Purpose and Design of Idents Report

Idents are played during an advert just before the programme begins; it is designed to show the logo of the channel and gives us an insight to what the channel is about.

One purpose of an ident is to show the channels identity or personality. An example of this is the E4 ident, this comes across as young, quirky and lively, this is due to E4 showing young, quirky and lively programmes on their channel.

Another purpose of an ident is to brand and market their specific channel. Marketing is the process in which we sell and promote a product. However, branding is representing products identity in a simple and usually visual form. An example of this would be the ‘big purple 4’ associated with E4.

One of my chosen idents is called 'kite' which was previously shown on BBC1.


One design feature shown in this ident is the density of information, this means how much information is contained on the screen at one time. In this particular ident there is no density of information as there is no narrator. There is nothing containing information about up coming programmes or telling us what the channel is about instead the ident chooses to focus on nothing relevant to the programmes shown on this channel. As there is no narrator the producers have chosen to include music into their ident as opposed to a narrator.

Another design feature shown in this ident is composition, this means how everything is composed on the screen, so how the elements are balanced out and how do they work together. As you can see the kites are specifically placed in the centre of the frame, as this is where the logo appears in the graphic match of a circle, which also links with other BBC idents as this circular form is played in each BBC ident. For example the Ident with the hippos swimming in circles ends in the same way. The BBC logo is shown for half of the ident, meaning that the composition is balanced out very well.

Space and time is another feature of this ident, this is where and when the ident is set. This could be settings like real world or a fantasy world. This ident is set in the real world, outside in a field. Everything in the setting is real, nothing has been animated. The props used are related to the viewers watching the channel. A big space is required in this ident as there are many actors using the props in order to eventually create a circle, in which the BBC logo later emerges from. Again this links with other BBC idents as the same circle image is portrayed to show the BBC logo in each of their idents. This links very well as we are constantly being reminded that the circle will appear as the BBC logo.

Another design feature shown is tempo, this can be defined as how fast the ident is. This ident has a very fast tempo, the music played is very fast, violins are normally classified as quite a fast instrument. This links in to the imagery we are seeing because it is edited in quite a fast pace matching the tempo of the violins. This reflects BBC's image as a whole because it is a channel that doesn't have advertisements on it apart from advertising their own shows so it is usually quite quick to get to a program and the program is uninterrupted so you can get through a show quickly. Also we imagine that the scene is very windy as kites often need wind in order to stay up. This wind effect makes the ident much faster as there are many props moving quickly. Also the camera shot changes very rapidly, this can appeal to younger viewers that are more able to keep up with the tempo of the ident.

Another design feature shown in this ident is interaction with viewers, this means how the information is being communicated, for example formal or informal. This ident seems to be quite informal as there are people having fun and doing a leisurely activity giving quite a relaxed happy feeling to the ident. This would appeal to a younger target audience that might have time to go out do these leisurely activities, on the other hand this could also appeal to older viewers that might reminisce about those days as the younger generation nowadays, prefer to do other activities such as watching TV.

The final design feature shown in this ident is whether it is informational or entertainment led, this means whether there is lots of visual entertainment or informational. This ident comes across as entertainment led, as no important details are given, where as there is lots of visual entertainment. There seems to be some sort of blueish filter on the men, making the kites incredibly bright red which stands out, this is due to the BBC logo being red.


Another ident I have chosen is the current BBC three ident.

One of the design feature in this ident is tempo. The tempo in this ident is fairly fast, however this can be down to the illusions causing us to think the ident is faster than it actually is. There is no type of editing being used in the ident, for example slow motion of speeding up. This is because the illusions are causing the fast tempo, this fast tempo would appeal to a younger audience.

There is no concept of space or time as the ident is based around graphics on a black screen. This is set in on a black canvas, using graphics to convey their ident. This concept of no space and time links well with the other BBC three idents as the majority of their idents, in this series, use no concept of space or time for example in BBC Threes Ident 2 of the series uses the same composition with the same concept of there being no space or time.

This ident is entertainment led, as their is comedy in the speech and there is not much information given. Instead of information about the programmes, the narrator chooses to identify that the upcoming programmes are ones to watch, leaving the audience wanting to watch these upcoming shows. There is lots of visual entertainment in this ident, including illusions, this might be because the channel has a younger target audiences, in which case the illusions would appeal to them.

