Motion graphics is the use of animation and video footage to construct the impression of motion/rotation. Audio is commonly added too.

Motion graphics are a part of modern life, seen almost everywhere you look. You will find motion graphics on many things such as on the TV, on your mobile phone and your computer.

There are many ways a piece of motion graphics can be used in TV or film, such as an ident, interactive menu, sting, animated caption and title/credit sequences. You can also see a web banner on the internet.

IDENTS

An ident is a method used by TV channels as a way of identifying who they are. Idents are usually shown during the break between one programme finishing and another beginning.

I looked at three idents for this project. I am going to talk about one of the many BBC idents.

The ident I have chosen is the one used on Saturdays, for their primetime Saturday night shows. Saturday nights are generally seen as the main night for variety entertainment on TV channels, so you might see a very popular drama, then a talent contest and then a chat show. This ident, with the use of a fairground, symbolises the BBC’s programme content very well as it is giving the impression that it is a big night of fun and entertainment on the horizon. The use of the fairground means that the programmes about to be aired aren’t aimed at one specific demographic because people of any age mostly enjoy fairgrounds.

The animation on show are the neon characters that are having fun during the night time outside. To me, the designer is making it out like all the streets are empty because everyone is inside watching Saturday night BBC One which means that the animated neon characters can ‘come out to play’ because no one will see them.

The ident makes the channel feel exciting and perfectly suits the target audience. BBC One is the channel for every age, so the use of the Ferris wheel is a good choice because kids enjoy it, and adults can feel like they are 'big kids' and enjoy themselves on a Saturday night without having to leave the comfort of their home.

As the majority of the ident is neon lights, this to me gives the impression that the designer is trying to show that everything is about fun and entertainment and is meant to take up all of your vision. This perhaps could have been a bad move as people might think that there is too much going on but I disagree. The bright lights of the ident gets you in the mood for a night of entertainment.

The BBC created their own codec for their iPlayer, which is called Dirac. It is a two-fold reduction bit rate over MPEG-2 for high definition video (e.g.

1920x1080 pixels). The screen ratio for BBC iPlayer is 16:9, the frame rate is 50Hz (hertz) and the resolution at HD is 1280x720.