When a TV channel creates an ident, it doesn't just make one, they create what is known as a "suite" of idents. This means that there are multiple idents that are created that all share a similar theme that they all link together with.
Creating a suite of idents means that there will be a larger variety of idents that the audience will see instead of just the same ident over and over again. It also means that from the entire suite, smaller and shorter idents can be created to fill in very quick gaps in the schedule. Having the same theme also makes it easier to brand the channel making it easier for audiences to identify the channel with the ident being shown.
The video above is quite interesting because of the location of the ident. The London cityscape can be seen in the distance whilst there are two dancers who are doing "Capoeria" which is a Brazilian martial art, accompanied by Brazilian music. The ident was shown during lunch times on weekdays and due to the calm atmosphere given off by the ident, it was probably intended to be used to calm most people down if they get home from work at that time or something similar.
The Acrobats ident is also calm like the first rhythm and movement ident, and features the characters wearing the same colour scheme; red and white clothing. I don't like the music very much in this as it reminds me of a piece from a film that I have forgotten the name of, but I don't think it suits what is going on in the ident very well.
This is the Festival ident. This is probably one of the better idents in the series but the video isn't in time with the beat of the music although it is better than some of the other idents in the series. This ident doesn't follow the same colour scheme for the outfits, but it still retains the strong presence of red which is easily seen.
This is the Hip-Hop or Basketball ident. It's known as basketball because some of the movements done by the dancers in the ident are used in wheelchair basketball games.
I like this ident because the video is in time with the beat of the music. The colour scheme is still the same, red very noticeable as the colour of the clothing, wheelchairs, floor paint, basketball frame and white lights seen at the top.
Another good thing about a suite of idents is that the variety of idents allows for more idents to be shown that relate or suit the content that comes after it. It can also be used for the time of day to give people a certain mood. http://theident.gallery/c4-2004.php http://theident.gallery/c4-2004-2.php One thing that is consistent across all TV channels is that they all make a new ident suite for Christmas. You can see this happen every year and channels do this because of how much it makes people feel a certain emotion or mood when they see it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69quw1y-iak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQW4NyxUz2Q
Television idents need to be consistent and thus creating limitations on the ident. But this is not always a bad thing as the limitations help the company.
Typography in television idents is a limitation, but it's a limitation that has a certain degree of flexibility. The typography of a television ident can be changed slightly, such as making font bolder or larger, changing it from lower case letter to upper case letters but maintaining the same size or tilting some letters and changing the colours.
BBC has used several different fonts that vary in a lot of different ways, however it is still possible to see a very clear correlation between channels that they are owned by the same company. This is because BBC has made it easy to brand their company because of how clearly they identify themselves to the audience.
If you look at the "BBC one" idents you can notice that there is a consistent image being shown. The colour red in a circle with the "BBC one" being shown either in the middle of the circle or at the bottom of the screen.
Another reason why consistency is important is for the audience. It's to keep the audience from being surprised or disturbed from a sudden change in the consistency of the idents. Some people wouldn't like it if they found out that their favourite television channel has suddenly changed their idents from something consistent and familiar to something alien and completely unfamiliar with everything they have seen from the channel.
In keeping their consistency, channels also maintain their branding which makes it easier for the channel to be identified and it will make them more likely to host a special programme on their channel only which will also increase their popularity. Colour also matters with idents. Each and every channel, like their typography, has a specific colour scheme for their idents. BBC One always has red in their idents, no matter what the ident is like, it always has red in there somewhere, and it's almost always the exact same crimson red as well. Colour helps add more identity and uniqueness to idents, same as typography. It helps the audience understand what type of channel it is and what type of audience it is aimed more towards. So a limitation of the colour scheme on channels is that it always has to be the same so as not to confuse people with other channels, but that limitation is good as it means that there is always consistency in the idents as people will associate that colour scheme to the same channel they always see the ident on. Aspect ratio also plays a relatively big role on television as well. It always has as adverts need to be made using a specific aspect ratio, channels had to play programmes on the same aspect ratio and all of them had to use the same one. These days it has to be 16:9 because of how televisions are designed these days. Cinemascope ratio letterbox is used for dedicated movie channels who want to show programmes or movies in the cinema ratios 2:35:1 (28:1) or 1:85:1 which is centred on the screen vertically between two black frames on a 16:9 screen that has no geometric distortion whilst filling the screen. Floating images are images shown in a short sequence that are surrounded by black borders covering the edges of the screen. Televisions that have the "auto zoom" function tend to think that the black borders mean that the thing being shown needs to be a letterbox, causing the images to be zoomed in incorrectly which may make the viewer annoyed and could ruin the artistic intentions of adding the black borders. Pillarboxed HD material can only be shown if it is acceptable with the broadcaster where it has been acquired on a medium or material that can be transferred to real HD resolution. An example is 35mm film shot at 4 perf at an aspect ratio lower than 16:9. For this to be HD, the pictures need to be framed in a 16:9 raster with no geometrical distortion. Finally, duration. Idents are always filmed to be several minutes long so that the channel can show variation of the ident suite so as not to bore their audience with the same ident every time. Also, if the need arises, the channel can view several minutes of the ident to make up for a lot of extra time.
