Ident Research

Before we even see films we are shown numerous idents from the companies that have all given their parts to the final product. In this post i will be looking at a few idents and assessing how they are similar and how they differ.

First of all, what is an ident?
 In short it serves as a brand logo for the media company in question, often showing visuals which are connected to the name of the company itself. Most idents are no longer than 20-30 seconds long as this would greatly distract from the feature.

A perfect example of this is seen in "Universal Pictures".



Universal Pictures Ident:

• Animated.
• Lack of text on screen.
• Bold and capitalised font style.
• Accompanied by loud orchestral music.
• Website shown under the main part of the ident.
• Bright eye-grabbing colours and light.
• Approximately 20 seconds long.
• Slow build up from the beginning, both visually and audibly.

Classic MTV Idents (Taking a closer look at the first two in the video clip.)

 1st Ident:

• Animated.
• Bold, eye-grabbing capital M in the middle of the screen.
• The M alters its colour to the beat of the rock music playing in the ident.
• Lack of text on screen.
• Appears to be lit from behind, illuminating the ident.

 2nd Ident:

• Begins with actual footage of a rocket launch. Bold, "in your face" start to the ident.
• Use of stop motion effects with the photos of the lunar lander and astronauts.
• Animated logo on the flag. Bright, bold, contrasting, wild colours.
• The colours change to the beat of the music.
• Lack of text on screen.

Focus Features Ident:

• Blurred, contrasting colours.
• Soft fade in with the text.
• O remains blurred as if it were the lense of a camera perhaps?
• Lack of text on screen.
• Soft, quiet music playing along with the ident.
• Approximately 10 seconds long.

Comparisons Made:
 From watching these and a few other idents from multiple media i have came to the conclusion that majority of idents contain next to no text apart from the company name/logo in the middle and other small information such as a website address or such. Font styles are usually bold and use contrasting colours to the rest of the screen and on top of that there is often loud, dramatic music to accompany the visual element of the ident.