E4 Research - VooDooDog

                   

I came across this animation myself, however i'm not sure exactly how I came across it. For starters I was elated to find out that it involves claymation as well as being an E4 ident. Not only that but it is 10 seconds long which is what is asked for my ident,  therefore is able to give me some sort of idea how much I need to fill for my ident and what time frame I will realistically be working with. Looking at this, I have realised that 10 seconds really isn't a lot and I am going to have to seriously think about the things I am hoping to achieve with my ident, since my concepts were ten times more complex than what is illustrated here.

Again, this animation combines claymation with actual objects, something I have found to be reoccurring but never dulling. I also like how the animator has involved himself within the piece, which I can tell from seeing his actual hands in some of the shots. But to summerise what is going on in the animation I would say that the animator opens his chip carton up to find a rat picking his teeth with a toothpick... and that is literally it. I had massive ideas to do this and that but I think I am going to have to go with just something that is achievable, because once I watched this ident for the first time, I was shocked at the contents and the duration. It has however, made me feel less frustrated and concerned about the lengths I thought I had to go to. Never the less this animation still advertises E4 and it is interesting and appealing, therefore it's goal has been achieved.

E4 Research - Mio mao

                        

Again, this animation was another recommendation from my teacher in which involves the morphing and animation of plasticine. What instantly attracted me to this animation however was just the overall style of it. It is extremely simplistic, yet not. The colours provide a modern style, especially for plasticine and the shapes that are made for the background use are very sporadic in terms of relevance, yet slightly resemble the mis en scene of some other similar animation like 'SpongeBob'. There is definitely an underwater theme without the water, which in itself is interesting, however what I really admire about the animation other than the setting is the movement of the characters.

There are two cats who are made out of plasticine, but the way they walk is unlike anything I have seen before! They stroll like cats do and then morph into plasticine balls and then back to cats again. What amazes me is that the artist is able to morph the cats from balls back into their original body. Every time the cat morphs it looks as perfect as it first did and I presume that would be extremely hard to achieve.

In combination with this, just the overall aesthetic is so different and creative that I just really love this animation and I am so glad that I was introduced to it. I especially love how the tree has leaves made out of clovers. Partially realistic, partially insane.

E4 Research - Morph

                      

Morph is a classic example of claymation and stop motion animation to provide humour to its audience watching. I particularly like certain aspects from morph which I would like to take influences from in my own stop motion animation for E4. For example I really like how complex some of the scenes can get for example when morph dives into the floor, and you can only see half of his body. This is a certain illusion which I think it extremely fascinating and I would like to adapt something like this myself.

       

I also really like the inter title sequence for the new Morph series on Youtube. Morph literally jumps out from a ball of plasticine, into the famous character and immediately my attention is taken. I also really like how he interacts with real life objects, making it look like they are communicating and responding to him. For my own animation I know that I want to involve real life objects with the clay so that it looks more complex and also to make it more interesting.

Overall, I think Morph will be very helpful for me when I actually start to animate For someone who has never done stop motion before let alone plasticine then I think it will be a great reference for the future!

E4 Research - Ice Melting

                          

The next ident I came across from E4 was also a stop motion, however was more similar to a time lapse. It consists of the E4 logo which is dominant throughout, however there is a ball of ice on top of it which slowly melts to release another E4 logo which was locked inside when the ice was hard.

I feel like this ident in particular is a perfect example of a time filler since there really is no narrative and is involves the viewer practically watching ice melt.

I think this is an interesting route for animation as it involves something that is vital for everyone yet is in itself, already animate if you think about it. I think this process for water/ice would have been tricky and if I were to do something along the lines of it, because already the idea of ice melting has been done so i'm not sure what else I could manipulate to time lapse. But I really like its style and concept, something that is simple but equally as effective.

E4 Research - PES

After speaking with my teacher to get more ideas for my E4 ident, he recommended me to look at PES, whom of which I have never heard of. I came across this one first:

           

This animation is called "Fresh Guacamole" which involves chopping up 'ingredients' from avocados to soccer balls, to golf balls and dices. The list goes on and even though it sounds really bizarre, it is so great to look at and the whole time I watched it I was thinking "I would never have thought of that!". PES uses the technique of stop motion but it looks so smooth and fluid that sometimes I had to double check if he even WAS doing it in stop motion! I also really love the whole aesthetic of this animation. The saturation is obviously bumped up and therefore the colours used like in the plasticine of the avocado, are very vibrant, but in a good way! It adds to the exaggeration of the piece and just in general looks really high quality. I would love to try something like this, so it is definitely something I am keeping close to mind.