The information  being communicated is being done so informally. This is because there is a great use of slang making the ident very conversational. Words being used such as 'loads' this is because the audience may be a lot younger and so the narrator would like to feel part of their age group, making them more interested in the programmes.

The composition of this ident is very balanced, as there is a variety of tittles and  the visual elements are balanced. As the illusions begin at the centre of the screen this is where they want the audience to look as this is where the logo later appears.

The level on information conveyed is fairly low, there is some information displayed in this ident however not a great deal. Most of the speech in the ident is the narrator making jokes towards the audience, she's not actually referring to the programmes or the channel itself, until the last few remaining seconds.


Another ident I have selected is the current History ident.

The tempo of this is ident is very slow, this is because there is two seconds of movement in the whole duration of the ident. The logo is moving during this ident, which slows the tempo down also the narrator isn't speaking exceptionally fast as he wants to get his information across. After the two seconds of movement there is a still frame, this is because this is a more informational ident.

There is no concept of space or time as the ident is based around graphics on a white screen. This is set in on a white canvas, using graphics to convey their ident. This might be because this channel has a very simplistic identity, thus meaning that they do not want other distractions being played in the background as they want their target audience to pay their full attention on the logo and what is being said.

This is a very informational ident, as there are no visual elements to it. The majority of this ident is the narrator informing the audience about the upcoming programmes. There is nothing else to take our attention away from his voice, meaning that all information can be conveyed effectively as we can concentrate fully on the narrator.

The narrator interacts well with the audience, this can be because he asks rhetorical questions. However, this is neither formal or informal, it leans slightly towards informal as he is conversational, however not too conversational but enough to interact well with the viewers. The rhetorical questions can be aimed at an older audience because in speeches rhetorical questions are asked, children are not expected to fully see the awareness of these type of questions and the effectiveness of them. This is due to the fact that the history ident has a more formal identity, therefore wanting to question their audience in order to prepare them for what they are about to watch.

The composition of this ident is balanced between the logo and the information given. There are three different elements in the ident, those being the logo and the two programme information. The logo is situation to the left of the screen, this is because they want the audience to pay attention to the information about the upcoming programmes.

There is a high density of information portrayed in this ident. It is informational because the narrator gives information, in depth, about the upcoming programmes. In fact there is so much information given, that the narrator gives away too much about the programme. This could enhance viewers to want to watch the programme by leaving a cliff hanger.

My final ident is currently played on ESPN America.

This ident has a moderate pace, the images all change together and they are still frames for a few seconds at a time. The images are all spread evenly apart, however the narrator speaks quite quickly this is because there is a lot of information to get across during the short space of time. The images change constantly as this portrays what happens in sports, a football game will constantly be changing. Therefore the purpose of the ident being moderately paced is because it is designed to link to sports.

This ident has a variety of different settings. However, they all have one thing in common, they are all related to American football. Whether it be officials, cheerleaders or players they are all images of each and are played for a few seconds until changing to another visual element. This is due to the fact that this is a sports channel, so everything will be related to the programme currently being showed.

This ident is informational, as we are given lots of information during the ident. This is not for entertainment, as there is no footage of the sports, just images. Also this helps focus more on what is being said rather than the visual elements of the ident affecting our concentration. This ident is informational as they want to inform the audience of upcoming fixtures, as these fixtures are live and will not be repeated.

The information being conveyed is formal. There is no use of slang and it is not very conversational. The narrator is taking short gaps after each sentence, giving the audience some time to process what is being said. This is due to the fact that they are targeting an older audience, more commonly older men, interested in watching the American football.

The composition in the ident is balanced. There are two visual elements, those being the logo and the still frames. The frames are continuously moving with the logo, however, the logo is always situated in the centre of the screen in every shot. This is because they want the audience the look at the logo first, before looking at the other visual elements on the screen. This links well with their previous idents as each of these portrays the same balanced composition, however using different images of different sports displayed in the background.

In this particular ident there is a high density of information. There is lots of information given by the narrator during this ident, which is why they have chosen to use images instead of clips, because they want the audience to focus on the information being conveyed. The information given is about upcoming fixtures and currently shown fixtures, this would enhance viewers to watch as the information given is said very excitingly.