A Look into the creation of on screen graphics,idents and title sequences within television. Understanding the fundamentals in which they are designed and ultimately their purpose within todays media.
INTRODUCTION: An ident is really a distinguishing feature of a companies image. A audience can associate the whole brand from a logo used or reconise them from the music within it. Normally showcasing the company logo in such a way that looks interesting to the viewer, that in some way reinforces the brand ethos or outlooks. In some cases it also could lets the audience know whats coming up next on the channel. They are specifically desgined to be of a duration that fits neatly within the intervals of each programme.
1* 'Station idents are normally used in between shows, and by some are considered the most important portion of a network's presentation'
Idents are always being reinvented and changed. You can see a gradual advancement from the rather basic idents to the ones of today that are miticulously planned and artistically pleasing to the eye. Marketers have to realise and understand that advertisement , when television is concerned, moves very fast and unlike other forms needs a particular asthetic and feel in order to not look dated several months after the ident is made.
2 * 'Television is unlike any other industry. While you can transfer marketing principles from fast-moviing consumer goods to the medium, you cannot treat it as if it were a can of beans; you have to understand that the marketing environment is different.' Martin Lambie Nairn - Brand identity for television With Knobs On ,(1997)
Rather than target one product that will be manufactured and sold over and over, television has to sell the many programmes that appear on it. This requires a different approach entirely.
Taking into consideration the diverse nature in channels available today, if everyone used and showcased similarly themed brand logos that didn't differentiate from one another it wouldn't attract, or keep existing viewers interested. I feel in certain cases you can see one Channel has picked certain elements from another ident used, that has worked particularly well, and then applied the same to their own in order to achieve the same sucess. This approach to marketing, all be it safe, results in all the brand logos being rather similar and dull ultimatley depleating the orginal idea of all its weight and style it once held.
3 * ' The trouble is with these copycat identites is that theay are a pale imitation of the orginal. You look like everybody else, so you do not stand out from the crowd, and because you do not stand out from the cowd you become invisible' - Brand identity for television With Knobs On, Phaidon ,(1997)
Commercial enterprises soon realised that their company ident is not only an entity in which showcases a product by something in which their whole brand is recognised. Now knowing that having a new and inventive ident attracts interest from the public, companies sought after individuals that could design fresh and state of the art ideas. Its from the likes of Graphic designers ,like Martin Labie-Nairn, that have applied their universally accepted design aesthetics within the realms of television idents.
MARTIN LAMBIE-NAIRN: Descidbed as the King of Idents, Martin Lambie Nairn is resposible for some of the most iconic and recognisable Channel logos in the media world. Beginning his career as graphic designer, Nairn then became involved with the BBC moving on to further hone his skills with the likes of ITN and London Weekend TV. However Lambie Nairn's big break came from his pioneering desgin for channel 4 .Designing the logo that's still used today, this idea revolutionized the television advertising world.This ident had a deep impact on the way logos were used and represented in the media from then onwards.
4 * "When he designed the pioneering ident for a fledgling Channel 4. It was to have a profound effect on both graphic design and advertising on British TV." - www.theindependant.com
The by product of this was a series of adverts then designed by Lambie Nairn and his company from the History Channel to the BBC his work was instantly recognisable and highly innovative. There was thought and design with the intent to have an affect on an audience.
5 * " It dawned on me that the solution was to change the designs from inert objects into characters, which were warm and could entertain." -www.theindependant.com
Applying the same themes that Nairn did, other channels began to see that showcasing their brand logo in a way thats not methodical and rigid results in a far better brand image. For and example, when Nairn designed the idents for BBC 3 he introduced a set quirky orange characters to the channel. Aimed at a younger market the channel needed an image to reflect its audience so Lambie Nairn designed the "Blobs"
6 * "We delivered a series of award-winning idents that helped establish the channels charming, funny
and irreverent personality. Our young target audience fell in love with them, and quickly took BBC 3 to their
hearts." Lambie-nairn.com
Overall Martin Lambie-Nairn changed the way companies used idents as a means to sell or showcase programmes or events.
Without his innovation and clever thinking there is a chance idents of today would be lifeless and bland. Using original concepts
Nairn has left his mark on the advertising world and his consepts are still applied today.
TITLE SEQUENCE PLAN: After watching a wide variety of title sequences, and taking into consideration how they affect the presentation that follows, i eventually came to a rough idea of a context to use for an opening.
Watching the opening to Dexter, during which illustrates quite and intimate introduction to the main protagonist, is a scene in which we can all relate to, in the sense everyone gets up, washes and eats , however its through the extensive use of extreme close ups and the suggestive context in which its showcased that leads us as an audience to believe that underneath this very normal everyday scenario there is an underlying narrative. Applying the same framework from the title sequence of Dexter, i wanted to display a scene of a similar nature but without the evocative theme throughout. Just dipicting a character in an almost uncomfortably close and personal nature.