          

This next animation by "PES" is entitles 'Submarine Sandwich' and unlike the vibrant "Fresh Guacamole" this video isn't as vibrant but instead has an antique look to it, which is equally as aesthetically pleasing! Instead of guacamole, this video entails the animator making a sandwich, but it embodies the same concept of using random object as the ingredients. I'm not sure which animation I like better, but just the concept in general is so fascinating and is motivating me to get starting with making my E4 ident! 

                         

Then lastly, I wanted to blog about "Coinstar" by PES, because the end result of the collection of coins looks absolutely amazing! I don't think I would ever have the patience to put so many coins together to make something look so realistic! But I really admire it, and I really love watching it all come together. Again, like all other PES animations, the stop motion is so fluid that sometimes I have to wonder whether it is actually in fact stop motion, and I would say this is very hard to achieve.

Overall I think PES is going to greatly influence this part of the brief in terms of my E4 Ident simply because I am so taken by it, and how creative it is that it has motivated me to challenge myself a bit more for this project! 

E4 Research - Music Idents

        

Here we have a collection of idents from E4 that aren't animated a great deal, however definitely use plasticine and stop motion. The objects within these idents sort of 'appear' and then move, but they 'appear' in time with the audio which is like a high frequency sound, almost grainy like, so it matches really well! And I also think it is pretty clever, because though they don't move a lot, the sound forces you into thinking that they are moving, which is a great trick for future reference.

All of the musical idents here feature E4 characters which have some sort of animal shaped head. They are sporting the classic E4 colour scheme of purple on their suits which is known to distinguish the company really well. Though these characters don't move, they are being filmed and then in what I presume is in post-production, the artist has computer generated expressions and facial features to make them come alive. 

I wouldn't say that this aesthetic of animation is 100% my style but I do really enjoy looking at it. I love how the objects to set the mis en scene appear gradually in the beginning, through stop motion and I also love how sound is incorporated really well, which is something I have yet to look at! I found these animations really interesting and I would like to experiment with some of the aspects within them.

E4 Research - Claymation

                           

Since stop motion and claymation was my focus point of interest for one part of the ident brief, I thought I would go ahead and check out some artists who have had experience with it. I found 'Youtube' to be the most helpful with my research because I had access to the work and pieces from ANYONE all over the world. Professional and amateur. Which I found really inspiring.

This video however was one of many that peaked my interest. I initially loved the colour palette and the artists choice of colour for the plasticine, especially since I only have access to white. I have solved this problem by being able to batch edit my frames and add the filters that I have discussed in my experimentation, but I think I might have to purchase some of the purple to intensify the plasticine for the E4 logo, because it is literally the perfect match.

As far as the actual animation goes, I really love it. The plasticine moves a little bit slowly but that just allows room for the viewer to see the fluidity of the morphing more intensely. And the morphing is done so well. In each frame the plasticine is perfectly rounded, there are no harsh edges where their shouldn't be, and the plasticine balls interact together so well you could think they are actual characters.

Overall this animation is something I want to have influence from when I make my own stop motion. I want to take influence from the fluidity and really good morphing so that it looks as believable as this one.

E4 Research - Beach Ident

         

To start off my further research for E4, I wanted to look at their existing idents that used the technique of stop motion or were relative to what I wanted my animation to be like and I came across this little one.

At first glance it looks very realistic and like a live action short, however it is in fact stop motion and uses toy objects to make its ident. I love the colour scheme of this. The doors on the beach shack use primary colours but there are little subtle hints that point to the ident being made for E4. For example the sun chair is purple, the boat has purple accents, and once the back shack doors open, the inside of them is purple also. It's almost like a grand reveal until finally, flashing E4 logos are present.

The whole sequence is random and sporadic, but still grips you to watch till the end. I know idents are used as filler, but for E4 I could seriously just watch all their idents one after the other since they are so creative and unique. 

I feel like their style and colour is of such variety that that in itself makes them a distinction from any other British TV show. Since E4 is one of the outstanding television channels in the UK, then I think that this is a really nice aspect to have and I personally see them as standing out from the rest.

Applied - Maya Bouncy Balls

Then our last required task was to make some bouncy balls bounce! I found this the most fun because we had some freedom at the different speeds for our objects and also the density of them.

We started off at frame 1 and then setting a ball at a certain position, for example transporting it along the Y axis and back down again. Once we did that we did it every few frames or so that we could replicate the movement of a ball bouncing. 

After that it was our turn to go into the graph editor and 'break tangents' so that we could ahead and even further manipulate the movements of the ball so that we could control the speed or make it ease in and out.

Then lastly we used the 'squash' option for the other ball in order to craft the illusion of having a different density ball which was more fluid. I really enjoyed this part of the task and I also love my outcome of it. It is brilliant how you fast you can operate in Maya and see some really great 3D results!

