Ident and Graphic Research

• When do Ident's appear? 

Ident's usually appear before a television show or movie is shown. They are also shown between commercials to identify to the viewer who's giving them this content to make the viewer interested in seeing what else this certain Ident has to offer. In a trailer, you would normally see and Ident near the start of the trailer.

• Common Conventions of an Ident?

The common conventions of an Ident in terms of design is pretty simple and professional. As you can see from the BBC One's Ident, they have kept the colours very professional and simple. In their Ident, they are illustrating water and have used greeny-blue colours normally associated with the typical colours of water. They have also shown a hippopotamus animation swimming around in a circle with the BBC One logo in the centre. This animation may suggest to people that the BBC offers topics and documentaries about wildlife which singles out a section of their target audience.

The font they've used for the BBC One logo is pretty simple. They've kept to their classic convention of typography the BBC is normally associated with.

Another example of an Ident shown mainly in films is Warner Brothers' Ident. WB have kept to their original logo which has been shown throughout their history. As you can see, they have used a goldy-yellow colour effect of their logo, which looks to resemble a shield like object. This object my connote that Warner Brother's are a solid company and the gold maybe illustrates their professional and high-expectations they have for the certain films they show. The message I'm getting from their logo is that any film which is connected to Warner Brothers is going to be a good film because WB are part of it. The background also connotes that their company is a world widely successful because their logo is shown in the sky.

The length of an Ident normally lasts between 10 to 15 seconds depending if its a trailer or a feature film/documentary. Normally in a trailer, the Ident is shown near the beginning of the trailer and lasts about 2 to 5 seconds just to give the audience a glance of who associated with the film.

• How are they linked to the genre? 

In my opinion, I don't think the Ident's of a TV programme or a film actually links to the film itself. The only example I can think of is Marvels Ident because when you see there Ident come up you instantly know the film is of the superhero genre. But apart from that, I don't think the Ident's link to certain genre's of film. The company in my opinion couldn't really care of there Ident links to any genre's, they just want to make themselves look professional for when there Ident is shown in a trailer, film or TV programme to make the audience feel like there about to see something really good because its associate with a certain company such as Warner Brother's or Universal Pictures because of their history.

• Graphics: Genre

For something like an action based superhero film, you need an Ident which is fairly fast paced to give you the feel that this is going to be an action film. Marvels Ident illustrates magazine's linked to certain superheroes being flicked rapidly and eventually shows the Marvel logo. I don't think any other Ident's necessarily link to the genre of TV or film their showing. Again, the BBC One logo could suggest the show people are about to see of about Wildlife, but that not always necessarily the case. The BBC may just like this certain animation and believes it makes them look professional.

• Graphics: Font Styles, Size and Placement 

Usually, the typography choice of an Ident's font links to what content they normally show. For instance, the BBC never change their font and keep it simple and professional. Marvel have used more of a bolder font to make their logo stand-out more to the viewer. Because Marvel only show movies with the superhero genre, they make their font bigger to relate with the superhero genre which is normally associated with big and bold characters. 

Most Ident's place their logo's in the centre of the picture mainly because thats where people's are mainly centred towards. Showing their logo's in the centre of the screen is a typical convention of any Ident and its the most professional way to place their logo's. 

• Graphics: Transitions 

Ident's such as Marvel, Universal and 20th Century Fox are the most famous Ident's who use transitions. Universal have the world spinning around with the Universal logo going around the front of the logo. This gives the audience the impression that Universal are known worldwide as a great production company towards films. Twentieth Century Fox use various shots and a rotating type of transition to show their logo. The final shot of their Ident gives the audience the impression that this is a big production company and normally when the see the 20th Century Fox Ident come up, you know they have put money towards a high-end Hollywood picture.

• Ident: Short Film

Here is an example of an Ident in a short film. 'Eater' which is written and directed by the highly popular Duffer Brothers who are also the creators of the sic-fi thriller Stranger Things. In the short film, there was only one Ident shown in the beginning. 'Dodge College of film and arts' are not necessarily a big production company which I believe shows in their Ident graphic. The background is ultimately very dull and grey with the use of clouds. The logo of the company is typically in the centre of the page, which again in my opinion looks very dull, but in contrast also has a professional feel to it. However, even though it possesses professional qualities, I don't believe its a suitable Ident logo for a production company. The fact that it says 'Dodge College' underneath may suggest that this production company is also connected to education as well as film, which may be the reason for the dull, yet professional looking logo. 

The Ident ultimately lasted around ten to twelve seconds. This is longer than a typical film trailer because of the fact its a short film which allows it to possess some typical conventions used in a feature film. Feature film trailers usually have Ident's which last around five seconds to compensate for the short length of time a trailer is typically given.