OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS 26/9/12

On-screen graphics are designs/drawings/illustrations/graphs used on screen.
There are many opportunities and limitations of on screen graphic representation.
Graphics are used for a number of things:

• Adverts
• Idents
• Title Sequences
• Info-graphics (information based graphics)
• Olympic games/formula 1 - and other major sporting events
• Title menus (used on DVDs etc)

On-screen graphic of F1 car

Simple graphics were first created in the 1950s by MIT (Massachusetts Institute Of Technology). Computer graphics became more popular in the 1980s. 

The first TV ident for Channel 4 was designed by Lambie-Nairn. http://www.lambie-nairn.com/

Before the 80s, Television idents did not exist. There was no need for them as there were not many television channels to choose from. The first time on screen graphics were needed on a wide scale was for the General Election in 1992. These graphics were used to represent seats and voting. Nowadays, there is more need for television idents to distinguish between hundreds of channels. 

These graphics would have taken up to two years to produce. They were created using Quantel Paintbox. The graphic designers would have to be artists and physically draw out each frame. E.g A 10 second sequence would need 250 images (25 frames a second). The hand draw images would then need to be filmed in a sequence. Due to software advances, this process is a lot quicker now for modern graphic designers.

Quantel Paintbox

The limitations of these older graphics were:

• Bad quality
• Time consuming (hand drawing/filming each frame)
• Expensive (pay employees for longer working hours/expensive equipment)

Despite the limitations at the time these new graphics were quite impressive. 

Despite dramatic changes in Graphics technology, there are still some limitations: 

• Graphics are still time consuming, taking weeks to produce. 
• On-screen graphic production is still expensive, computers/machines and softwares are very costly.
• Another limitation is that colour palettes/trends are frequently changing.
• Fonts used for on-screen graphics can not be made bigger (if used on bigger screens) as they will begin to pixelate. 
• Suitable typography would need to be used so that information can be read easily but a varied audience. 



RGB/CMYK differences

• There are still issues with certain colours used on screen. E.g vibrant reds do not transfer from computer to television screens well and are prone to noise and distortion. The RGB (Red, Green, Blue) colour model is additive, so to change a colour you must 'add' a colour. The RGB colour model is usually used on-screen. The CMYK colour model is subtractive, so colours are extracted to make new colours. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key/Black) is mainly used in printing. Software such as Adobe have their own versions of these colour models. 

RGB AND CMYK colour models

• Television screens have an aspect ratio of 4:3, and are rectangles, whereas some computer screens used to create the graphics are square. This is inhibiting for a graphics designer because all graphics must be in the rectangle/landscape format. (Modern flat-screens are 16:9)

Aspect ratio

• There are also problems with resolution. Computer screens may have a high resolution than some of the publics TVs. This would cause the graphics to look worse quality on TV. 
• Sections of society have older technology and so graphics will not be appreciated on older TVs.
• It seems software and computer's technology is moving too fast for TV technology. 
• Another issue is moiré fringing. Moiré fringing is an interference on screen which occurs when two grids/sets of fine horizontal lines are laid over each other at a slight angle and they move. This problem usually occurs with interlaced video production. The interference occurs if you film something with lines. e.g. some television shows advice members of the audience against wearing fine striped clothing/houndstooth patterns. Video showing moiré pattern: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msWLCMxnoBo&feature=relmfu

Example of moiré interference in photography

The opportunities of on screen graphic representation are: 

• As more TV channels were introduced, these channels would need to have branding to be recognised. So idents became more popular. The more channels there are the bigger the audiences which brings in more money for a company. 
• Different idents could be produced for these new channels which cater for different audiences, such as Channel 4 for teenagers. 
• On-screen graphics could encourage brand loyalty, which is built over a number of years if the graphics remain the same. If a companies mission statement and values remain the same they will maintain an audience. This loyalty could be built through familiar TV idents. An example of this is the BBC 1 ident. The globe/world/circle shaped motif's in the centre of the ident can be recognised worldwide, however the circle shape is more subtle in some of the idents. It represents that the company is well established, non biased, trusted and an international brand. Also, the BBC's mission statement has remained the same for many years: 'Inform, Educate, Entertain'. 