                                          

Applied - Maya Segmented Pendulum

Our next task was a scene with a more complex pendulum, which is called a segmented pendulum, meaning that there will be involvement of the 'overlapping' animation principle.

Again, I started off like in the last task just making the pendulum swing from side to side before I went in and altered anything. This was important because I needed to get the height of the pendulum off the ground before I even thought about the overlapping action.

Then I was introduced to the 'Graph editor' which allowed me to change the rate at which the different balls moved. As shown above this is what my pendulum looked like in order to make it looks quite natural looking because I didn't want to go too exaggerated. And here is the rendered outcome!...

                                      

Applied - Maya Pendulum

For our next tutorial in Maya, we were given a few small tasks which involved animating. I have not previously animated in Maya before, but I actually found it quite fun! 

First we were given a scene which presented a pendulum like shown above. Our task was to make it swing, remembering the principles of easing in and easing out. But first we had to set our animation format up...

We had to change the playback from 'Real time' to 24fps, and then adjust our start frame, end frame and actual frame rate. We worked in 24 frames per second, and therefore made 2 seconds of animation equalling at 2 seconds. Once I had this set up, I found it much easier to remember for future projects.

We also had to change the render settings, so that the outcome would be in .JPEG and would start with 00, so the result would be 001, 002, 003, etc...

After everything was set up, to animation I chose frame number one and changed the rotation of the pendulum and pressed 'S' which meant that the frame would be set, and stay in that position. Therefore at frame 24 I could then rotate the pendulum in the opposite direction, set it again and do the same for frame 48. This is my final result:

                                       

Visual Language Turnaround Feedback

This was the turnaround that I presented in the crit session:

Overall I found I got really good feedback which I was surprised about because I was worried about my object not being an ornament and not very small, but I got a pleasant response which made me happy. The one thing however that I was to change was that I didn't make my turnaround in widescreen. I briefly thought about this the morning of the presentation session, but I thought that only pieces for film and TV were in this format but it is actually good for all animations unless specified. I will definitely be taking this into consideration for every animation that I create next, and looking back it does look better in widescreen. This is my adjustment:

Making An Object Of Our Own (in Maya)!

After experimenting a little but in Maya, and for me, trying to find solutions to several problems, we were then given the task to make an object of our choice. Nothing extremely complex, but nothing too basic either. Since I was gifted a record player for my birthday this year, I thought it would be the perfect object to make in Maya and in 3D, because it has so many features and so much depth!

These were the images as well as a visual reference in front of me, that I worked from:

From this, I was able to pick the right colours, surfaces and textures as well as shapes in order to create my desired object. I found that this time around it was SO much easier for me to find my way around the programme. What I mean by this was, because I hard come across so many errors in the last task, I had to myself, find a way to get around them or solve them. Therefore it made me more comfortable with the software and I was able to make this object is a good amount of time! I am really proud of this piece, and I like it a lot better than my trucks. My files did save and I was able to render in colour with no problem! And I actually really enjoyed making it, because I didn't have to struggle finding out what option was what. This was the final product:

Maya Lesson 1

Today I got to use Maya for the first time, and just when I thought I go the hang of it, everything went wrong! I was able to follow the tutorial sheet and complete all the commands, however when it came to adding colour and rendering, I was completely lost.

We started off by making separate shapes in order to make a truck. Then once we got the hang of this we could manipulate them but changing the vertexes and bevelling the edges to make them round/curved. After a few tries, I found this easy enough to pick up, it was just being overwhelmed with so many options that struck me at first.

After adding a few shapes my truck started to really come together! Though there were no textures at this point, I was really pleased that you could distinguish what object I was making! I also found out I could duplicate several objects so that I wouldn't have to keep making them and eyeing them to the correct size. This was especially helpful with the wheels. Now at this point, I started to add colour and texture. I did this by right clicking an area of my object and choosing the option "add existing material". Through this I was able to choose from the colour palette and also a multitude of textures. 

However when I went to render, there were absolutely no colour showing... whatsoever! This was extremely frustrating for me because everyone else was able to render and save and after all the hard work, I couldn't get mine to show up in colour. After asking for some help, I was told to try it at another point, maybe something was off, so instead I went home, downloaded the software and remade the whole thing from scratch.

I ended up with being able to add colour... AND being able to render. What I think happened was that I had clicked something by mistake, and I wouldn't have known how to solve this because there are about a hundred different options in this massive software, so I decided to just start over. HOWEVER, once I had rendered and seen that i didn't really like the position of the camera or it's angle, I went back out of rendering to re-position, and the program crashed... and I lost everything.

