Purposes of Idents

What are the purposes of Idents?

Idents are used to represent a company or brand. These can be extremely useful in favour of success as audiences see the ident, and if its eye-catching/memorable, they will recognise it in another film etc. This will promote the brand well and ensure that they always are known within the film industry for all the good reasons. 'Idents' comes from the word identity, yet in a representative of brand form. For example, 'Dreamworks' are an animation company who created some of the most popular CGI films, such as Shrek (2001) and many other great films. Their ident is very eye catching and has something about it that audiences will remember and enjoy every time they see it. 

https://youtu.be/p9PtpALF_3w

I believe idents establish the brand more. For example, 'Universal', one of the worlds biggest film production company, has one of the most eye catching idents. Without that promotion of the brand, no one would memorise either the brand or the film when they see it second time round, as it wouldn't have as much of an impact on the viewers. The iconic globe turning 360 degrees is not only just the ident but the brand. Without the impact of it, who knows, would there be Universal Studios theme parks located within America and around the world? 

Do Different idents achieve different things?

Yes i believe so. Some idents like the Disney one are created to bring back childhood memories and create excitement, yet others are just created to gain attention from viewers and look good in terms of creating an impact upon the audience. The 'Warner Brothers' idents before films differentiate depending on what film. For example, the ident for Warner Bros that represents Harry Potter is different to the one that represents The Hobbit.

As you can see, the cloudy background, and logo made of stone ident represents Harry Potter, whilst in contrast the wooden, black-out background logo represents The Hobbit. Yes, they do look like they could represent either of the films but they each have an identity, as both of these films contain similar character profiles (both have wizards, monsters etc).