BBC ONE 'Globe' ident

• Another opportunity is the creation of tone through on-screen graphics. The tone of an ident or graphic can be established by colours, music and the tempo. The tone of the ident contributes to the branding and target audience of a company eg. young, old, formal, informal. 
• Branded content gives clothing/technology and other establishments the chance to advertise products subtly through on-screen graphics. eg. a group of people wearing a particular brand of shoes (Converse). 
• On screen graphics can also communicate numerical, statistical and text-based information to an audience, which is useful for services such as the News. They also make potentially boring information appear more exciting and interesting. Finally, they could make complicated subjects easier to comprehend.

Communicating information on a News channel

Creative communication:

• Enhancing ideas/pushing the ideas: As television technology advances, there are more opportunities for innovative and impressive television idents. For example 3D television idents. 
• Communicating visual ideas to a non-visual audience: Idents and adverts could cater for a non-visual audience through the volume of the audio and a detailed description of what the ident is for. e.g. most channel 4 idents have audio explaining the running order for shows. 
• Creating under pressure of time and budgets: For most companies creating an ident the designers must have time and budget pressure, to make sure they achieve deadlines. 
• Appealing to the target audience: Idents need to appeal to the target audience demographics of a channel. E.g. This is why their are different idents for a young/old audience. 
• Appreciation of desired tone: The colours used in television idents/on screen graphics need to be able to communicate a desired tone. E.g channels would use a red colour scheme to communicate danger/intensity/power (BBC). 

Red BBC ONE Ident

• Channels such as Sky use a calmer blue colour scheme, which could communicate trust/loyalty/knowledge.

Blue Sky Ident

• Finally, children's channels use bright colour schemes, CBBC focuses particularly on a bright green colour scheme. This green could symbolise safety/peace, which is an appropriate tone for a children's channel ident. 

Green CBBC Ident

SCHEDULING AND SEASONAL IDENTS 13/9/12

Most TV channels have specific idents for different times of the day or different times throughout the year. 

For example, whilst analysing TV idents I have found that most children's channel idents are based in daytime settings (the channels are off air at 7pm). The different sections of the ident are set in daylight, and the familiar characters in the ident confirm the viewer is on the right channel. 

Alternatively, BBC three (which comes on air at 7pm) idents seem to have a dark/night time theme and often show lights being turned on etc. The 'nightlife' themes are more suitable for a young adult target audience. The make up, shoes, dancing and music, also reflects the nightlife idea. 

TV idents are also often modified for seasonal occasions, such as christmas, spring and halloween. 

Christmas, BBC 2 : 

This ident has a winter theme featuring snow, ice and deer. 

Spring, Cartoon Network Europe:

This ident has a spring theme as it focuses on the growth of new plants and flowers. The animations/movement reflect the idea of growth. 

Halloween, Disney Channel: 

This ident has a halloween theme featuring halloween iconography such as pumpkins, graveyards and witches. 

PACKAGING AND RE-PACKAGING 12/9/12

One of an idents main purposes is for identifying, branding and marketing.

Eventually, this branding will become 'out of date' or will no longer serve the original aims and purposes of a channel.  Alternatively, the audience and target market may change as the company develops. 

To look at how a channel's identity has changed we can compare an old and new ident. 

Eg.1.  Channel 4 

CHANNEL 4 IDENT 1982

CHANNEL 4 IDENT 2004

Mission statement: 'Do it first, make trouble and inspire change'. 

Channel Aims (redefined 2003): 

• demonstrates innovation, experiment and creativity in the form and content of programmes;
• appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society;
• makes a significant contribution to meeting the need for the licensed public service channels to include programmes of an educational nature and other programmes of educative value; and
• exhibits a distinctive character

The original ident in 1982 does not reflect the channels aims well. It is very simple. However, it does use bright colours, which reflects the creativity aims. Also, the theme music used in the 1982 ident became very recognisable to the channel. The 'coming together' animation of this ident was established in the 80s but is still used in today's modern idents. 