So after a third or fourth time of having to do this task I saved after every step and ended up being able to render with colour AND save. This was my final result. I have learned lots about this software. It's not that it is exceptionally hard, I think I had case after case of a bit of bad luck, however after repeating these steps I do feel a bit more familiar with the software and know how to work my way through it! 

Visual Language - You Spin Me Right Round!

For the next Visual Language brief, we had to make a turnaround of an object. I've seen these many of times, but would have never thought I would be making one myself in the future. The purpose of a turnaround is to give the viewer or whoever is looking at the object a 360 degree view. I have seen these a lot on shopping websites, especially for shoes!

I immediately wanted to do a turnaround of my record player, since it is new and I love the look of it, but I did know it would be a bit of a challenge with the details and shapes of it. Also because it is in the parts. Coincidentally, the name of the brief matches my object as well...

I had to first set up how I was going to do my turnaround, because it has to be the exact distance away from you in every shot. I ended up placing my record player on a large sketchbook and they thought I could slowly turn it around inch by inch. Further on I did come across the issue of my record player coming closer towards me, so that was something I had to watch out for and edit in Photoshop later on, but overall I found this way of doing it fair enough.

I started off doing my turnaround in pencil and then using a ruler and pen. This was my first result:

                                   

I think from a first attempt at a turnaround and using pencil and pen, I think it looks alright! It didn't take me as long as I thought it would, probably because for three or four of the frames I was drawing the back where there is less detail, but the frames from the front and side did take me quite a while.

Since I had a few weeks before the presentation session, I thought I would trace over my already drawn turnaround and make it a digital version.

I forgot to mention that I did 13 drawings because I seemed to not have enough of the 360 view in just twelve (though I could only fit 12 of the drawings on the image shown above). None the less, I really liked how this digital version it came out as well! I've never done anything like this before, and i've often found trying to turn an object or character in an animation to be very difficult so I am surprised I came out with something rather presentable. I do like this version more than the first try, simply because the lines are thicker and it looks more smooth.

                                   

I am glad I didn't end up drawing the object moving closer towards the camera, because I think after it was played a few times it would be really noticeable and not realistic at all! As a result I am relieved to have done a test before I went straight into the drawing as that would have just consumed a lot of time that would in the end, have been wasted. For my first turnaround I am proud of it, but it did take a REALLY long time. Even though it was only 12 drawings! 

And because I love colour, I went ahead and coloured my turnaround as well...

I think this is definitely my favourite one of them all, because it really gives a sense of what the object is. I think it completely transforms my object now that I have added colour. My record player does actually look like this so it is weird to see on screen, but I am very proud of this result and I really enjoyed this brief!!

BBC4 Research

BBC4 was the one company that I was least interested in for this ident brief, mainly because I had instant associations with it that the channel was boring and something I never watched. I watch BBC1 more than any of the other channels, but not BBC4. But after a bit of research I found out it wasn't as boring as I initially thought.

BBC4 broadcasts shows such as documentaries, music international films and current affairs.... as well as a bit of comedy. However BBC4 seems a bit more strict than the other channels I have researched. By that I mean, the channel is under a specific license to show certain shows every year. They are under requirement to show 20 international films every year, 100 hours of art entertainment and 110 hours of factual programmes, like documentaries therefore there hypothetically, there would be limitations as to what they can involve in their idents. Something that would be a challenge.

         

From what I have gathered, the idents shown on BBC4 are for the most part or from what I have witnessed, as all live action. They involve a four split screen of the same clip but in four different parts and at different times, with their logo in the middle, like the one shown above. I have yet to come across one that is animated, which is not a bad thing, I actually see it as a great opportunity as a big gap in the market.

Because the idents are so simplistic, it gives the impression that the channel do not put too much effort into their idents, which is alright and could be down to its license in theory, which is understandable and not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps they don't do animated idents because of the versatility in their channel and what they show is so broad in topic, that sometimes animation can be too specific and have a narrative, therefore may be a bit of an issue for the company. It is also hard to have an ident that is good for comedy and also a documentary, as they are different ends of the spectrum. Though making several unique idents would solve this issue.

I also found out that BBC4 used to have a slogan named 'Everyone needs a place to think' which I think would be nice to focus on if I made an ident in relation to this company. The slongan is no longer mentioned, however is stamped on benches around London.

Making Adjustments To Sound 018

The next animation I needed to adjust after feedback, was this one:

A lot of my peers commented that they really didn't like the ripple in the animation, and it would look better without it, so I decided to go back into Photoshop and remake the whole thing, adding more frames so there would be no ripple. This was the final result:

I quite like this result, even though I think it looks very minimalistic/not much going on. However there isn't really a change in sound going on in the audio either, so it could potentially be best for it. However after making adjustments to my animations, I do feel like I have learnt a great deal, and the feedback has made me work harder to improve. I will definitely be staying away from the photoshop filters in the future, but I am glad that I have made adjustments to the videos.

