OUAN406 - A Tale in The Sting: Researching Idents & Channels

OUAN406 - Research:

After a thorough scouring of E4's, Cbeebies' and Discovery Channel's websites for idents they have previously used and are currently using, I noticed that they catered to their target audiences very well. I also had a look at BBC Four's website and noticed that they are indeed a very refined and sophisticated channel with high-end documentaries and very informative and factual news programmes. Their idents also very much conformed to this image as they feature(d) rather lovely photographs of birds flying, waves lapping a beach, flowers blooming and many other natural idylls that depict beauty and knowledge.

I also spotted one set in a library showing a child reaching for a book as the ladder moves and almost teleports her to another part of the bookshelf. This overall theme of information and nature is pretty much what the BBC is all about and didn't appeal to me half as much as the other three as I felt I was restricted more so than the others in terms of what I could do for the BBC. Cartoons aren't usually associated with the refined and older generations as it is a fairly modern practice. In order to create what I would like for the BBC, I would probably have to turn to such methods as pixilation or a method using photography as this to me seems more plain, simple and can focus on the reality of the world around us more successfully.

Cbeebies' idents were very much child-oriented (which would seem a no-brainer!) with their bright colours, fun sounds effects, happy, smiling faces, and cute characters. Their signature character seems to be (in the past decade anyway) a little yellow blob with about the same consistency of morph (bouncy and fun), sporting a cute, exaggerated face. This would instantly grab children's attention and this is probably done through the use of bright colours and an appealing character in general. Including a face on character aimed a children is a wise move as children can identify with a face, especially if exaggerated motion and facial expressions play a part in the character's makeup, and young children who may not completely understand the concept of expression yet can learn through the character. The soundtracks used for idents on Cbeebies were overall very upbeat, happy and "bouncy". Lots of noise keeps kids interested and if you can keep a child interested during an ident then there's a fair chance they'll want to watch the following programmes thus increasing channels' ratings and viewings which in turn makes them more successful as a company.

Discovery Channel's idents were very simplistic yet interesting at the same time. Their most recent idents feature a spinning "D" (their logo) which happens to be rotating around a spherical globe (another part of the logo) containing an image or short video clip of the following programme. They use very cold, mechanical colours to represent some of their channel's content (machinery, science, vehicles) which wouldn't really bother their audience as they have no purpose in keeping the likes of 2 year olds' attention spans. There's usually lots of slow motion clips shown in the ident with the purpose of making something usual seem incredibly interesting and unusual. The channel's purpose is to show documentaries based around machines, nature, science and all round knowledge. Unlike BBC Four, Discovery takes a rather fun and hands on approach to their programmes which makes their target audience slightly broader in comparison. Teenagers such as myself will find them fascinating as the likes of Bear Grylls' documentaries look at how things are done in first person making them action-packed and vibrant unlike the BBC who simply narrate in a fairly monotonous way to a series of pre-filmed clips.

E4 on the other hand is aimed at a broad range of people. 18-35 year olds are seen to be their audience and the reason for this would be as E4 say: "It provides bite-sized entertainment for the social networking generation" (e4.com) They are very much the modern twin of Channel 4 and allow for multi-platform entertainment (content available on xBox, PS3, PS4, xBox One etc.) which would be sought for by a younger generation. They feature American comedy and dramas heavily on their channel and to me come across as a fairly "indie" channel as they do things a little differently to the likes of most channels. They're not afraid to advertise using abstract methods, showing things from popular culture, retro memorabilia, blasts from the past...