Another short i drew inspiration from was a short music video directed by Gustav Johansson for the band Karl X Johan. There is a loosely stuctured narrative throughout, however the part i feel which contributes most to the feel of the piece is the shot choice. DOP Niklas Johansson, much like the opening of Dexter, there is a similar intimate aesthetic that exaggerates each of the senses.
Taking into consideration both of the shorts, i want the same familiar sense of intimacy but to really pin point each sense and hone in on it to amplify the intense nature of the experience.
TITLE SEQUENCE EVALUATION: To achieve the close ups i desired, i needed to rent a lens that could capture shots in high detail. Renting macro lens abled me to do this. Having seen examples of other similar projects i had ideas of each shot i wanted mainly ilustrating the human senses from sight to sound getting close to each character. In terms of a narrative throughout i thought i could use the title sequence to be the opening of a film or documentary that looks intimately at the human form choosing to title the fictional piece ' Intimacy '.
I felt looking back that it could of in some ways related more to the film/programme itself, however i feel it lacked in this area due to me knowing what i wanted to capture, but not having a clear idea as to what to use it as on opening for untill very late into the production. I would have to concentrate more on the idea generation which i found relatively tough on this particular project. I feel though as to the footage capture, it worked relatively well, using subtle lighting really highlited areas i was capturing at the time. Looking back it was mainly due to the loose nature of the narrative i was unhappy with other than that i feel it was generally a problem free production. To combat this problem i feel i need to work on my idea development as a whole in order to avoid this happening again.
TITLE SEQUENCE TREATMENT: Opening with shots of eyes opening and slow down quite a considerable amount in order to emphisize the pupils dilating when the eyes open up. From there it will cut in time quite quickly with the music to generate quite a rhythmic feel to piece. From there it begins to show shots, from the mouth down, showing eating and drinking on very close up scale. Upon closing it will cut to black then the logo will fafe into view. The Writer will apear also shortly after, by having a quick flash of white the same will follow for Director, then fading to black.
PERSONAL TITLE SEQUENCE: Having looked into the various different asthetics and ways in which logos and title sequences are designed, we had to then apply this to our own personal sequence. On planning i wanted to have a relatively minimal design with thin white lettering upon a black background. There wasn't really an inspiration i found or try to recreate in my own, in a sense i knew the product i wanted to create and began designing it.
TITLE Sequences: The general idea behind the title sequence is to give the audience a small taster of what's to come from the production to follow. Without revealing too much, they should should set a tone and in some cases introduce any key characters briefly.
BBC 2 IDENT: To further gain an understanding for the structure of idents and how compostion affects the final result, we had to design a mock logo for BBC 2 and from any medium available use it to create and original concept. Layout, musical score or how its animated all contribute to how it will affect the theme of what your advertising. If you generally take the BBC idents in general , they are very clean sometimes minimal and generally simple ideas. This is really to accomodate the audience they are targeting.
Designing my own ident i looked across both BBC 1 and 2 to get a general feel of how they have evolved from the beginning and to how they look now. From that I could get some sort of inspiration to how I would construct my own. I wanted to have a simple idea, making it easy to watch concentrating on showcasing the logo in big bold letters plain and simple.
I looked at Rudd Studios portfolio of work and particularly liked the channel 4 idents they did, in the way they are very minimal that use they show the logo very clearly in each but in a way that looks sleek and exactly the design aesthetic I wanted.
BBC 2 IDENT EVALUATION: Having each segment of the logo track into position worked well however I felt the background behind the number two could of highlighted the logo more and draw your attention. I feel this happened since it was slightly out of position in relation to the rest of the ident. If i were to approach this again I would use another medium maybe look into animation instead. The soundtrack was non descript and couldnt really associate anything particular with it, this worked well since it can then be viewed by all ages with having unwanted connotations or have it tarnished with an unwanted opinion of view.
PERSONAL TITLE PLAN: I wanted to have a particularly uncluttered minimal theme to the logo. I feel when it comes down to logos the 'less is more' approach works well, you dont want to overwhelm the audience or make it look tacky. So i decided to keep it clean and just stick to using a simple design approach.
I wanted the text to be central in the screen so you literally are staring at that and nothing else, with a simple boarder surrounding it maybe emphasizing the logo. I used after effects to design the entire sequence, this enabled me to have the see through boarder i desired. Using some footage i shot i applied this underneath the text layer so it showed through gaps whilst the logo faded up into view. In total i feel i would want it to last no longer than ten seconds, that being the maximum length since i dont want the audience to loose interest during the advert.