Idents: Successful and Unsuccessful

Throughout the years, there are a number of television channels and film companies that have made some successful and unsuccessful idents. One television channel in particular stood out for me over the rest, and the change in the idents over the years made a huge impact on the audiences' views and opinions.

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but it tends towards more the 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio channels, it is funded by the television license and is therefore commercial-free. It is a comparatively well-funded public service network, regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most public service networks worldwide.

Over the years, BBC Two have had a number of different idents which advertise upcoming shows on the channel, and the channel itself. Nearly all of the identity packages used since the channel's launch in 1964 have featured a prominent numeral '2' in the design. Before this design, the word 'TWO' was the official logo. 

This was the BBC Two logo of 1986. I think it's incredibly basic, and has almost been unedited. The RGB makes it very scripted, and the drop shadow makes it look cheap and a little bit tacky. The key to a good ident, in my eyes, is lots of movement throughout both the foreground and the background, and this is very still. It's not very memorable at all, and the lack of excitement is a real let down.

When former controller of the BBC, Alan Yentob, read the research, and realised the audience perception of BBC2, it confirmed in his mind the need for a new identity as quickly as possible. Audience researched revealed that the packaging for BBC2 had not kept pace with the changing product. 'Quiet', 'middle-class', 'snobbish' and 'boring' were the words that came to mind with viewers. The BBC2 identity, a 'TWO' logo, did nothing to convey the channel's newly-developing, more pluralistic personality.

"I realised that the TWO identity was a problem as soon as I took over the channel. It was obvious that the logo made absolutely no impact. It was singularly unmemorable and it told you nothing about the channel... I think people love the new '2'. It has received lots of fan mail and correspondence. We will definitely be renewing its contract!" - Alan Yentob: Former controller of BBC2 - now director of programmes, BBC Television.

After the new '2' logos and idents were launched in 1991, the public took a shine to them and started believing in BBC2 a lot more than they used to with the old TWO logo. The 1991 '2's featured a serif numeral '2' being at the centre of an initially art-related scene; however the idents moved away from this style later on as the station's style changed. Although highly praised, this expansive set of idents was ended in November 2001. The BBC corporate logo was updated within the idents in October 1997, though the idents moved away from the original viridian colour scheme in these latter years.

"The BBC2 identity was mould-breaking. Everyone warmed to it. It was a six-lane highway that could take you anywhere you wanted to go. It offered no limit to what you could achieve. BBC1 was much more difficult. The flagship. It really was where angels feared to tread. It was like the designer being assigned to the next series of Dr Who. Who would dare update the original titles?" - John Aston: Former head of graphic design, BBC Television.

The new look for BBC2 was launched on 16 February 1991. Just a few months before, the new piper identity for British Telecom by Wolff Olins had leaked out and received a universally awful press. It was sneered at by the broadsheets and mauled by the tabloids. The Sunday Times had published a feature on bow-tied, corporate-identity con-men taking gullible corporations for an expensive ride. It was not a great time for the BBC to be launching new identities and we were frankly awaiting the hostile fallout. The BBC decided this would be a low-key launch. Three journalists turned up to the launch announcement and one of them was the BBC's own media correspondent.

The BBC" figure because a talking point, perceived as sophisticated, witty and stylish. The BBC's own designers were swift to see the creative opportunity of the character that ran with it. They were encouraged to make their own films, many of them destined to be award winners over the next few years.

I really like the modernized BBC2 idents and logos as I feel each one is very unique in its own way. On 18 February 2007, BBC2 launched their new set of titles called Window on the World. By 2007, BBC2 needed another thorough rebrand as the previous idents were starting to lose their purpose. A new set of idents were therefore commissioned by advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, and was produced by Red Bee Media, who made the current idents for BBC One. The new design needed to work, both on television, but also online, as a website and as live streaming feed.

Overall, I really like the way BBC2 have changed their logos and idents throughout the years. The change from TWO to 2 was a really good idea as it completely changed the image of the channel for the better, and it's been proved by the audience themselves that it worked in the BBCs favour.

- O

Idents: The Purpose and Nature

Idents are the small segment of media shown at the beginning of a specific television show or film. Stereo-typically, it will be a 10-30 second clip highlighting the main subject of a television channel or film company, and will grab the audiences' attention.

There are 6 main reasons as to what the purpose of television idents are; identity, branding, marketing, packaging and re-packaging, scheduling and segmentation within scheduling. These are extremely important to think about when thinking of the purpose of the ident, as they will ultimately give the audience a cemented idea as to what the television channel is like.

Firstly, television idents are created to make the channel identifiable to the audience watching on the television. They're made to stand out from other channels and to give themselves that staple image. Idents are mostly seen on the television, but it's important for other points of media such as posters, flyers and websites.

As above, idents often have their own color scheme either matching the channel as a whole, or in some cases, specific shows. E4 have the traditional deep purple colours, whereas BBC One has the red ring outline with the blue capturing the main feature, in this case, the surfer wave.

