Channel 4 Ident Research

Channel 4 is a British public service broadcaster and has been on screens since 1982. It was created to provide a fourth TV service to the UK to add to the list of the channels available at the time, which consisted of BBC’s two channels and ITV. Since then it has massively expanded and has a huge variety of shows and programs available to watch on Channel 4.

This first ident is from 2002, which is why it is not as high quality as the others. The ident begins with a blue screen with what appears to be ripples of some sort. As you go on, you see the line shake, and this leads me to believe it is a sound wave. It moved due to the sound in the background, and if you listen closely you can hear it. As soon as the ident begins you can hear the voice-over, which sounds very informative and is talking about what will be coming to the channel in the coming week as well as what will be shown now. The lines keep coming from the left and are all different sizes and widths. You can hear the slight glitch sounds that were put there so the lines wobbling would make sense. You then hear a number of beats, which are part of a song, and as soon as this is heard, the lines shake much more and instantly the Channel 4 logo glitches into the ident, which is in sync with the beat. The words underneath the logo say ‘channel4.com’ and these words form letter by letter, but at random. While the beat keeps going on, the Channel 4 logo moves from side to side, giving it an edgy glitch look. The blue in the background is constantly changing in how dark it is, and goes from very light to dark blue. This fluctuates over the course of the ident. 

This ident is from 2007 and caught my eye instantly as I was looking for idents to analyse. I was intrigued that a 30 second video looked like it took no time at all, whereas another ident was 28 seconds long and looked much longer than this. I think the camera movement changes between fast and slow movement, which is why I think it is so good. The first thing you see is a trailer hooked up to a pick-up truck and instantly you can see all these washed out colours on the screen. They are really light coloured and aren’t too saturated.  You then see a tumbleweed roll out onto the plain, where the camera then follows its movement. In the next few seconds you can see a car next to a fuel pump. The car is a muscle car, and as the place is surrounded by pick-up trucks, it is clear the producer wanted you to think of the American desert town, or something like an old style 1960’s scene. The tumbleweed keeps going through the sand, while the camera goes all the way round and loses track of the tumbleweed, then refocuses on the tumbleweed, so it is still in frame. At this point, about 14 seconds into the video, you start to see a glimpse of what’s to come. You can see things in the air held up by sticks like a billboard. They are very bright and catch your attention, as they are the brightest things there. They also have a slight glow to them, which also makes it easier to see. The camera keeps going round, goes past the tow truck and this is where you get a full look at what will be seen. You can see the diner, with its neon sign and its warm glow. You can also see the old style American cars parked out front to indicate people are in this small cosy diner. At this point the tumbleweed is still in frame, but as you progress a few seconds you can see it go towards the camera and disappear. As it does this, you look up and you can see the magnificent creation that all the separate pieces have created. At 23 seconds you can see the Channel 4 logo made out of each glowing neon sign. The camera does not stop and continues to go to the left, meaning that the whole combination of signs turning into a 4 is only visible for a second or two. The camera then continues to move away from the sign, and at this point you can see the perspective of the side view. The audio for this ident was perfect and at the beginning of the ident you can hear some wind and some other natural noises, but as the music kicks in and the ident starts coming together the whole atmosphere feels perfect. 

This ident is to promote music on 4, and is from 2015. Instantly you can see this is computer generated and is 3D motion graphics, which immerses you into the ident. You begin with many different shapes, as the camera is zooming out. The shadows and reflections have been made very well, and the centre of the shapes seems to have a purple tinge to them. The ident takes you to another shot, where either the camera or the shape moves back into itself. There are rectangular pieces within a cluster, and these seem to be growing separately. You then see a camera shot of the whole object zoomed out, and everything is still moving. An orange line which looks to be in the style of low poly flashes in from the left to right on screen and looks like it is wrapping around the object. The same thing is happening with a blue line on the other side of the object simultaneously. These two elements alone catch your attention very well due to the yellow and blue on white contrast. The camera moves again and you see a blurred out deconstructed logo in the making while the blue and yellow lines keep wrapping the camera. You can just about get a glimpse of the word ‘music’ while the blue low poly line goes past the camera. The lines remind me of fish in a bowl, as they move very fast and have the same very basic outline of a fish swimming. The creator has added a natural feel to the lines to make them look very entertaining. The camera then cuts to another shot and at the same time the deconstructed 4 logo morphs from very close to the camera to move backwards, while being swarmed by the lines. You can see the logo recreated in 3D design and looks very well made. I especially like the way the producer has made many pieces to create the 4 logo, which is essentially all their other idents. As it zooms out, the words ‘music on’ are on the left of the logo, indicating the music on 4 and is promoting this. The music for this ident has been picked very well, and it also has a voice-over. As soon as the ident begins the voice-over begins, talking about what’s to come later and what will be showing now. As the first part of the 3D object changes angle, you can really tell the music in the background, as it has a much higher pitch in that part.  The music fades in really well when the voice-over finishes. 

These idents do not really have a lot on common, which explains just how varied Channel 4 is with their idents and ideas. Two of the idents were motion design whereas the second one was pure footage, but that is not to say Channel 4 does not feature many footage-only idents. There is one consistency however; all these idents are designed in colours and ways to capture your attention as soon as it begins. The first one is very bright so your eyes will see the brightest thing on the screen and hear the voiceover. The second ident has catchy music and a great purple sky in the beginning, then when the music kicks in you can see the brightness of the signs, which is striking to the eye. The third ident begins with a voiceover but is quite bright, along with the type of music that stops and starts, which catches a viewer’s attention because usual TV programs or adverts do not use this kind of music. The target audience is for people in their teens or over, which is the reason for more urban/catchy music. The way the movement is captured is really fascinating, as it varies quite often. In the first ident the channel 4 logo moved very slightly and the lines were wavy, but in the second one the camera movement was very clean and tidy and worked in all the right places. The third one had different camera shots when there needed to be and had fluid motion movement. There weren’t many examples of typography in the first and the last ident, but in the second one there were multiple signs with different words on them each time, which put out a really futuristic effect. It wasn’t really anything to do with the channel and more to do with the context of the ident but I still think it suited well.