Research & Planning: E4 & The Brief

E4 is owned by Channel 4 and was launched on the 18th of January, 2001, making the channel 15 years old. Shows regularly featured include American SitComs, like The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls and How I Met Your Mother, and popular British shows, such as Skins, The Inbetweeners and Misfits. These shows are generally aimed at teens or young adults and mainly include SitComs and teen dramas.
The primary target audience of E4 would be the older teens and young adults, probably of the B, C1 and E demographic categories, due to the mature nature of most of the content and the comedy aspect included in these programmes. These people would probably be of the Aspirer or Explorer Psychographics. The secondary audience of E4 would be Middle aged adults, because they would relate to situations occurring within the shows, as they are more likely to have experienced something similar already. Channel 4 are also responsible for other channels, such as Kerrang!TV, Film4, More4 and 4seven.

An ESting is a 10 second channel ident, used to identify and advertise the channel. The ident is placed before and after the adverts, so as to frame each section of the programme that is playing at that point in time.

I liked the hyperactivity of the dog in this animation, as the jerky and jarring movements are incredibly eye-catching, especially when paired with the bright and vibrant purples that the entire animation is composed of. The bold lines add a childish charm and the cartoon character's manic actions and behaviour would appeal to many.



I enjoyed this cartoon, because of it's link to a popular urban legend and the simple art style used. The use of an alternative-genre clothing choice would appeal to people in their teens, including myself, as it's not the social norm and it wouldn't be expected. It's a cutesy take on a not-so-cute legend and I really enjoyed the overall feel and the effects of the E4 logo toothpaste splat, on the mirror.



I really like the bright colours used in this ESting, and the rainbow gradient on the floor is very well done and fits nicely into the visuals. The entire thing had a very 80s feel about it, like He-man, and I really like the silhouette at the end, especially how the cat's eyes appear to glow like a real cat's. The animation style was nice and simple and the skeletons' movements were sufficiently creepy.

This was our test footage of our live-action stop-frame animation. We were experimenting with different kinds of movement, to see our limitations when working in this medium.

The animated ESting that we have planned will be an object-based stop-motion animation, where makeup items and other random products, most popularly found in girl's room, would come out of box or bag. They would then proceed to slide across surface into logo. Using objects is an easier method, as there are no talent releases required and, where animating with people has issue regarding continuity because of fatigue and the subjects moving between shot, objects are far easier to control and remanipulate. We would film the entire animation backwards, as this makes it easier to form the logo, without worrying about whether or not there are enough objects or getting the right shape and positioning for the logo. Our location is flexible, because the setting is easily adjustable, depending upon the availability of a table and unchanging lighting.