The modern 2004 ident reflects the channel's aims much more effectively. The modern Japanese city setting demonstrates innovation. The bright colours represent the creativity aim. The fact the ident is set in a different country and shows a different language 'appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society', which the previous ident did not do. The familiar 'coming together' of the number 4, distinguishes the ident to the channel. 

Eg.2. UKTV Gold

UKTV GOLD IDENT 2004

UKTV GOLD IDENT 2012

UKTV GOLD was launched in 1992, and has been 'repackaged' a number of times. The channel is primarily a comedy channel.

About GOLD: 'Dedicated to celebrating great comedy and entertainment, Gold is the nation's favourite comedy channel. Its wealth of classic comedy programming is guaranteed to make viewers laugh daily. Much-loved comedy series such as Only Fools and Horses, Vicar of Dibley and Outnumbered sit alongside our brand new commissions featuring all the big-name stars, including Fry and Laurie: Reunited and The Royle Family Portraits.'

The channel's main aim is to entertain and make viewers laugh. This aim should be reflected in the TV ident. 

The ident from 2004 does not seem to fit the aims of the channel. It consists of clips of someone washing up. In a way the ident could reflect everyday life of the British nation. There is some laughter sounds in the clip which hint at the channel's genre. Finally, the logo shown at the end is surrounded by a gold colour scheme, identifying the channel's branding/name. 

This gold colour scheme has since been lost in the new 2012 TV idents. The channel's name was also cut down from UKTV Gold to just Gold, which is perhaps more effective. The new TV ident is very bright and busy with some comical objects/words. For example the boxing glove at the beginning, carrot, wind up teeth etc. The phrase 'stick something funny on' is used throughout this ident signifying the channel's genre. I believe, the new ident is more entertaining and suitable for the channel's aims. 

AUDIENCES 10/9/12

Broadcasters will split up the mass amount of people who watch television into categories.
They do this to measure their audiences and create or alter programming to target these specific groups.

There are two main methods of categorising an audience known as demographics and psychographics.

Demographics are more statistical characteristics of a population/audience, including, age, gender, race, socioeconomic status etc.

Psychographics focus on the study of personality (psychology). This includes values, attitudes and life styles. Also known as VALS.

There are multiple establishments which categorise audiences.
The first is VALS. (http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml)
VALS stands for values, attitudes and life styles.
'VALS is a consulting and consumer research service'.
VALS uses a 40-question survey to explore/categorise audiences. Questions include, income, fashion, demographics etc.

Another establishment is BARB. (http://www.barb.co.uk/)
BARB stands for broadcaster audience research board.
'BARB is the organisation responsible for providing the official measurement of UK television audiences.'
BARB electronically measures data second by second. Television recordings or plus one are not taken into account. Data is collected from 5,100 homes.

An example of weekly viewing figures from 'BARB'. Channels with less views, perhaps have less effective idents/branding, making them less well known. 

Another organisation is ACORN CACI. (http://www.caci.co.uk/acorn-classification.aspx)
This website understands its customers due to the area you live in.
Upon registering to the website you can enter your postcode to find out about the socioeconomics of your street. Categories include wealthy achievers, urban prosperity and comfortably off.

Finally another establishment is 4CS. (http://www.4cs.yr.com/global/)
Young and Rubicam's 4Cs Values Segmentation. The 4Cs stand for Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation.

These are the Young and Rubicam lifestyle categories. The categories separate an audience by age, gender, class and interests. 

It is a service which aims to categorises people into stereotypes and categories such as; security, control, status, individuality, freedom, survival and escape. This service is based upon Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

It would be useful to use data from these websites to relate a TV ident to an audience and a channel's missions/aims. 

ANALYSING TV IDENTS 3/9/12

To analyse a TV ident you need to look at how it moves and any messages it portrays.

