Blog Mood Board

It has been very hard to create a mood board as suggested for my ident, as a lot of my inspiration for this project comes from past examples, and are not adequately expressed through just a picture still. So i thought that i would put up examples of the idents that have effected the direction of my ideas and project and discuss what elements i admire and would like to emulate for ChewTV.

CHANNEL FIVE IDENT

So this ident's theme has obvious links with ChewTV's name. Although the idea of the "Food Chain" where one fish gets eaten by a lager one is not in itself original, yet it is recognisable as a reacuring feature within animation and television history. However what struck me about this ident was the twist at the end, the idea that a toaster eats the largest fish, which is then eaten by a sofa. The sofa is a the top of the food chain as in life, when it eats our keys, change, wallet and the remote control.  The idea that the sofa is an creature that while we unwittingly watch films lies in wait, eating what we mislay is an amusing thought and one that i would like to pursue. 

MUN2 IDENTS

Mun2 is a cable television network in the US based primarily at the young Latino population. It is owned by NBC Univeral the channels name is actually pronounced Mundos, which is Spanish for "worlds". The set of idents were designed by the company PepperMelon,  and were meant to represent different worlds. The first ident was meant to represent an external world, where different actions and interactions between typical Latin urban symbols are represented. The Second ident represents an individual world. A super conceptual work where classic moments in Latin American stereotype- citizens living in the US are represented.

These two idents appealed to because i saw them as successful versions of the current BBC Three idents that really GET ON MY NERVES! My lord, i found them irritating even before i started looking into this topic, and now they infuriate me. Anyway They seem to have captured

E4 IDENT

CHRISTMAS BBC2 IDENT

CULT TV IDENT

Exercise your imagination II

Exercise your imagination II

I was unable to post the video of the ident that i wanted to discuss, so this is the link to the website that i found it on. It is an Ident created by ABC1 in 2006 and is featuring the tag line "exercise your imagination", after a narrated tale featuring swirling rays of light. Although, ironically, not the most imaginative visuals, i do actually like the way they have used the trails of light to sketch vaguely abstract images from the story like a picture book, and the way the camera angle swings from one view to another. The reason i thought this was worth looking at was because it is an example of how the blue trails of light that encircle the ChewTV logo could be used to good effect in the ident. The company would obviously want the ident to fit in with the rest of the new look design of the brand so if there is anyway to incorporate this i think it should be done. 

It is also a good example of self promotion. The tag line expresses the channels intentions and sums up their image that they are trying to project. The idea of fascinating stories and adventures that are in some way educational and open/ expand our minds. ChewTV has a very specific intention of its own which we want to come across. ChewTV is a place for young people to submit and download their movies/ videos to, have it viewed by a larger audience, receive feedback and have the chance to maybe see it promoted and entered into film festivals. The company want to get this across to the audience of the ident and have provided us with tag lines such as, " a communication channel for a connected generation" and, "The UK's first Web TV Channel run by and for young people". The two tag lines seem to be a bit dry in my opinion, actually most tag lines are a bit dry until you inject some life into them. It would be ideal if i could incorporate one of them along with the logo, even though it would be visually more effective not to. This ABC ident shows how it can be done to great effect. Yet there is a problem, they have achieved this through a story which requires time and build up, and considering my ident can only be around 5 seconds long i will have to find a different device to achieve the same effect.

Another example of fantastic self promotion by a television company is the "This is what we do" ident series by BBC1.

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Ident CRAZY!!

So i am quite excited about the new assignment that has just started, and will last for the next 5 weeks up to Easter. We have been "commissioned" by ChewTV, an Internet channel, to make idents for the new look relaunch of their site. I say "commissioned" ,we are not going to get paid for our work, but it is heartening that a company has put there trust in us to deliever high quality results especially considering this is our first proper project were we seem to have total creative freedom (within the brief of course). This is the first time that we will individually be working through every step of the "pipeline" discovering for ourselves where our strengths and weaknesses lie. My personal fear is that i will be far to amitious with my ideas, and end up setting my heart on a vision that i simply don't have the skills to realise. I did ask Andy whether we should consider this when brainstorming, but was advised not to do so, so i shall persist with my unattainable dreams.True to form when the brief was first introduced my brain overflowed with ideas, mainly featuring 1940's american ettiquette video's with such titles as, "Are You Popular?", which i discovered a while back. If your interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yaSuhmLk40. Strange i know. But that idea was abandoned when the issue of copyright was brought up. Go figure.

The brief states that i am to create at least one ident approximately 5 seconds long which ends with a still of the logo (see picture above), and has a target audience of 14-25 year olds. I got the impression from Max, the representative from ChewTV, that they really didn't know what they wanted conceptually and there guidelines are vague, considering they seem to have quite a strong aesthetic theme for their newly designed site. A couple of other students and i were slightly worried after his talk that he expected some fancy, twirly blue light display around the feature logo rather than a gag based ident that we were all expecting and love to watch on channels such as E4. However i have a feeling this will not deter anyone on my course from trying to push some boundaries and get a laugh.

In order to get a better idea of the scope and variation within this particular section of the television industry, and also to jump start some ideas for my own work i researched and viewed a huge amount of idents that were available online, and came across some absolute gems that i had never seen on before. Two MTV idents struck me as completely inspirational creations, understated yet eloquent and have made me realise that even a commerial medium such as this can stomach art.

SKY MTV IDENT

This stunning ident was created for MTV Latin America by the company Sagas. It has, as someone quoted, "a-look-up-at-the-sky-and-smile-bliss" that is so distinct from the sometimes pretty trashy content of the channel itself, that it provides a calming visual break that throws the viewer and makes then take note. Although not done justice on this particular video, the quality of the animation itself is impressive, but the concept itself is most admirable feature.  So simple and naive, everybody at some point in there lives have looked up and seen shapes, coupled with the joyful sounds of children playing and the exquisite dance of light (which i would love to know how it was achieved) uplifts the viewer. This as given me something to apsire to and i would love to achieve something in my future work so poignant.

 MTV ORGANIC IDENTS

These idents were created for MTV Australia in 2008 by the company Umerictv.  The channel in this case has left the generic international look for a more personalised approach, four abstract designs were developed to reinterpret the MTV logo based around the themes aggressive, calm, lively and organic. Individual MTV logo animations are integrated into a range of infamous locations to the MTV audience, that were shot throughout Australia.