Idents Homework - Yr 12 and Yr 13

As I miss a lesson with you on Thursday, I have decided to set this as a homework and will try to be as clear as possible about what I would like you to do.

Independently of your group, I want you to explore idents and briefly write about what an ident is used for, and how companies sometimes alter their idents to suit their purpose. Every time you find something, copy and paste the link where you found it to credit the original writers. DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA.

Ident
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ident

Ident is short for identification; in our case it identifies the company behind the production of a film. Some of the big names include Lionsgate, Warner Bros. ,20th Century Fox to name a few.

I want you to find some idents (this website is the PERFECT source for all of those : http://www.theidentgallery.com/ ). Don't go to the Film category (I know...it should be more obvious!). Go to the 'Extra' tab, 'Film' and 'Opening Logos'. For any of the idents press the arrow pointing right, and a window will open up allowing you to play the video. You then need to go to embedding options and it will give you a copy and paste-able link.

Your Homework

Choose two idents; try to pick two that have an 'alternative' ident that was created for a special reason. Try to make one of these idents Lionsgate (you may need to embed from youtube.com) as they are a leader of Horror movies and edit their idents for this purpose.

Briefly discuss the reasoning behind altering idents i.e. anniversay editions, genre of film, modernising, to mimic or give a nod to a film (see the Disney original and the Tron version) and suggest why some don't feel the need to make changes and just keep their ident the same.

Discuss:

• The Design - what is denoted one screen? What is seen visually by the audience? Talk us through it.
• The Intent - Why has the ident been created? What are the connotations of the visuals used?

Compare one design with an alternative they have created. Again, go through the design of this new ident and the new connotations suggested by the changes.

AN EXAMPLE OF HOW TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK - AVOID THIS EXAMPLE

An ident is...(use your own words and link to any where that helped you with the definition).

Using the website www.theidentgallery.com I looked at idents, the common themes and how sometimes idents are altered for different reasons.

Design

The following ident is from Paramount (2002) and it is 20 seconds long; it is the most recognisable of the Paramount idents. The design denotes falling stars coming from the sky. The stars coming closer to the foreground and the screen has clouds and blue sky. The viewer is reversing and zooming backwards through the 'P' of the paramount logo and as the camera appears to be moving further away, the word 'Paramount' is in the centre of the screen in script font above a snowy mountain peak. The stars circle the word and crow the top of the peak which is sitting above the clouds.

Intention
The connotations of the stars and epic landscape could be attempting to suggest a sense of grandeur and power. The company could be trying to portray that they themselves are powerful and a force of nature with the views of the high peaks. The silver stars with gold edges confirm this idea of prestige and silver and gold suggest class and high quality - the stars could also be like a star rating. As Paramount pictures is an American company, the stars may link to the USA flag and the mountain, although never confirmed as being an actual mountain, is epic in form and could be suggestive of the heights the company go to, to produce quality products.

In comparison, this more recent variation of the ident was created in celebration of the 100th anniversay of Paramount Pictures.

Design
As with the previous ident, the shooting stars come towards the screen but this time they are reflected as they skim across a sunlit river towards the mountain peak. The camera follows them over water and green mountain ranges towards the mountain which sits above the clouds. To the left of the snowy mountain is a sunrise giving the ident a warmer glow to the previously bluer ident. The stars crown the mountain and are black, with Paramount in the same script font but also in black. 100 years appears in a metallic silver on the face of the mountain.

Intention
This ident has more contemporary connotations; the animation is cleaner and more realistic and the warmer colours adding depth and confirm its powerful and epic presence as before. The cleaner lines and slick movement of the camera chasing the stars along the water indicate to the viewer that Paramount is capable of effectively using modern technology to create quality products, which their ident clearly is. The choice to use the same imagery makes it memorable and instantly recognisable to the audience.

ADD SECOND IDENT AND ALTERATION EXPLORATION HERE.

My Findings

From my research some companies choose to alter their idents for the following reasons...

Some also choose to stay the same. This could be because...

This will impact on the ident(s) my group and I choose to make because...