AS1: Task 1 - Understanding the purpose of TV indents and the opportunities they present.

What is a television indent?

An indent is a mini video which is included before a programme is about to begin for a short amount of time. In Television indents there are a number purposes which can aid the importance of what it actually does, here are some examples.

1) Identifying the channel

The obvious function for the television ident if for the viewer to identify the channel. There are many people that watch TV and do not realize that this can be a very useful tool because as much as people want to watch TV daily, they would want to know what exactly it is they are watching. Based on that point, using indents proves that it is as important for viewers to identify what channel they are watching or want to watch.

 

This ident first appears in 1953 on BBC as a commercial TV began to expand and viewers need to be able to identify different channels. The very first indent that began for the BBC was nicknamed the "Bat Wings". Compared to the indents the BBC use today, you can see a huge difference in terms of the use of just images and color as well. Indents have changed a great deal and new technologies have played a large role in their development. An example of this is in the 1960's when the first "BBC TV" logo within a circle was introduced and appeared on top of a map of Britain split into the BBC's broadcast regions. The most famous ident "the globe" appeared in 1963. It rotated as the BBC TV logo would appear and a voice would announce... "This is the BBC Television." This was very simple and not very exciting compared to some of the idents the public see today. In the early 90 was when satellite television emerged and became even more important for television idents. These purposes introduced more organised and and structured idents in television for example:

2) Organizing the schedule.

When referring to keeping a channels schedule organised, idents play a vital role in this. It is an ideal opportunity to provide the audience with key information about programming on that channel and the information may entice the viewer to continue watching that particular channel rather than switching to another channel. The best advantage of this is that it can engage the viewer and trick them into thinking that what they are watching is most probably better than anything else that is on.

For instance, like these idents on VIVA, all of the them are shown in slow motion but then all scenes are of people partying or having fun with the people they want to have fun with. This gives the impression that VIVA want the viewers to stay in their seats to engage with the fun that the viewers see the people are having in the idents. Adding onto that, the fact that all idents are shown in slow motion it tempts the viewers to want to know what will happen next which is the purpose of the VIVA idents. 

3) Segmentation of the schedule 

Compared to commercial channels such as ITV and channel 4, non commercial channels such as BBC do no have the time between programmes that advertisements provide for the commercial channels. There are a phew reasons as to why the BBC would not want any time left between the programmes they have scheduled. One reason is so that they have control of their viewers. I say this because if they have no time left it is only because they want their viewers to keep watching their channel and sort of give them a reason to want to watch the BBC. Also not everyone likes watching plenty of adverts, some think that this may be pointless in some personal way so the BBC could easily relate and draw those viewers' that feel that way by not including any of that.

Idents therefore add time in between programmes to:

- Provide info
- Promote a variety of programming
- Regulate the schedule (full time)
- Provide a break for studio workers (News, Sports)

4) Creating the right tone: and appealing to the target audience. 

An ident is more than just allowing the viewer to identify a channel, it also has a chance to provide the audience with information about the channel. This is important as it sets the right tone for the channel it is on and is appealing for the target audience. In addition to that when having the channel BBC four arrived it built its reputation on having more factual and informative programming. It is also important that the tone set is appropriate for the age group of the channel. Cbeebies and CBBC have different idents that are appropriate for the different age groups they refer to. Here are two examples:

CBeebies idents are very calm and gentle as it is a channel meant for little babies and toddlers. On the other hand, CBBC is very diverse compared to CBeebies. CBBC is more rough and reckless and shows plenty of things boys like to do like the skateboarding and laughing at silly things like the goat eating the computer in the beginning. CBeebies do not need a lot happening in their ident because young children are amused by bounce things they see which will instantly make them laugh and giggle. However both idents do similarly use really bright colours because children in general get bored very easily by things that do not attract them the first time, and so using these bright colours is an advantage as it gets more children interested in it more. 

5)  Packaging re-packaging

h idents, it can not only aid the popularity of the business itself but also other businesses. It can:

market opportunities, package and re-package and promote the company

6) Creating a brand and encouraging brand loyalty.

Building a "brand" for a particular channel is vitally important it encourages them to stay loyal to that channel. An ident helps to endorse the brand of a particular channel by allowing the audience to become familiar with the logo and style of the channel. It is a visual reminder of a particular channel and imprints the "brand" into the mind of the audience. This makes them more likely to watch the channel again. 

7) Branding of particular content. 

:Re-branding a channel

A channel like More 4 and ITV1 recently re-branded their channel and entirely changed its image. For example like this More 4 ident we see that the atmosphere is very calm and relaxing which reflects the image of the channel. More 4 is a channel that is aimed at viewers who are at home during the day so the colors used are bright and vibrant to give the impression that it could be a sunny day in.

ITV1 also created new idents as there were many things to promote. This is an entertainment programme so they could promote anything in their idents, here's an example. This ident is fun and involves a lot of the Christmas mood in it but most importantly ITV1 included a variety of television soaps shown on ITV1 such as coronation street and Emmerdale. This is a great marketing tool these soaps as ITV1 is an entertainment channel and anybody would want to sit in their seats to watch entertaining programmes and these idents can reflect this.

In comparison to the first Christmas ident ITV1 has, this is different. This ident is shown before the news is about to come on and we see that this still has the same Christmas designs and decorations but there is no fun in it. We can see maturity in this ident as the camera moves slower and in more control. Instantly viewers are aware that something important is coming on that they would want to / need to watch.