Project 2- TV Ident
This second project was definitely by far the most challenging for me. I had a lot of ideas, but initially it was very hard to focus it into one production. My first idea was something to do with a rotating globe, which I researched and applied to the production. But after many attempts, I felt it wasn’t working because it reminded me of BBC One and Two; which are completely different channels, in terms of variety and audience compared to BBC Three. So, I then moved my focus onto re-vamping the logo. I was set on creating a more vibrant, modern logo- which I felt I completed successfully. However, it still needed to be developed.
After reviewing and modifying my work, I then looked at the effects and presets in Adobe After Effects. I experimented with a lot of them, trying to find one that would fit in well with the theme. I then came across a shatter effect, whereby I created brick, which would explode. Once I changed the variables, and fully rendered the settings- I previewed the intro, and I liked how it worked. It was at this point, that I stuck by this idea and started to develop it. So after applying the brick shatter effect, I thought of ways in which I could extend this. For example, what would be revealed after the bricks have shattered? This is when I decided to display the sequential logo, which is a colourful sequence of seven BBC Three logos. Because the sequence lasts for about two seconds, I repeated the sequences on different layers along the time line.
As I went along, I reviewed my work and made any necessary changes. On the one hand, sticking to a plan, idea or storyboard is a much more organised way of making a product and having a set time to do it. However, there are advantages to modifying and creating new ideas as you go along because that way my work is always fresh-and so it always incorporates the latest approach.
Another developed idea following the shattering of bricks, was to have images of the most popular BBC three programmes, zooming into the screen. This goes at a really fast pace, and I included it to show the variety of genres and formats that BBC Three caters for.
From the beginning of this second project, I thought about the type of music that I wanted to use. I wanted a contemporary song that was popular and upbeat. In particular, I was looking at dance, funky and pop music- genres that are making the top music charts today. Eventually, I decided to choose La Roux’s Bulletproof. It was a very popular song, which had a techno vibe that worked well with the ident, especially at the beginning when the bricks shatter.
Throughout this process, I did face difficulties. Because I applied a lot of effects to the ident, it took a long time to play back when I went to RAM preview it. Also, there were times when I wanted to combine effects, but I couldn’t do so, therefore, I had to work around this by choosing the most effective one. In addition, I had to make sure that all my images were scaled to the right measurements, to fit the TV frame. And in terms of audio- to edit the sound in a way that blends in, and isn’t cut sharply, but fades out.
To conclude, this was my most challenging project because I had so many conflicting ideas and particularly in the beginning of the second project, I felt that I lost my focus and direction of what I wanted to create. But, in general, I am quite pleased with the finishing product. It’s vibrant, upbeat and instantaneous, and this is what I initially set out to create.
