Cbeebies, albeit fun and silly (a style that I love) was a difficult one to process ideas for as it took me a while to think of something that would be suitable for young children but also engage them quickly in the ident. Bright colours and a fun story are all fine and dandy, but if you lack appeal it can fall through and possibly mean nothing to the audience. I had to find a way of using the same sort of appeal Cbeebies used for their idents.
Their current mascots if you like, are the jiggly yellow blobs that seem to be able to morph into any shape and mould themselves appropriately into a shape depending on the occasion. At Christmas, I remember that they could transform into trees and candy canes and bounce up and down while being surrounded by falling snow. This is a very simple way of gaining attention from the little ones. I'm personally not a fan of the big, black outline that the characters have surrounding them. I suppose this makes them easier to spot and follow on the screen, but if I were to engage a very young audience, I'd want to start with something softer and less harsh on the eyes.
In order to do this, I thought of various ideas. My first was to have a theme that most children would find appealing and yet be educational to an extent as it may something that kids can identify with. That theme was animals. I thought about have a small, green bush in a bright jungle/plain background so not to draw attention from the foreground or make the ident too busy, and make it rustle a little bit. Then, "cut out" looking lions, tigers, bears and other animals would crawl out from behind the bush smiling with large, beady eyes. The logo would then wipe across the top of the screen to resemble a sort of rainbow. The animals would blink sweetly and tilt their heads.
I really like the first idea and more could be achieved from using a theme that has a mutual connection with children. Another I thought of was to use a spaceship/UFO/flying saucer flying across the screen and wobbling from left to right in its path. It would then stop and drop an alien from it's trapdoor onto the floor of which will hold the logo. The background again would be very plain as not to distract attention. I could make a few little stars to scatter across the frame to set the scene. Boys would especially find this interesting as it has the potential to be gross and "gooey" looking. I wanted a more gender-neutral idea though.
The third idea I had was to have a cute little ice skater or dancer spinning across the screen, again in a cutout style to give it the softness that a girl's animation would be associated with. She would spin and dance as the logo fades in as she holds a pose at the end. She would maybe wink or blush to add to add a touch of fun. A pale, pastel coloured background could be used whereas the character would be bright and eye-catching. I still thought a gender-neutral animation would benefit Cbeebies more in terms of audience ratings.
I was very very fond of the animal idea and think it is simple enough and appealing enough to work with all children. I will expand on this more and research into styles, animation techniques and so forth.
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