IDENTS - Research (1982 - 1996)

IDENTS

-  a short visual image employed between television programmes that works as a logo to locate the viewer to the channel


Channel 4

Channel Four started on November 2nd, 1982 at 4.40pm with a preview of it's programmes followed by the first edition of Countdown, still running now and the programme that made Richard Whiteley a household name. The channel, at the time a wholly owned subsidiary of the IBA, would aim to increase programming for minority interests and programmes produced by independent producers. Originally funded by the ITV Companies, who were responsible for advertising, Channel Four since 1993 have sold their own advertising.

(http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/channel4/history.html)
________________________________________________________________________________


1982 - 1994 Idents

The award winning Channel Four identity was designed in 1982 by Robinson Lambie-Nairn. They won the initial pitch against Michael Peters and Wolf Olins. 
  
From their initial presentation Lambie-Nairn researched Channel Four's philosophy and seized the fact that they would be buying all their programmes in, so Channel Four would be a patchwork. 
  
Their first idea was to illustrate the coming together of these elements. The first six ideas of 'coming together' all implied movement. One idea used the the colours of a television gun (RGB) and Channel Four liked the use of strong colour and agreed the 'coming together' theme should be emphasised and developed further. 
  
Having created the logo, Lambie Nairn then used a computer to animate outlines of the blocks to the final freeze. The movements were then hand coloured and shot, but it didnt work, it was lacking shadow and lighting. So they decided to go to Los Angeles and Bo Gehring Aviation who specialised in computer animation to have differing sequences of the same basic symbol done entirely on computer, as at the time there was nowhere in the UK to go for this. 
  
The results were ground breaking, entertaining and a flawless piece of tv graphic design.

(http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/channel4/1982.html)
________________________________________________________________________________



1996 - 1998 Idents

In the 1990s where 3-D logos are out and 'organic' logos are in, Channel 4 updated its image with a new circle theme. The four circle "connections" design along with its "slice of life" scenarios are the most substantial change to the network's image since its inception in 1982, with the original animated 3D coloured blocks. "Our new look is not about a logo" says C4's marketing director Stewart Butterfield. "We are making a characteristically bold leap beyond the fixation with animated logos, which are beginning to look dated." Work began as a joint project between Tomato and C4's in-house design team. the two went their separate ways in the summer, when C4 decided against the work Tomato presented. Tomato was reported to be "angry" with the decision. The logo and over 100 scenarios were finalised by Electric Image's Inferno operator David Frearson. C4's creative director states that the design needed to be "Fluid and organic... it needs to embody a sense of evolution with wich the audience can share." Electric Image managing director, Paul Docherty acknowledged that these were "difficult concepts to interpret, but David has some ideas for a subtle optical burnout effect that we could produce through the Inferno." Ironically this was the first Electric Image job that did not have a 3D element.

(http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/channel4/1996.html)

________________________________________________________________________________________

1999 - 2001 Idents

Setting trends in tv branding once again, and Channel Four looks to stripes and the '4' now in a square...

(http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/channel4/1999.html)
________________________________________________________________________________



2004 - 2007 Idents

(http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/channel4/2004.html)



Creativepool - Best of Decade. The Channel 4 'Drive-by' Idents

When Channel 4 first played out its new set of channel idents on New Years Eve 2005, the reaction was immediate.

More creative and ambitious than the programmes themselves, the great British public sat open mouthed at the wit, intelligence and pure invention of it all.

Created by Brett Foraker, the then Creative Director of Channel 4 and Russell Appleford of Moving Pictures, the idea was to reveal the C4 logo subtly disguised within various environments and locations. The key element was a first person perspective camera that moved through the sequence to reveal the Channel 4 logo only briefly at the midpoint.

We saw privet hedges gliding over a bowling green, hay bales stacked on a stubbled field, a street market with stalls levitating above our heads, looming pylons trailing from a nuclear power station, road work signs on the motorway and neon hoardings fizzing on the roof an American diner. And somewhere amongst it all was a brief glimpse of the logo itself.

In “Dubai”, for example, the camera pans across a skyline of buildings, with elements from each building representing a piece from the logo. As the camera reaches a certain point, the ‘4’ logo is constructed from those elements for a mere 1/25th of a second before the camera moves on and the image disperses.

“[It was challenging] convincing the powers that be that the logo should only resolve for one frame,” says Foraker. “It was actually quite a conceptual leap. In traditional branding exercises this would be considered heretical but we were convinced we could make this one of the proprietary attributes of the channel.”

The message behind these stunning short films was clear; there are many viewpoints on a subject, but at one point there’s the Channel 4 one. And that was their remit, to approach subjects in a Channel 4 way and offer a different viewpoint.

(http://blogs.creativepool.co.uk/blog/best-of-decade-the-channel-4-%E2%80%98drive-by%E2%80%99-idents/)

________________________________________________________________________________