Task 222
- 1. It is important to note that, with the limitations of typography and graphics, a graphic designer is limited by the tempo and how much a person can take in. For example: complex and curly fonts can be difficult to read on a screen, especially if the screen tempo is very quick and the fonts and graphics are not on the screen for a very long time. This would therefore be a limitation because the audience would not be able to take in all the information that the ident is trying to communicate with the audience. For example channel 4 uses only the number 4 in their idents, it takes a while for the number 4 appears on the screen. It’s very clear that it’s going to be a number 4 but also not too distracting so the voice over can get the message across about the next show. Being limited to a channels regular font or clear typography can also be a positive for ident designers. This will make an ident designers job a lot easier as they will not have to come up with an effective font instead they can stick to what the channel has come up with before. Colour can also be considered a limitation because having lots of colours or patterns on one screen can distract from what the ident is trying to communicate and its overall message, which would therefore make the information hard to process and this therefore means that the ident will not have as much of an impact as it would if it only had a few stand-out colours and patterns in it. All of which can be seen as limitations for a graphic designer when creating a television ident. In some cases the designers will have to think about using particular colours that represent the channel or TV show. For example BBC 2 idents often use greens and blues in their idents as their logo for the channel is teal. This can make the designer’s job a lot easier as most channels will have one main colour that the ident designer will have to stick to and base the ident around.
- 2. Ident designers must consider aspect ratio, they don’t want the ident to look distorted or appear off screen at any time. They need to make sure nothing is too hard to read in the ident especially as some people have different sized televisions making the picture on screen look stretched or pixilated. We can see in this BBC 2 ident the number 2 is shown very clearly as the camera zooms out. In the last shot the number 2 is clearly in the middle of the screen, we can see from the aspect ratio on the TV sizes above the 2 would appear clearly on any of the TV sizes. This can make an ident designers job a lot easier as they will not have to think as much about what’s going on in the sides and will have to simply base the main logos in the middle of screen.
- 3. Having to adhere to the channels desired tone could be another limitation when creating an ident. For example if an ident was before the news the ident would have to speak in a formal tone whereas if it was before a TV drama the tone would be less professional. Also for local and regional channels or TV shows they may use the local accent in the ident. However the adhering to a channels tone doesn’t just include the voice over the ident must relate to the style of the channel. For example E4 uses a lot of random objects which relates to its wide range of TV shows and also that the shows are not too serious more reality TV and comedy. This can also be a positive for an ident designer as they will base their ident on what the channel does, what kind of shows they show and what idents they have made before.
- 4. The average TV ident will be between 20 to 30 seconds long so designers are limited to short and simple ideas. Most idents use only one setting and some will only use one shot. If an ident is too short the voice over will not be able to tell you what shows on next and its likely that the ident will not portray the channel as well as they could have in terms of their mission statement. If an ident is too long the audience will get bored and message the channel was trying to give can seem dragged out. For example this BBC one ident uses slow motion shots of some people surfing. The ident is interesting and keeps the audience entertained but the slow motion and the cut to under water makes it not too exciting or fast pace so you can listen to what the voice over is saying. The short style of TV idents can also be a good thing for ident designers as they don’t have to think of a story line or anything like that as they don’t have the time for anything that complex.