Making Adjustments To Sound 013

After getting some feedback after the Visual Language Take 5 crit, I felt like two of my animation needed some major adjustments to them. The first one I decided to work with first was sound 013, which was this one:

Looking back I can definitely see where my peers were coming from, the animation isn't really in sync with the audio, therefore this was what I needed to change.

At first I decided to remove one frame from each sequence of the animation where a triangle grows, however I felt like this was just too choppy and didn't look as smooth as I would have liked it. Therefore I then decided to go back into Premiere and import the original image sequence, but change the frame rate from 12 to something higher. Once I did multiple tests, changing the frame rate and syncing it with the music, I ended up with making the piece more in sync with the audio clip:

I think it does look a little better, but I still like the colour concepts and the direction I went with it, other than just going straight with my first idea, which was sound waves. 

Visual Language - Turnaround Research.... TOY STORY

          

After some research for turnarounds that weren't as obvious to me as the ones you see in shops, I came across these character turnarounds for TOY STORY 3. I presume these were used to promote the film as some sort of advertising/marketing strategy but just in general I think they are great to look at. Toy Story 3 in itself is such a vibrantly colourful film, that to see these characters up against a black background, is a great contrast, and the viewer can observe the character without having any other distractions from anything else.

I also love the irony of this turnaround that portrays the character as happy and welcoming when in actuality according to the films narrative, this character is the villain of the film.

         

My personal favourite from them is their turnaround of Ken, who obviously still has his fake smile plastered on his face. Since the film itself focuses on toys moving and talking to each other, I half expected the characters to move at any second, however I still thought it was interesting to look at.

What I found about these turnarounds is that they move from their feet, as if that it their pivotal point. That is the most realistic pivotal point since that is what humans and animals move from anyway, but it still makes the turnaround practically flawless. If I were to do a turnaround of a toy doll or of anything similar, then I would definitely be looking at these for reference.

Visual Language - Turnaround Research .... ADIDAS

When we were first given this brief, I quickly tried to think of all the times I had seen a turnaround in my life, and I instantly thought of Adidas. As bizarre as it sounds, turnarounds are a part of advertising a product! Why I thought of Adidas was because literally the other week I was on their website looking at their trainers and they had a 360 degree view of each one when you went into the product detail, so it instantly came to me in lesson.

I think this is a really interesting aspect to turnarounds. They can help the consumer choose which product they want to buy because they are getting a very realistic depiction. They can see the whole angle as opposed to an edited, perfected one form a professional photographer. They can compare and contrast to other products and are perhaps less likely to bring them back and get refunded, which is a plus for the brand.

I know it really helped me when I went to buy some shoes as I was torn between two, so personally I feel like most online shops should have them. When you want to buy shoes in a real shop, you pick them up and turn them around, which is something you can't do online, therefore can be exceptionally useful! 

Visual Language Take 5 Feedback

Today we had the 'Take 5' crit where we watched everyone in our class' 5 animations and gave feedback to each other. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with the feedback that I got because it was the first time where I did something outside of my comfort zone, and was really proud. Though that being said, I can take a lot from the feedback and use it to make some changes and adjustments to my animations.

The most significant feedback I got was to watch my use of Photoshop filters. Looking back I can definitely see in two of my animations in particular, where this was a bit exaggerated, but I was still taken aback. I thought after the last crit that I was able to take constructive criticism rather well, however after today I was surprised at myself for how much criticism I got and how much I was sensitive towards it. I know that everyone likes different things and something I might like won't be what someone else likes, so I have to consider this, but for experimenting with something that I have never done before that was completely out of my comfort zone, then I am still proud of the work I achieved as a result.

The feedback I got for this piece was to get rid of the black screen because when looped it can be a bit of an obstruction. However when I read the brief, there is no mention of looping the animations at all, and therefore I was unaware that this was something that had to be considered. I thought we just had to respond to the sounds via an experimentation and then a development into an animation. The sound here, is kind of a stop and start sound, unlike various others, and therefore that is why my interpretation of it was to make a stop and start animation. I think that was the major concern with this piece, or to have something more 'magical', which is something I would like to consider if I have time.

I remember this one to be one of my favourites because I felt like it did justice to the sound. The sound is VERY grainy and fuzzy and the animation was exactly what i pictured in my head. To get to the visuals here, I drew an abstract piece, scanned it into Photoshop and then added some filters to it, to emphasise the grain that I could not achieve just my watercolour. This was the animation that many people disliked the most, which made me a bit taken aback. Looking back however I can see how there could have been too many filters, but I really like this piece therefore I don't think I will be changing it as there are some others that need more attention than this one.

