Research and Planning: E4 and the Brief

Research and Planning: E4 and The Brief

E4

On the 18th January 2001, Channel Four Television corporation launched a new Pay-TV Channel. Although the channel was first launched as a Pay-TV service, in 2004 Channel Four released news that the subscription based service would return to digital terrestrial television. Since its launch, the channel was available as a bonus subscription service, however once ITV digital closed in 2005 it became apart of the Freeview in hope that the channel would gain a larger audience.  E4 has hosted a number of both US and UK programmes, of which the mist successful have been: Glee, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory and The Inbetweeners.  The Inbetweeners episode " Will is Home Alone" which aired on the  11th October is still E4's most viewed episode with 3,700,000 people tuning in to watch the successful sitcom.

E4's target audience primarily range between  the lucrative 15-35 age group.  E4's audience ranges from 15 years due to a number of reasons. The main reason for this audience is because most of the programmes aired on the channel has content with some sexual references, mature language. The programmes characters also tend to be of similar age to the channels target audience. For example most teens watch Inbetweeners as they can relate to the teenage humor.  E4's secondary audience consists of an older generation who tend to watch the older 90's sitcoms such as the Friends.  This age group can range from 35-50 years however this target audience is a lot fewer in number in comparison to the primary target audience.

http://www.channel4.com/e4

Channel Four television corporation also owns these channels:
. More4
. Film 4
. 4Music

All three channels have very different target audiences apart from Film 4 as their target audience is very broad as it airs a range of genres that a range of age groups and genders would watch. More4's target audience is primarily older as they air such genres and programmes such as documentaries, cooking shows and House Hunting programmes.

E stings
http://estings.e4.com/

E4 created the competition EStings, so that young, up and coming animators and editors to create an aired sting for E4. The competition runs every year, with the winner be rewarded with £2500 and runners up are awarded £500. The competition focuses on originality and imagination. E4 have strict rules that must be followed by contestants. 

  This ESting won in the 2009 competition. I believe that this one, due to its originality and clever editing. Its a very interesting sting as it looks incredible. The unusual aspects of the sting also makes it very interesting to watch. I especially like the contiguous flow of the sting that makes it very dramatic. I also like the CGI aspect, the creator is clearly very talented at creating and editing CGI.  I think that this sting is aimed at males aged between 14-18 as its content relates to males of this age group.

This ESting is also very interesting, i particularity like the aesthetic look of the sting. I'm a huge fan of the idea as well, its simple and well made. The artist is clearly very talented and his/her drawings are very colorful and pleasing to the eye. I think that this ESting is aimed at a large audience, however it seems that it relates more to females and maybe even older teens as its content includes an old women and alcohol.

Planning and Preparation
To prepare for our upcoming unit, we have been researching and creating out own animated characters, Praxinoscopes, Zoetropes and Thaumatropes.

My animated character is names Larry the Lizard/Dinosaur. I found creating the claymated character a lot of fun and brought out my creative side. I especially liked shooting the animation as for a first attempt i think the overall final piece of very good. In comparison to the other stop motion exercise, i found that it was most talented at this style of animation.




-Larry the Lizard




-Location 











- Larry the Lizard

Larry the Lizard
Gender: Male
Occupation: common thief
Age: Unknown

Bio:

 Larry the Lizard is a typical thief, from bank robbing to stealing from shops and people.. He lives in Denville in the towns sewer system. His fortification holds thousands of pounds worth of diamonds, gold and ruby's. His motivation stems from a childhood of bullying and misunderstandings (Always in the wrong place at the wrong time). He became fed up being an outcast and decided to turn to a life of crime. He has a deep love for Lisa the Lizard who works at the town hall.



Thamatropes, Zoetrope and Praxinoscope class examples.


Overall I enjoyed making the Praxinoscopes as the final piece looked themost effective in comparison to my Zoetrope and Thaumatrope.




After researching and looking at past experiences, I have chosen to create a clay mated ESting as I most enjoyed that unit. My Lary the Lizard claymation looked rather good and i enjoyed the shooting and editing side of the unit. As for now I have a number of ideas, one of which includes Larry the Lizard. I want to create a simple yet aesthetically pleasing ESting that any age group/gender will enjoy. I will most likely work on my own, as i have high standards that might be lost working in a pair or group.