This document provides information about a Channel 4 ident featuring objects that animate to form the number 4. Various techniques are used for animation and visual effects to create movement in the ident without using text beyond "Channel 4". Technical details like resolution, frame rate, and video format are considered but not specified. Key terms related to motion graphics, video compositing, and technical specifications are defined in a glossary.

1. Salford City College
Eccles Centre
Creative Media Production
Motion Graphics and Video Compositing Unit 64
Use of text: In these Channel 4 idents hardly any text is used, only ‘Channel 4’ is used. It is just made out of
(Title, Credits, animated captions, stings, images.
indents, interactive menus, web banner)
Brief description: In this Idents it is mainly just objects making the number ‘4’. Almost every object used in this
What do you see? video is a box or a shelf with objects on it.
There is also a shadow off a bush which makes the letter 4 on the floor.
Techniques used: All of this ident is animated and has visual effects. Without these the ident wouldn’t be able to
Animation, Visual Effects, Colour Rendering, make the number 4 like it does. For example; boxes are used in the air above traffic as if they
Graphics, Movement are floating to make this letter. The whole ident has movement in this, it is just the camera
moving and not the objects in the ident.
Advanced techniques: The camera rotates a lot throughout this ident.
Blur, Sharpen, Distortion, Rotation, Opacity
Technical comments: Resolution is used in this video, there is a variety of detail used. Frame rate would also be
Video Format, Screen Ratio, Resolution, used, because this is used when making every ident. It doesn’t matter what it is opening for.
Frame rate, Compression
Glossary
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2. Salford City College
Eccles Centre
Creative Media Production
Motion graphics - Graphics that use video footage and/or animation technology to create the illusion of motion or rotation, graphics are
usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects.
Compositing video - When there are several different clips of video are layered over one another to create a single image.
Interactive Menus – DVD Interface or Interactive Menus on a web page
Ident – The ‘call sign’ of a channel or production company to identify themselves on screen, usually shown before a programme.
Animated Captions – Animated Graphics layered over an image / video
Web Banners – A form of web advertising that is embedded into a web page. They are used to attract a viewer to their website. A Web
Banner usually a mix of motion graphics and video
Video Format - 3 Main Formats HD, PAL, NTSC. HD is the highest resolution (720 or 1080 vertical lines in the image). PAL is the UK
Standard definition image (576 vertical lines). NTSC is the US Standard definition image (480 vertical lines). Now in the
digital age we now look at video format in terms of pixels (i.e. High definition 1080; 1920 x 1080 or 2,073,600 pixels)
Screen ratio – Standard TV ratio is 4:3; this means that for every 4 units wide it is 3 units high. It is likely that the screen ratio will be
Widescreen (16:9) in a cinematic sequence.
Resolution – The amount of detail in an image or signal, such as Standard TV Definition and High Definition. See Video Format.
Frame Rate - The number of video or film frames displayed each second (frames per second; fps). PAL frame (standard UK TV) is 25
fps, NTSC (standard US TV) is 30 fps, film is 24 fps. This means as NTSC updates more regularly there is less strobing
(jerkiness).
Compression – The use of Codecs (WMV, DivX) to reduce the file size of a video by a variety of methods. This sometimes means a loss in
image quality (a “lossy”). Codecs are found in Video Cameras, DVD players / recorders, Editing Packages, Video upload
sites)
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