Next to present was my 'bubble' animation which I was also proud of. I did get a lot of feedback that was positive for this one, however a lot of people didn't understand why the bubbles were shaking to begin with. To be honest, it didn't even fathom me that this would have been an issue, I just had this vision in my head. When you think of bubbles anyway, they aren't stationary they are moving, and my spheres also look like particles, which when are under a very high temperate, shake like in the animation.

Then I presented this piece. I was concerned about the timing of this piece, which is something I am willing to change over the next few days or so, as it starts off in time with the sound but then slows down. When I heard the sound first, I noticed that the space between each frame was the same, so that is why I animated that way, but then when I went and matched it up with the audio, it seemed to differ. Since I was aware of this, I am going to change it before the deadline, however I really like the aesthetic style of this one, so I am going to keep that aspect of it.

Then lastly, was this one. I really didn't like this piece once I was done with it because it was so simplistic so I added some 'vibrations' to it to make it look like there is more to it and to use the space of the screen more efficiently. Which then made me happier with it. However no one seemed to like this added aspect, and could not understand why it was there, therefore I will be removing that from the animation. I love the colours of this animation, so I think the only thing I will go back and adjust will be that added effect.

Overall, I feel like this was a crit where I got the most feedback in terms of making changes to my animations. This is something I am not used to, but it is going to make me work harder on improving them and make them more look practical as opposed to just aesthetics. 

E4 Research

Since E4 was another company on the list to choose from for the Applied brief, I thought I would do some research into it to see if I could work out their signature style and tone, as well as who their target market it. I personally, really like their channel and have watched several shows on their before therefore I think it would be really nice to make an indent hypothetically for their channel.

After an extent amount of research, I found out that the demographic for E4 is predominantly between the ages 16-24, which I found to be really surprising and interesting, especially since I fall into this category in particular. The reason behind this demographic is most likely due to the shows they broadcast, which are drama, comedy  and other entertainment. Why I was so surprised at this demographic, was because they really focus on broadcasting comedy on their channel, and usually comedy is targeted towards men. Looking back at 'The Inbetweeners' which followed four male sixth form students, even I watched this because it was hilarious, but I could definitely tell that it was targeted towards boys. It illustrated the way boys talk amongst each other and just many other crude elements which are not branded for women, so I was a bit surprised to find out this information. Interestingly enough though, I think it would be quite interesting to design something that it targeted towards the age of myself as I fall into this demographic.

Because of this demographic then, the idents on that channel, do not have to be restrictive. By that I mean, of course there has to be some caution as to what the ident consists of and be considerate of the watershed, but since children are most likely not going to be watching, the idents can have some sort of complexity, as opposed that of to 'CBeebies'. The demographic, ages 16-24, are therefore sociable, use the internet regularly and like going out, which is something I will be considering if I end up choosing E4 as one of the companies I make an ident for.

        

I noticed the majority of their idents are really random and use the medium of stop motion. Since I am really interested in this form an animation but have never really experienced it before, then I think this would definitely be a route I would like to try out. I am nervous to experiment with it, so I may do some tests instead of going head first in case something does go wrong, which I do expect. But I really admire the idents they broadcast. Looking at the one above, their signature colour of purple is contrasted highly with the three bright primary colours. They are using simple child toys to make a small piece that is heart warming and entertaining. It helps schedule further shows but very nicely as it is enjoyable to watch.

Overall I think E4 would be a very interesting company to do an ident for, because the demographic and medium they have/use has appealed to me quite a bit!

The Discovery Channel Research

The first television company that I immediately took to, was 'The Discovery Channel', and once I saw it on the list of choices I was already blowing up with ideas and knew that I wanted to make an ident for it. I immediately associated the company with animals and wildlife, which I know is only one strand of the channels contents, therefore that is something that I am going to have to research in to. The channel includes programmes on nature, science and wildlife.

I also found that 'The Discovery Channel' though is very diverse, is not as popular as some other channels. What is interesting is that the show also airs on 'Netflix', so has a similar parallel to 'BBC iPlayer' in the sense that people can watch it/catch up on it whenever they feel like it, though at a cost. Therefore their image and their branding is very important. Looking at a brief overview of idents from them, I have noticed that since the channel covers so many topics, this means that there is a lot of room for variety. And I can then go on to use any medium and narrative but within context.

        

This is one ident from many by 'The Discovery Channel' however is a perfect example of their style and what they involve. This ident illustrates a live action shot of a man on a boat presumably catching a fish but in slow motion, displaying another one of their strands that they show on the channel. The ident involves themes of nature, and 'discovering' what is under the sea that people may not know about, therefore is completely relevant to what the channel represents. I have noticed that the idents from this company usually use neutral colours, perhaps to reflect the 'nature' aspect that is portrayed. There is no exaggerated and vibrant colours and filters, everything is natural.

