OTS: Company Ident

Since traditional Noir films are primarily American, me and Max decided to search for street names in LA, California together on Skype. Despite being very impressed by Christmas Tree Lane, we decided that Lakewood Productions was the best fit.

Next I went about sketching ideas for what the Ident would look like. We wanted the Ident to match the Noir feel of the film, and we decided on the below sketch:

I decided to use Adobe After Effects to create the Ident. Despite being a complete beginner to the program, I used it because I wanted the Ident to look professional, unlike a Flash Animation. Below is the first version I created:

Upon viewing this, Max thought that the entire lantern glowing looked out of place, as he expected just the light bulb to glow. I found a Youtube tutorial and learned how to make just the light bulb glow, with a good result. Below is the updated version:

Finally, we agreed on the animation and I just had to add sounds.

Naturally, with the rain effect, I needed a Rain sound effect. I originally intended to use one which also included thunder, but I then realised that without any lightning in the animation, it didn't fit quite right. I instead used a Rain sound effect from this website (Royalty Free & Free to use commercially):
http://www.soundjay.com/rain-sound-effect.html44

Next, I had to find a sound effect for the light bulb. Upon browsing, I found sound effects for light bulbs dying (or winking), in which the filament burns out. I decided on this sound effect, (again Royalty Free & Free to use commercially):
https://freesound.org/people/FreqMan/sounds/26873/

Interestingly, this sound was Folyed. Here is a quote from the creator's description of the sound:
'Used a frequency modulation to approximate the sound of filament burning up. Second sound is a pencil eraser tapped near the base of a 40W light bulb.'

Here is the final Ident with the added sound:

I created a questionnaire about the Ident, and I showed it to the class to receive feedback. I wanted to find out whether the Ident looked professional, and whether it achieved the same effect as Famous Idents such as The Universal Studios Globe, Paramount Mountain or Columbia's Torch Carrying Woman.

These are memorable symbols that invoke an image or emotion in the viewer. For example, they are often triumphant, such as the Columbia Pictures Ident, where the woman stands tall holding the torch high in the air. These symbols invoke a feeling of patriotism, as a lot of these companies are american and those americans who watched them see the huge symbols of freedom like the Paramount Mountain, and it makes them feel proud.


This is the survey you can fill out on our ident:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZQu-ucNZkO8PutXZxn81SlhYt0tPsHv9Zt1rqpJTfyU/viewform?usp=send_form
This is the link to the post that Greg made, he made the ident and all the information contained in the post:http://gbabstockasmediaproductionschs2016.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/ots-production-company-ident.html