This BBC One ident is one that I don't think anybody could ever get bored of. That opening music chime that comes just before the main feature of the person in the red cape on the bike is so distinctive now, that without even looking at the television, my whole house knows what's coming. For me, when this comes on, I know The One Show is just seconds away.

The main colour scheme for BBC One and BBC One HD is post-box red. This ident mirrors this as the first colour we see on it is the red, worn by the bike rider (top left screen-cap.) A couple of shots later, the colour red starts intertwining with the traditional 'rainbow' colours, revealing a number of people riding bikes in a circle. This then ties in with the next significant feature that BBC One have, which is the circle.

The circle could just be a random shape they came up with, but with being the media student that I am, my guess is that a lot of thought went in to it. I've researched the lengths and depths of Google and I cannot find anything, but I'll just make an assumption. To make the ident identifiable to everyone watching, it has two have two distinctive features; colour and shape. With the colour being red, and the shape being round, it has a distinctive look that no other TV channel has. The circle could possibly indicate the 'O' on the word 'one'. Comparing it to BBC2, this seems possible, as BBC2 focus on the number '2' in their ident design.

Focusing on the ident subject, the bikers in the rain with multicoloured capes, this could be a significant feature to when the ident was broadcast on television. This ident was first seen on BBC One at 9pm in August 2009. According to the UK Met Office, the rainfall for this time of year was "above normal". This could possible coincide with the design and it being focused on the rainfall, as the camera partakes in a few shots of puddles and raindrops on the ground.

These are just 6 of many idents that BBC One have created for their pre-television show adverts. As you can see, all 6 of them focus on the circle motion, giving it the distinctive look again. The 6 themes used are also very modern, which could attract the younger audience, as well as the adults.

Commonly, there is a slight theme with these idents. I normally see the fairground one on a Saturday night, before an entertainment show. The hippos/kites are normally seen before things like Countryfile and The One Show. I think it's really important to have a certain target audience with idents, as it gives the viewers an insight as to what the show coming after it is possibly about.

.......................................................................

Designing idents with ITV

Matt Rudd had the responsibility of designing a brand new ITV logo that would appear on the television, website, advertisement posters, social networking sites, etc. "I wanted the ITV logo to get off the fence and stand for something. Alongside the informative BBC and the provocative Channel 4, ITV is friendly and warm. It brings about shared emotional experiences. I felt that the logo should be based on handwriting, and that the letters might be lower case joined up."

Rudd began sketching down his initial ideas to create a platform on which he could take off from. With the joint handwriting, the logo could be easily made into a moving image and look as if somebody was writing the text. This would then begin to match with his specification of "ITV is friendly and warm". It's important for graphic designers to keep their designs as simple, yet effective, as possible as this will give the ident as much lee-way as needed when creating short clips to put in-between television shows.

Incorporating logos into idents is a very significant feature that all television channels do, as it gives them a distinct and unique image, which people will associate with their favourite channels. Keeping them simple is also a key way of the audiences remembering the channel and who it is associated with in general. 

These are the first digital copies of the newly branded ITV logo. Rudd stated "I wondered whether the use of symbols within the V might work across the sub-brands", such as ITV Love, Be, 2. In my opinion, I think this does work. The block colours make the logo and segments stand out compared to other brands, and has a warmth to it with being quite smooth, as the others tend to be quite square.

Above is a look at the new marque alongside other broadcasters' logos. Rudd felt that it was distinctive and legible, but the heart symbol was too much. The typography alone had enough warmth to it. At this point, Rudd started to work with Fontsmith. He added "it was great getting into the detail. As well as considering the weight and proportion, we wanted to formalise the marque so that it had authority and gravitas, whist remaining its human DNA."

Designing the logo in the way Rudd did is such a clever idea, especially how he then compared it to other broadcasters'. It gives a clear sight of how it looks in comparison, and whether it's the right way to go with it or not.

Rudd then continued to design and play around with the ITV logo to see how it would look with different themes and how it would work across the sub-brands. From the beginning of the project, Mark Rudd and Rufus Radcliffe, group director of marketing and research at ITV, talked about the idea that the main channel would have many colours whilst other, more specialist channels, would have single colours. "Multiple colours would speak of the varied content on the main channel. In the first place, we looked at using the silhouette of the new logo as a window on an animating world of swirling colour."

The final job for Rudd was to pick a hero set of colours for use. The upbeat and modern colours are picked from across the colour spectrum to suggest the network's wide range of content.

I really, really like the new logo. As Mark Rudd stated, it captures the variety of content that ITV provides for its audience. The black may represent the crime dramas, whereas the green and orange could represent more upbeat shows such as reality entertainment shows, suitable for all ages.

I will take into consideration the design concept of Rudd's process when creating my logo and ident as it gives a clear step-by-step method that makes creating the final ident a lot easier, and it becomes more effective.