You could also look at:

• place or time the ident is set
• the tempo or speed
• how it interacts with the audience (breaks fourth wall/direct address)
• is it informative or purely entertainment?
• does it have density?

The design of the ident should relate to its overall purpose: to advertise and communicate.

1. MTV CLASSICS IDENT 

0:26-0:36 seconds

MTV Classics is a 24 hour music channel which was launched in 2010 which plays music from the 60s to present day. The setting of the ident starts in an office with computer equipment which looks dated (70s-80s) and changes to into a 'cyberspace'. The ident has a retro style theme.

The ident has a very rapid tempo/pace. The ident is mainly for entertainment and would not immediately be recognised as a music channel ident. However there are subtle hints at the Channel's genre eg. the ident starting in the past (old computer technology) and then cutting to the modern futuristic cyberspace part relates to the old and new music the channel plays. 

The ident is colourful and eye catching with some 3D shapes giving it density.

The ident could portray that the channel is for young people because of the technology and gaming theme and the electronic music used. 

The channels logo is then shown at the end of the ident, the logo is animated slightly. The ident is innovative as it takes the audience from the past to the future.

MTV Classic logo

2. E4 LOADING BAY IDENT 

E4 is a british TV channel launched as a second channel to Channel 4 in 2001. The 'E' stands for entertainment and the channel is mainly aimed at the 15-35 age group.  

The setting for this ident is garages/a loading bay. The household items shown in the ident eg. Microwaves etc show that the ident is set in modern times. The tempo of the ident is moderately fast and it fits with the tempo of the music. 

The ident features many different objects eg. home electronics, furniture, animal figures and musical instruments. which could perhaps could reveal that the channel has a variety of different programmes and would appeal to a variety of different people. 

The ident is purely for entertainment as not much information about the channel can be gathered from it. The E4 channel branding is placed upon the crate objects in the ident. Finally, the 'shove it up your tellyhole' pun which can be seen at the end is comical and would appeal to a younger audience. 

3. MTV HITS IDENT

MTV Hits is a 24-hour music channel, playing mainly pop music videos (top 40) and was launched in 2001. 

These ident feature animated characters. The fact it is animated shows that it is a 'modern' channel. The tempo of all the idents is fast-pace and the music used reflects this. 

Again these idents are mainly used for entertainment purposes, but by looking further into the 'character's personalities' we can find out some information about the TV channel. For example, the first few idents feature characters moving/dancing in sync almost like choreography. At 0:36 the characters reflect a 'boy band' and at 0:48 the two characters are a 'rapper' and 'diva' type. These can suggest the type of bands/artists that will be played on this particular channel. 

The idents are bright and colourful and the colours/shading on some of the characters gives the ident a 3D feel. The shape and movement of the characters could resemble the equaliser bars on a CD player. This subtle reference to elements of sound relates to the channel's theme.

The MTV Hits logo is shown at the end of each ident and is animated slightly. 

MTV Hits logo

4. SKY MOVIES TV IDENT

'Sky Movies is the collective name for a group of subscription television movie channels. It has around 5 million subscribers, via satellite and cable, in the UK and Ireland.'
The ident is purely for entertainment as it grabs the attention of the audience. It has a quizzical element, as at first glance it is not obvious it is an ident and keeps the viewer watching.

The ident consists of different landscapes from different film genres being shown in a slow/smooth panning style. The choice of music fits with the ident tempo and what is happening on-screen.

 The different film genres shown relates to the type of audience the channel appeals to. From the demographics of the channel (shown below) and the ident it is clear the channels target market is families.

Sky Movies Demographics

5. MTV 'ORGANIC' IDENTS

MTV is an American cable television channel based in New York, that launched on August 1st 1981. The initial purpose of the channel was to play music videos. Today, MTV primarily broadcasts a variety of reality and scripted television shows.

It's target market is adolescents and young adults. This target market is reflected through the ident.

