The History of Idents

An Ident is the practise of radio, television stations and networks identifying themselves on air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name. Station Idents are very closely linked with Production Idents which Film Production companies will use before a film is screened to associate them as the distributor of the film to the audience. In the case of T.V Idents they are usually shown right before a channel airs a programme or film. Idents can appear and vary in many different ways for example an Ident can end in an static image of the television channels logo, a short live-action Ident that lasts a few seconds or a computer generated Ident.

Channel 4's Block Ident

An example of an Ident that ends in a static image is the channel 4 Ident launched in November of 1982; the Ident shows several different coloured blocks flying in from the foreground in different directions to form the channel 4 logo. This is a great Ident in terms of Identification as it clearly shows what channel is being broadcast but not very effective overall, Channel 4 made many different versions of this Ident all ending in the same static image. Channel 4 finally aired the final version of the Ident in August 1994.

Idents are extremely important as they help identify a channel and sometimes a channels persona and personality. Artists or companies who make Idents are usually in high demand and channels pay a lot of money for Idents to be made for their channel.

Celebrity Promotion

The Doctor has fun in the 2009 BBC Christmas Ident

Regardless of how the Ident is made one usually always lasts for 10 seconds at the most. Occasionally to make the Ident more popular, a character, characters or a reference to a popular television show is included in the short Ident, these Idents are known as entertainment led Idents. These normally only occur to celebrate a special event or occasion; for example the past few Christmas Idents the BBC have included the Doctor from Doctor Who in their Ident. These are great examples of the BBC using their talent to not only promote themselves but the talent included in the Ident as well.

Another Ident, Another Doctor

This has been a BBC trend for many years as the Doctor appeared a second time in a Christmas Ident in 2011 which featured the 11^th Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillian) involving themselves in antics with one of their enemies the Cyberman.

ITV's Special "Spider-Web Ident"

Many other channels quickly followed suit and have produced many Idents advertising certain upcoming programmes. A package of Idents that are always popular are ITV’s range of ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’ Idents produced by Motion Designer Paul Clements. One example shows the ITV logo caught in a spider’s web swinging from side to side ending with the spider emerging from the top of the screen. These are shown before a new series is aired and also during the series is aired up until the series finishes.

Channel 4's Aerial View of Springfield

Following on from popular Idents, one of the most popular in recent years has been Channel 4’s ‘The Simpsons’ which lasted 40 seconds (which is actually pretty long for an Ident) and featured soley Homer Simpson ending in a 4 second bird’s eye view shot of the Springfield city made to look like the Channel 4 logo. This was specially made to promote ‘The Simpsons Movie’ released in 2007 and ‘The Simpsons’ series which has been aired on Channel 4 since launching in 2002.


Evolution of Television Idents

The history of television Idents span all the way back to 1954 when BBC launched their first ever television Ident entitled 'Bat Wings'. With ITV just launched the same year the BBC felt the need to make an Ident to make their channel stand out from the rival. The Ident was actually a mechanical model that spun the globe and the two eyes in the middle. Due to constraints with technology at the time, the Ident had to be filmed rather than shown live as the model was so fragile that it would often break.

The Ident in Transition

While ITV was initially launched in 1954 it was split into several (20 in total) franchises split by regions with different brand identifications between them. It was only until nearly 40 years later in 1989 that ITV decided to include the ITV logo into each regional Ident with each region broadcasting the same Ident but with their channel name clearly shown underneath. These generic Idents followed a the same trend with the first letter of the ITV logo appearing then sliding into a sequence of different entertainment featuring a dove, a couple in period attire dancing, Big Ben, an athlete and a couple of dancers until finally the ITV logo is made and stays static until the Ident is over. These Idents gradually evolved into the Idents we see used by ITV countrywide.

The First Ever Colour Ident

 

As technology improved brand identity did also. Possibly the biggest example of this is the invention of colour television which had first been introduced in the United States in 1953 but due to high prices did not see a great sale rate. However a few years later towards the late 1950’s and early 1960’s colour television sets had become standard due to price deflation and high popularity among the public. In 1969 colour broadcasting in Europe become standard which lead to the first ever colour Ident; entitled “Mirror Globe the Ident was made by the BBC and featured a spinning blue globe with landmass that spun accordingly. With the inclusion of the word “colour” the BBC urged viewers who still owned a black and white colour set to buy a colour set to gain the full effects of their broadcasting which in turn would fund the BBC.

The First Ever Computer Generated Ident

BBC continued to break records with the first ever computer generated Ident launched in March 1979 for BBC Two. It featured two orange lines which progress from the left of the screen to the right of the screen stopping in the middle for two white lines to draw the signature “2” and then carry’s onto the right of the screen where the Ident stays static for a couple of seconds then ends. The Ident had a 3D feel to it due to the addition of CGI and revolutionised the way that Idents were made after.

Balloon Ident set at the Angel of the North

Now in the modern day nearly all Idents are live action and can be first seen in 1997 when BBC ditched their previous Ident for a package of new live action Idents. These Idents rebranded the BBC and all predominantly featured a red balloon floating over different beautiful locations of the British landscape, these locations included; The Angel of the North, Blackpool Tower and The Needles in The Isle of Wight gaining a homely feel to the Ident which audiences loved.

A Channel 4 Rebrand Ident entitled "Rocks"

In 2005 Channel 4 rebranded themselves with a new logo and an entirely new package of Idents. These Idents followed a set theme in which different objects in different locations form the “4” logo at a certain angle for only a couple of second before vanishing. These Idents were extremely popular due to the creative style they were made in and the fact viewers had never seen any Idents in this style before taking live action Idents to a new high.


For radio stations they use Idents to identify themselves on air usually in the form of a 10 second song or "jingle" which is played before the station goes back onto air after an advert break or used to transition between two types of material for example; the news segment and weather segment. As in the case of a special Ident, radio stations often pay celebrities to advertise the station by reminding listeners what station they are listening to. For example a celeb may say "Hi this is Brad Pitt and you are listening to Capital FM, the UK's number one music station" or “This is Rihanna and I listen to Kiss 100” the celebrity will receive money for doing this and because of the association with the celebrity the station will attract more popularity.

The Iconic Warner Bros. Shield

Finally Production Idents, Production Idents are very simple as they show right before a film is about to start to remind viewers who the rights of the film belong to. Film Idents are always 5-10 seconds long and are always mostly a mix between a moving Ident ending in a static logo of the film company. Film Idents are always Iconic and memorable and usually the most well known type of Ident. Out of all film production companies in history there are seven that are the most well known and in turn have the most well known Idents these are: Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and 20^th Century Fox. For decades these companies have been making their mark on the film Industry through use of their Idents and the themes that are associated with them, various generations know these companies because of their Idents and more generations will continue to as long as they continue to use those iconic Idents.