- O

{Sources:}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BBC_television_idents

http://www.logodesignlove.com/itv-logo

That's The Way To Do It: Website

Theykey factor for making a website in the media industry is to keep it as simple as possible. Simplicity is definitely key when it comes to showing off your work and attracting potential companies to contact you and maybe offer you jobs so they can use your services. After viewing a number of websites I have decided to talk about Alistair Lane's. I really like the general layout of the whole site and think it attracts the visitors by keeping it simple.

The main feature that is plastered across this whole website is simplicity. I really like how Alistair has kept it classy and sophisticated by having a strict colour scheme and minimal features. There's nothing worse than having a website in which you can't work out the structure. This website has two separate 'rooms' if you like; the main introduction (as above), and the interactive area. This can be viewed by scrolling down the website, and you will come across this:

This section of the website allows you to view Alistair Lane's work in an easy manor. It's crystal clear in terms of content. What I like about this is the thumbnails, which give you an overview of what each particular section will be showing. The camera indicates that this will be his photography work, whereas the music note indicates a song or music production work. A small description below helps the visitor acknowledge a small insight as to what the particular section is showing.

The clarity of this website as a whole is absolutely faultless. The basic colour scheme makes it easy to navigate around, and the text is easy to read and acknowledge. Comparing this site to the one below, I feel like they have similarities that are different. Both have the striking header to welcome the audience to the site, and from here, they scroll down to see the productions and features that are available to click and view.

If I had to pick a second favourite, it would be Pascal van Gemert's. It has similar features to Alistair Lane's but at the same time, is quite different. My favourite aspect of this is the moving header (above) and the way the colour scheme completely flows throughout the whole website.

The yellow and green give the website that professional feel and a crisp, clean finish. The layout of this part of the site is well laid out. With an image in the middle and text either side, it evenly distributes the features so it isn't just a big bunch of text in the middle of the screen. By giving it, what almost looks like, three separate columns, it creates more depth and layers for the site.

-

Overall, I think it's really important for people in the media industry to keep their websites simple as it creates a mysterious angle for their work. The less people see, the more they want to know. It's the same with everything. By keeping the text simple, and the images monotone, it intrigues people to investigate more. This way, the website designer displaying their work will have more publicity and views.

As well as keeping them simple, they must still be dynamic in order for the audience to be able to remember it, and want to visit the site again. I, for one, actually looked forward to critiquing these two websites as it would give me a chance to really look at them in depth, and how they've structured them as a whole.


- O

{Websites critiqued- http://www.alistairlane.com/ & http://www.pascalvangemert.nl/#/profile}

Production #1: Walk Towards Camera

Our first production of Year 2 was to recreate that generic "cool" theme that's often seen in films and television shows to portray a character in a certain manor.

It all began with us choosing our groups in which we would film individual shots in, at our own location. Most people chose the outside, as it was a sunny day and would be a better backdrop. This would make it look more professional when it came to editing. After watching the 'inspiration' behind our own productions, we then ventured out and experimented with our own walks. 

Myself, Naomi Doddridge, Sam Shaw, Matt Jury, Kim Noot and Chloe Binding all chose a location which was situated not far from college. It was an abandoned road that had a cobbled floor, which made the shot look quite quirky and interesting. 

All Night Long - Walk Towards Camera

When it came to editing, myself and Sam decided to edit together. As it was quite a simple thing to do, we decided to try and make it more enjoyable and put a humour-like twist on it and have the footage in synchronicity with the music. 

I really enjoyed producing this video, as it was quite a fun and light-hearted production to start Year 2 with!


- O

Why Fireflies and City Lights?

Since making this blog public I've had quite a few questions as to why it has this name. Fireflies and City Lights. Pretty random, I know, but there is a method behind the madness.

Fireflies and City Lights are two of my favourite songs by my favourite music artists, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. There aren't many teenagers in the UK that are country music fans, but I am. I absolutely adore it. Unlike the traditional genre's that I'm stereotyped to like; RnB, dance, pop. I think that country music has that something extra to offer. It tells a story. Every single song has a story behind it and that's what made me fall so in love with it.

Fireflies was Faith Hill's sixth album, and was released on August 2nd, 2006. It was her 3rd number 1 album and has been certified 2x Multi-Platinum. On the album, the song Fireflies is my absolute favourite. Although it was never released as a single, it was still one of the most popular songs on the album. (Buy it. It's good. Fireflies on iTunes)

City Lights is Tim McGraw's new single on his brand new album Sundown Heaven Town, being released in the UK on September 22nd, 2014. (Buy it. It's good. Sundown Heaven Town on iTunes)

Combining these two names was a pretty simple thing to do as they fit together quite well, so with this blog, I've given it a new image to my previous one, and will have a theme of purple, yellow and white to keep it looking pretty and professional. My previous blog, strictlysavage.blogspot.co.uk, is still available to read!

- O