       

However interestingly enough, I did come across these idents for 'The Discovery Channel' which are unlike anything I have ever seen from them. They are a series of idents and are all hand drawn, yet still illustrate topics such as fishing, wildlife and safaris. I REALLY like these idents and they have given me some hope in terms of the versatility with this company. I know that they cover a lot, which means there's room for hundreds of ideas but I was worried about their aesthetic and the look they go for. Now that I have seen these, I would definitely like to experiment with some colour and some animals seen as how there is no boundaries, and this is a very exciting prospect.

CBeebies Research

Since I immediately knew that I wanted to have 'The Discovery Channel' as one of the companies I make an ident for, that left one more from a choice of three other channels; CBeebies, Channel 4 and E4. CBeebies was definitely one that stood out to me, but I was pretty sure that I had NO first ideas for it, so I decided to look at the already existing idents for this channel already and also learn more about it the branding.

The channel was initially marketed towards pre-school children, but was then developed to up to 6 years olds and now children up to 12 watch the channel. However taking this into consideration, this then means that the animations themselves cannot be of such complexity that children can't understand them. This would defeat the purpose of having an ident for this channel. Even though idents are used to help with scheduling, they also need to set the tone and reflect what programmes are being shown on the channel. Therefore since it is targeted towards children, then you would assume that it is correct to have fun, vibrant and easily understandable animations than children can react to and understand.

                      

Looking at this particular ident from CBeebies, made in 2008, you can see just how much consideration that was required for this animation. Looking at the colour palette first, it uses the primary colours of blue and yellow, nothing complex, but something that is extremely child-friendly, and still appealing. There is also no use of complex shapes or characters, in fact there is no profound shape, they are more abstract, like 'blobs' that could easily humour a child. They have expressions which again add to the comedy fact, and most of the CBeebies idents follow these elements. Overall, I think they reflect what the channel represents, what it stands for and can offer to children. It also allows adults to see what their child is watching if they ever flick through the stations themselves. since these idents enforce a BRAND, this means that adults can automatically understand what channel their child is on, and provide instant relief that it is suitable for them.

The content of CBeebies is very different to the content of the BBC, which is great because the visual differences eliminate any confusion that could have possibly occurred between the two. A child wouldn't naturally be watching the BBC, therefore the ident for that channel then, would be more serious and have a very, very different tone to it.

In terms of how I would go about making an ident for CBeebies, I would definitely consider colour as a preliminary aspect. As well as not being too complex. Now that I know a lot more about the company, I think starting to develop ideas would be a lot easier, as well as considering what type of medium I would use also.

What Is An Ident?

For the 'Applied' brief, we were giving three options to work from. These included doing a 'title sequence' for a book that has not been adapting into a movie yet, make 2 idents from a selection of 4 television companies, or make a short animated film that develops awareness for a certain campaign. I thought that the 'Ident' brief sounded most appealing to me personally, and I was actually really excited about it. However I found out that I didn't know much about what the actual purpose for an Ident was and that they are actually everywhere and are deeply thought about pre-production.

One key purpose for an Ident, is to help regulate the scheduling on that particular channel. For example if a programme has overrun or quite the opposite, then an ident can help fill time between shows so that they are scheduled correctly. Expanding on this, it then provides a break for studio workers like News and sports channels, so that they can read over their lines/get familiar with commenting on breaking news. Idents in a way, are pretty clever and though they are very aesthetically stimulating, they have a deeper purpose.

Idents can also help provide information to those viewers who have just switched to that channel. For example, it helps create the right tone of the channel and reflect the programmes shown on it. If someone switched to a channel where there was an ident of different types of wildlife walking along a desert, then one could assume that the channel deals heavily with wildlife/animals/nature in general. 

The consistency of an ident is quite important as it helps distinguish a corporate identity. Since many television companies have online catch up websites, such as 'BBC iPlayer', then having an ident that reflects the channel can help create a brand that is displayed all over the world. Idents are a marketing opportunity, once an ident endorses its brand, audiences become more familiar with the style of the channel and with have associations and are more likely to visit that channel again/remember it.

Therefore now that i know a bit more about idents and their purpose, I am even more excited to make some of my own. I didn't know they were of that much importance, though I was aware of them previously and had admired those from 'MTV' and 'E4'. So hopefully I can take all these aspects into consideration and apply them to this brief!

Sound 027 Animation

The piece that I developed into an animation, was this one!

