1. Idents
By Nii-Larte Lartey

2. What is an ident?
A moving image/logo that is shown before a programme starts.

3. Purpose
What do you think the purpose of an ident is?
Idents obtain many purposes that are essential in the media:
 Link to programme shown after. (Give example with video)
 Make viewers aware of the channel they are watching it on.
 To sell the channel to us the viewers.
 To stand out from competition
 Re-branding or re-packaging ident to keep up to date with time period.

4. Primary Research
Interviews: Here are a few of the answers I came across when doing interviews:
“Purpose for an ident is to advertise a channel and to make the viewers aware of
what is going to come on next” – Mervee Tasci
“Basically to fill up time, and to remember what channel you are on. To represent
the whole idea of a channel.” – Tice Mehmet
“The purpose of an ident is to tell the viewers what is about to come on the
TV, and anticipates the viewers ” – Ronnie Mavambu
Focus Group: Due to my research I found out various information about idents.
A majority of the interviewers claimed that an idents purpose is to promote the
channel.
Questionnaires: A majority of the participants stated that idents are used to
highlight the identity of a given channel. Also, promotes the channels company.

5. Design
What does the design of an ident usually consist of?
The key points for the design of an TV ident are:
• Setting/ Time- Where is the ident set and in what time
period? Is it in the past, present or future?
• Tempo- This is how fast/slow paced the TV ident is
happening and can often be determined by the music in the
background.
• Audience interaction- Do they interact with the audience?
Does all the action happen inside the scene?
• Informative or Entertainment- Is the ident there to be
informative or is it purely for entertainment purposes?
• Density- How much information is in the ident? How
full/empty is the screen? How much space is there?

6. http://www.theidentgallery.com/bbc3/2008/BBC3-2011-ID-DCOTY-
BIRDBOX-1.mp4
The ident was made for the BBC three and is roughly 30 seconds long. We firstly see that the ident is
animated which instantly informs the viewers that it is non-realistic. The initial setting of the ident it
self seems to be a very peculiar one as we see it being set in a park that consists of giant boxes that
have the capability of walking. Within the setting, we are also exposed to giant washing
machines, plants, estates and the BBC three logo, which are all connected by swirled tubes that have
some sort of liquid flowing through it. One can interpret that it symbolises the consistent „flow‟ and
energy the programmes on the channel can bring to viewers. Due to the non-realistic features that
the ident conveys, we are more likely to believe that the ident has been set in the future, as a majority
of the features don‟t relate to our day and age such as: boxes with legs able to walk, oversized
plants, washing machines.
The tempo of the BBC three ident is slow paced, which I personally think is effective for this particular
ident as viewers can accurately identi fy what‟s happening within the ident. Music also effectively
contributes with the slowness of the pace. In the background we hear slow paced mellow music that
really complements with what‟s being shown in the ident as it basically creates more of an effect for
the viewer.
At the start of the ident, viewers are entirely focused on what is happening within the ident as only
music is being played leading us to be focused on the unusual features that the ident contains. We
are exposed to walking boxes that keep repapering as we see undersized people pushing these
boxes away. With close analysis, we see that that the box has tape with the BBC 3 information
imprinted on it. One can deduce that the purpose for this is to convey how important BBC 3 is in our
society and how it will always be with us; even when we abandon it, the channel it self will continue to
lure us in with more exciting new programmes. Another can infer that as the box also has post
stamps, it can represent that the people pushing the boxes are trying to distribute the channel to other
people. Midway within the ident, we encounter some informative interaction from a male voice who
sounds happy and enthusiastic. He informs us on forthcoming progammes that are going to be shown on
the channel, which is effective as it spurs viewers to stay locked into the channel.

7. http://www.theidentgallery.com/e4/dec2007/E4-2007-ID-BARN.mp4
This ident is made for E4. It is 19 seconds long. The ident it self is a clever one, with a very detailed and
interesting concept. The initial setting is in a farm shed that then turns in to life as we start see a lot of movement
being made by various items within the shed. We then start to see the setting being altered in to a more vibrant
atmosphere, for example: changing the colour of the wall (which happens to be very dull at first) to purple and
white which are more brighter colours that can grab the viewers attention . Furthermore, we see that by changing
the colour of the wall to purple and white maintains the channels natural logo colour and uses those particular
colours to covey the channel within the ident. I would personally view this ident being firstly set in the past time
then transformed into the present. This is because we witness the ident in an old farmer shed which can
represent the past. But after the transformation, all the lights, colours and items display a sense of a „new era‟
due to the fact that in our day and age compared to the past; there has been a massive change that has exposed
us into modernism, which is what the ident portrays.
The tempo of the E4 ident is slow paced, which I personally think is effective for this particular ident as viewers
can accurately identify what is being displayed within the ident. The music effectively complements with what's
being demonstrated in the ident. The music creeps in with sounds of birds which denotes the morning, it then
moves into various sounds that are together to create the music. The music it self brings a sense of demolition
due to the various sounds that are made. Plus, we are exposed to destruction in the ident with bombs that are
being thrown around,which effectively fits in with the music.
Midway within the ident, we encounter some informative interaction from a male voice who sounds happy and
enthusiastic. He informs us on forthcoming progammes that are going to be shown on the channel, which is
effective as it spurs viewers to stay locked into the channel. We see that there is a link with the ident and the
forthcoming programme. Within the narrators speech he informs the viewers of what is going to come on next
and tells us that a programme called “War at home” will be shown. Due to the destruction that we witness in the
ident by the machine that continues to plant bombs, it expresses the message of war which aligns with the title of
the forthcoming show the narrator announces, which ultimately links.

8. Primary Research
 Interviews: Here are a few of the answers I came across when doing interviews:
 “The design usually consists of colourful and catchy images; they use various colours to
represent the channel. For example BBC 3 constantly uses the colour pink.” – Mervee
Tasci
 “The design usually consists of something to represent their channel, such as colour.” –
Tice Mehmet
 “The design usually depends on what show it is, for example: when Match of the day is
about come on they usually show footballers in a circle kicking the ball in the middle.” –
Ronnie Mavambu
 Focus Group: Due to my research I found out various information about idents. A majority
of the interviewers claimed that Idents usually consist of colours to make the ident stand
out as well as bold letters. It also attracts the customers.
 Questionnaires: A majority of the participants stated that the design of an ident usually
consists of stuff that will grab the viewers attention such as: bold letters, bright colours.

9. I have added two different BBC 1 idents below shown in
different years. You clearly see the change between the two.
What is the reason for this change?

10. History
BBC one has made many alterations to their idents over the years. We
see the change from 1969 till present from its simple black and white
format to a use of more sophisticated colours. This is due to the use of
high-level technology in our today‟s society.
Moving images have now been put in place, especially with BBC 1 using
the shape of a circle as a constant motif. This is effectively done so that
viewers can easily memorise the channel, and also to represent unity and
togetherness in our society.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xOCBj_PACE

11. 4 Ident
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R94X1M7r1SU&feature=relmfu
The design of the ident is an effective element to create a memorised and unique
picture for the viewers. One of the main examples of this is the channel „4‟ ident;
whilst the camera is moving, we see that they use parts of the surrounding to merge
in to a „4‟ logo. The setting is situated in Tokyo which shows a very busy
environment. The narrator announces a forthcoming programme that will be shown
that is based on “kung fu fighting” which happens to be a very distinguished segment
within the Japanese culture. This brings a link between the two and allows it make
the viewers think.

12. Thanks for your time