Television idents are short clips on a television channel made specifically for that channel. Idents are used after and just before a programme ends and starts respectively. It's more often found being shown after adverts to fill in some extra time, roughly going up to 1 minute to stay on the broadcasting schedule. They can also be used to show the programme schedule for the next few hours to keep people from switching channels because of the lack of knowledge on what will be shown later.
Television channel idents can also be used to identify the channel as it most often says in the ident the name of the channel that is being viewed. It can sometimes also give a small hint on what is to be shown on that channel, for example a channel that is dedicated to showing material about wildlife may have an ident that focuses on nature, whereas a different channel such as the BBC Sports channel, might use an ident that is somewhat related to sports, maybe using a specific colour palette or video clips of sports. The first television ident appeared on the BBC channel in 1953. It was nicknamed "Bat's Wings" due to the ident looking like a bat.
Over the decades, idents have changed quite a bit and have been seen in many variations. This is mostly due to the quick advancements in digital technology, allowing for a bigger variety of animations and methods of editing video clips using different programs and tools.
In 1963 an animated BBC ident appeared. It featured the "BBC tv" logo on a rotating globe as a voice said "This is BBC television". This newer ident is an updated version of the 1960 ident which was the "BBC tv" logo inside a globe that showed the BBC's broadcasting regions.
As the 20th century neared it's end, the increasing popularity of satellite television meant that there were an increasing number of television channels, thus making channel idents all the more important in order to clearly identify new channels from one another.
Since there are also television channels that are non-commercial such as the BBC, it doesn't show adverts in between programmes, it instead shows an ident that can show the programme schedule, offer information, fill scheduling time or sometimes offer breaks for studio workers on certain channels. This is good for the channel as it means that viewers do not need to sit through what could be a series of boring adverts before watching something that they want, although it gives them time to do something else before the next programme starts. This in turn keeps viewers more interested in the channel and they will watch more.
Idents can also set the tone and attract a specific type of audience to view the channel which will set a specific reputation for that channel and will possibly attract more of the target audience. An example is BBC Four. When it first arrived, it immediately started to build it's reputation for something that is aimed more towards people who prefer facts, information and who prefer watching something that isn't as mainstream as most other channels.
(this ident was made in 2006 but still reflects the channel quite well)
Another example of idents that are relevant to the channel viewers is BBC's CBeebies and CBBC which is aimed at infants and children who are nearing their teens' respectively. The channels offer programmes that are aimed at the age groups as well. CBeebies shows much more child-friendly programmes such as arts and crafts shows and stop-motion clay animations which shows a closely-knitted friendly community trying to solve a problem, whereas CBBC shows slightly more mature programmes such as Tracy Beaker, Horrible Histories, Blue Peter, Dick & Dom and many more.
Idents can also be used in different countries where the channel is aired however, in order for people to know that there are other channels from this company, it needs consistency in it's idents. BBC does this well as it has a wide variety of channels with different idents, but all of those idents show you that this channel is hosted by the BBC because they consistently show the name of the company along with the channel name as you can see from all the channel idents shown.
Consistency in channel idents also greatly helps build corporate identity so people will know that company better. BBC has channels dedicated to a lot of specific things; sports, world news, politics, news, CBBC, CBeebies, iPlayer and more. Since the presence of the internet is also ever-increasing, BBC iPlayer plays quite a big role on the internet. People are able to catch up on shows on iPlayer and watch things that they might have missed possibly by not being able to see it on TV. This is helpful for people who have busy lives or just didn't have enough time to watch that one programme that they wanted to. Or, if they don't own a television, people can check the website and see if they find anything interesting to watch. I know a few people that do this and tend to find interesting and informative documentaries often.
Consistency also helps build branding as it helps to endorse the brand of a channel by allowing the audience to become familiar with the style of the channel. This makes it so that they won't be uncomfortable or surprised when their favourite channel suddenly changes their ident to something completely different and unrelated to the channel. Consistency prevents the audience from changing channels because the idents will be easy to identify and relate to the channel it is being viewed on instead of thinking that it's from or for a different channel . Idents can also advertise programmes on the same channel, too. BBC did a few idents for Strictly Come Dancing which they screened before the programme came on. This let people know what was going to be shown next instead of either guessing or waiting to see if they would like it, possibly wasting their time.
These idents were all made to show the audience what was going to be shown soon on the channel. As you can see, they all relate to the main theme that the programme was going to show.