I really liked the versatility in all the ideas that I could come up with to make this animate. I could change the colour, the width, make it sporadic... anything! I thought since the sound matching it has a rise and fall, perhaps making it spin in and out again would be one good way to represent it! 

Now since this was the first time I have ever had to do an animation to sound as opposed to adding sound post production, I really didn't know how to go about trying to have the animation in good timing with the audio. What I did here worked for me so I used it for my other animations as well, though I am sure there are other ways of doing it. Either way I ended up making a time line sort of thing to grasp how many frames I needed and what pace I wanted to go. I used a lot more frames than shown here, but it was a really good visual aid as I was making the animation:

What I found was that I really needed to focus on easing in and out in order to encapsulate the feel of the audio. I did a few tests before hand before I coloured the background and what not and I ended up coming up with this:

I really like how it turned out and I tried to really focus on the ease in and ease out of the piece so that it reflect the ease in and ease out the sound naturally has also. I think I got that part down, however I wasn't too sure if the animation was looking a little bare so what I did was go back into Photoshop and keep adding on the previous layer, so that it looks more 3D and has more depth. 

I'm not sure which one I like better, because they both look different int their own way. They both ease in and out quite fluidly I personally feel like they do the sound justice, especially the colour palette. But since I felt like the other one was a bit bare, I just adjusted the size of my format so that the animation would be widescreen, and left it as my final animation!

Sound 027

This particular sound I was really excited to experiment with because I got to go all out with colour. I think the sound has a romantic and just generally sweet uplifting feel to it, and I thought the best way to do that was through COLOUR. Pinks, reds, and peaches. This was a really good audio clip to try and convey visually and I found was the most fun for me. 

I first started off with experimenting with acrylic paint to see if I could try and visualise my sound with this medium. I am not the best with paint however I thought I would just try and mix some colours together to see if I could come up with some sort of aesthetic. I have neon paints that I own and I immediately was drawn to them and I really loved the way they came out.

Although I didn't think these paint pieces would be enough to then go on and animate, I think in themselves they are really nice to look at. I love the pinks and peaches so I think eventually when I go on to animating, this will be the colour palette I end up using, as well as a grey background since the contrast looks nice here. But overall I feel like these colours are successful in representing and enhancing the sound.

I then tried a gradient type of method which turned out alright, but not as effective as when I do gradients digitally, therefore I most likely won't be using this style in my animation but I may take up the idea of gradients.

This next piece is further experimentation on acrylic paint but with a different take on colour. Though I still love the peach/pink combination I thought perhaps I would try a green/turquoise route. I feel like this could give a sci-fi feel to my animation if I were to go with it, which wouldn't match the sound at all, however I do like the pattern of the pink and peach strokes. This is something I have considered further on, and developed digitally.

This is just a quick combination of the colours used but I also think it looks quite nice in itself seeing all the colours placed together like that. If I were to develop this into a final product, I think I would animate it so that the lines would gradually draw themselves and blend in, for example pink and yellow making peach.

This piece I made up through following the rise and fall of the notes in the audio. Since it goes from loud to quiet I thought I could represent this through the thickness of the lines as well as the rise and fall of the lines. I like the concept of this but I think it lacks colour for such a vibrant sound.

This next piece I was experimenting with in Photoshop after scanning the previous piece shown above into it, and I also really like it! It suggests a romanic atmosphere from the colour and I think it could sound like a harp if I animated all the little dots together or made them change colour somehow. However i'm not sure if there is TOO much going on. I don't want to have an overpowering animation for such a delicate sound.

This is further experimentation/development on that piece to try and make it less overwhelming and I think the softer the colour palette is a good improvement. It still feels to me that a lot is going on and i'm not sure how I would go about animating something so complex, but I will definitely be considering it!

Lastly, I tried something out digitally. I drew a wave-esque type of pattern and then coloured it in with the peachy/pink gradients that I really liked from my acrylic painting in the beginning. I really like how it looks 3D due to the shading and depth of the colours, and I also the contrast of the grey background which I took influence also from my first experimentation with this sound. I think eventually I would like to use this as the centre idea for my animation, but before I went straight into it, I experimented further.

I wanted to see how this piece would look if maybe I thickened the surface area of the wave by making it wider. It still looks 3D and has a lot of depth which I like, but i'm not sure if it would be good to animate because it is so wide. I wouldn't be able to do as much with it, as I think using a singular wave would have more versatility.

I then went a little bit crazy and just tried MANY different techniques. I changed the colour, twisted it, cut it up, made it twirl, and I really like the look of this piece. Overall I like the swirl which is hidden in the back but it has given me some idea that I would like to make the wave turn into a swirl and back out again as I think this would also represent to diversity in the audio going from high to low.