Unit 32: Assignment 1: Task 2

Understanding the limitations of the television ident:

A television ident should be kept consistent as to keep with what the channel tends to put out, however this consistency can often be a drawback as it means that only a certain amount can be done with keeping consistency.

Typography: The style and appearance of printed matter.
When making a an ident for a television programme, the style of the font has to stay very similar to each other, for example, the BBC's idents tend to stay very similar, with a few slight similarities in font and design. However it is also a good thing as it creates a sense of consistency.

Colour: The property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light.

Most channels usually have a specific colour they tend to stick to when creating an ident. For example, BBC One tends to stick to using the colour red in it's idents, E4 tends to stick to using the colour purple in it's idents, and, when it was around, BBC3 used a neon pink in it's idents. It is also used so that you can easily identify the channel quickly.

Aspect-ratio: The ratio of the width to the height of an image or a screen.

All HD programmes, except for some, are delivered in 16:9 format, meaning that the picture will fit into a 16:9 screen, with no distortion. 

However, in some situations, a programme will not fit into these dimensions, and thus, a few alternatives have been thought up as a way around it.

Pillar-boxed HD Material:  

Some pillar-boxed material is acceptable at the discretion of the of the broadcaster where it has been acquired on a medium that has the capability to be transferred to a legitimate HD resolution.

Floating Images:

Short sequences of images surrounded by black borders, which may be used for artistic effect, and may also be used by older programmes which do not fit the required dimensions. 

Adhering to a desired tone:

Channels have particular idents to fit with the theme of their content, for example, because BBC4 is a more informative channel, with more documentaries and informative programmes, they have idents to fit in with the content, this is why many of their idents feature natural things, such as flowers, and landscapes. This means that they are able to keep in touch with what they're broadcasting, this also helps create brand identity, and loyalty.

Duration:

Most television idents are made long originally, which means that when they are broadcasted, they can either be kept at their original length, or trimmed down to a certain length to fit into a certain space, if you make it too short, it means it can only fit into a small space, and if there is a large space needed, it means that you are going to be unable to fill the space.

Here we see two idents that are the same, however one is short and one is long, which means that they can be used to fit into a small or large gap into broadcasting.