The settings used relate to the youth audience eg. use of graffiti. The use of local-looking scenes could also be recognised as places where the youth like to socialise, again appealing to the target market.

The settings themselves are not dense but empty wasteland spaces. The idents density comes from the animated logo itself. The idents are very well made as the animated logos create shadows on the floor to give the impression they are actually present.

The oriental sounding music and origami inspired logos relate to different cultures and audiences.

One of MTV's main objectives is that it remains a constantly growing channel. This relates to the way the logos move, the unfolding/getting bigger animation reflects growth. Finally, the suite of idents is named 'organic', this again reflects the companies ambition for growth.

6. CBBC IDENT

CBBC is a children's television channel created by the BBC. The channel is aimed at children from 6-12. The channel currently broadcasts 12 hours a day, between 7am and 7pm.

The ident has been created to suit the target audience. Firstly, the ident is comprised mainly of animated 'daytime' settings, this represents the time of the day the channel is on. Also, young children often fear the dark so including this in the ident may have a negative effect.

The ident is very energetic and fast paced, which is appropriate for the target market. The ident would keep the viewer happy and entertained, and is short enough to hold the attention of young viewers. The ident also reflects a child's imagination and dreams.

The ident contains some familiar characters from the channel, which gives the viewer confirmation that they are watching the correct channel, this is important for young children.

The colour palette used is bright with the typical vibrant green which is familiar to the channel.

7. SKY NEWS IDENT

Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster. The channel focuses on rolling/breaking news. The ident is effective in portraying the channels genre and identity.

The ident is both entertaining and informative. It includes different viewing devices for example an iphone and ipad, to show an audience alternative ways to watch the channel.

The ident is futuristic in its style, showing the channel is current. Density is created by the sophisticated metallic textures used.

There is no setting for the ident, it is based in 'cyberspace' again showing aspects of modern day. The ident colours are dark/black reflecting that the channel is not aimed at a young audience but for an older, adult audience.

8. BBC 3 IDENT

BBC Three is a television network created by BBC and launched in February 2003. The channels main target audience is aged between 16 and 34. The channel is on-air from 7pm up to 5am each night. 

One of the channel's main purposes is to 'provide 'innovative' content to young audiences focusing on new talent and new technologies.' 

Another of BBC Three's aims is 'Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK'. This aim is reflected in the ident's visuals, based in space/on the earth. The ident also appears to be set in a city environment. Diversity is shown through the different characters used in the ident. 

The objects/characters in the ident relate to the different types of programmes shown on the channel. For example. shoes, for fashion programmes and a diver/swimmer to represent the sports programmes.

The ident is fast paced and has appropriate music to match this, again appealing to the younger youth audiences. 

9. BBC 2 IDENT

BBC 2 is the second TV Channel operated by the BBC in the UK. BBC 2 is thought to show more 'highbrow' or intellectual programmes (eg. QI and University Challenge) and is aimed at an older audience. 

The BBC's main missions are:
 'To enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.
To be the most creative organisation in the world.'

The ident is set in a coffee shop environment which reflects the average persons life/social life. ('Enrich people's lifes'). This can subtlety be direct address with an audience, as the coffee cup image would be recognised by anyone.  

The main focus of the ident is around the number 2, to establish the TV channel and branding. 

The tempo of the ident is quite slow and relaxed. This is suitable for the 'daytime' television programmes the channel tends to show. The ident uses interesting camera work and viewpoints eg. panning/zooming out and looking at the 2 from within another 2. 

The different shapes and textures used eg. the powder/foam textures give the ident density. The ident is creative which reflects the channel's aims. 

UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE AND DESIGN 3/9/12

The purpose of a TV ident is to communicate/identify a particular TV channel or station and its branding easily to an audience. 

The design of the ident should relate to its overall purpose: to advertise and communicate.

TV idents are developed so that the branding becomes familiar and recognisable to the audience. 

The Media (TV) categorise audiences into social economic status (class) and age groups. eg. ABC1 16-44s. eg. Table below 

Table showing social categories