if they do not want to watch the adverts.
There were some limitations of onscreen graphic representation, screen resolution was one as on one screen the Ident could look fine but when exported and shown on a different screen the image quality could be reduced, so a higher resolution was needed when exporting and creating the animations, this is also to do with the size and aspect-ratio. Also the colours used had to reflect the channel looked at while not being too distracting, this is so the idents link with the channel and do not look out of place.
The techniques and development of 2D animation has evolved from traditional editing to digital editing. Some traditional techniques involve; flick book, cel-animation, hand-drawn rotoscoping, drawn on film and photographic stills. Some digital techniques include; 2D bitmap graphics, 2D vector graphics and many more.
Click here for an animation timeline showing when the different animation techniques were invented and first used.
I looked at a few developers and pioneers for the above techniques such as the pioneer Thomas Alva Edison, who improved and took credit for the invention of the light bulb. Hanna-Barbera were developers of animation who produced shows such as; The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, The Ruff and Reddy Show, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, Tom and Jerry and many more.
When preparing to produce my television Ident I had to make sure that I had planned my time effectively to be able to complete my work to the deadline. The pre-production paperwork took a couple of days to complete, making sure all ideas were thought through effectively while keeping to the brief, story boards were made to make sure I had a visual idea of what the final Idents would look like.
For my research I looked in to 5USA’s background and looked up their ethos and target audience, as well as the typical shows they air on the channel. I created mood boards which are associated with the target audience of the television channel; this helped me to create my animations as I was able to be target specific.
The timing in my final animations varied depending on the idea, however they were all created effectively. I did modify my second idea a few times as it was proving difficult to complete, I am happy with the final animations. The animation technique I used was photographic stills which involved moving the images on Photoshop frame by frame, so when they were put together it created the animations. The audio used in each animation was specific to what was going on. Ident one used a footsteps SFX followed by a gunshot SFX. Ident two used a sketching SFX and ident three used a car crash SFX.
When creating the Idents I tried to link them to the USA as much as I could, I used an outline of the New York skyline and American figures in the animations, the audio linked to what was happening on screen and was different for each Ident. My test audience said that my television Idents worked well and they linked to the American theme and target audience. They also said that I should make my animations look smoother; this can be done by creating more frames per second.
If I were to redo my animations from scratch I would possibly try a different form of animation, such as using Flash instead of hand drawing and using Photoshop. However I am extremely happy with the final products as they have followed the brief and have tested my skills in creating an animation.