Research and planning: E4 and the Brief

Part 1: E4

The British TV channel E4 is owned by the Channel Four Television Corporation (informally referred to as Channel 4) and was launched on 18th January 2001 as a companion channel to Channel 4. E4 was originally launched as a pay-TV channel but eventually made the move over to freeview. E4 primarily shows imported shows from the US including:

The Cleveland Show
The O.C
Smallville
Veronica Mars
Everwood
What About Brian
Desperate Housewives
How I Met Your Mother
90210
One Tree Hill
Ugly Betty
Scrubs
Rules of Engagement
The Big Bang Theory
2 Broke Girls
Revenge
Friends

                                              E4 Logo

E4 has also had big success with British TV series' such as Skins, My Mad Fat Diary, Misfits, The Inbetweeners, The Ricky Gervais Show, Shameless, Hollyoaks and Made in Chelsea. Due to the focus on Sit-coms and Teen Dramas it is evident that the primary demographic for E4 is young adults aged 15-25 in the United Kingdom who are most likely students or working class, this is further supported by the graph below which shows the most popular shows on E4.

These kind of shows attract teenage/young adult audiences because the content of the shows often covers issues that affect real people, as well as comedy derived from unlikely or embarrassing situations. 

The secondary demographic for E4 could be adult-middle aged housewives aged 35-50 since a lot of the content is drama aimed primarily at middle class or skilled working class housewives i.e Desperate Housewives, Friends, One Tree Hill and 2 Broke Girls. The primary and secondary audience relate since in most cases the older audience are the parents of the primary younger audience.  

E4 also has two extra channels E4+1 and E4 Music, E4+1 shows repeats a hour after they are shown on E4 meaning that the audience remains very much the same. E4 Music however has a larger demographic since music channels are not normally catered to a certain audience since any one of any age or background can enjoy the music that is aired on the channel. 

Part 2: E Stings

E-stings are short clips shown before and after shows, they serve the simple purpose of reminding the viewer what channel they are watching. Additionally in the case of E4 E-stings are created by the community which allows for a level of involvement with the audience that most TV channels do not have.

Analysing E-stings.

1. 'EEEFam' (E4 Estings 2013)

this surreal comedic e-sting is aimed at a family audience based on the characters represented in the sting. I personally enjoyed the e-sting because of it's unique style, the animation quality is fantastic and the e-sting is entertaining overall.  

2. 'E4 Squad'

An action/comedy e-sting that recreates the 80's VHS feel, this e-sting is aimed more towards an adult audience since the nostalgia factor would be lost on younger children. I personally enjoyed this e-sting because of the nostalgia as well as the high tier animation quality.

3. 'Dog Chase'

Another comedy e-sting that is aimed at a family audience which stands out from the others I have chosen purely based on the expert animation.

Part 3: Planning and preparation

Before this piece of work and before I create my own e-sting I have to do some planning and preparation to ensure I can create a high quality E-sting. This is some of the work I have done so far

Early Optical Toys

This blog post shows the Thaumotrope, Praxinoscope and Zoetrope that I created as an introduction to the earliest forms of film and animation.

Lego Stop motion video

A stop motion Lego short that I created as practice with stop motion and Lego as a material. In the animation I created a small Lego figurine is seen in multiple separate pieces and over the course of the animation the character reforms into a man, who is then immediately destroyed by a robot. 

Live action stop motion animation

A short stop motion animation created using real actors instead of Lego or Plasticine. Based on the buzzword 'the race'. In my animation the character is late for class and must hurry to reach it in time but meets various objects along the way that slow him down. 

Part 4: The E-sting

When I eventually come to create my E-sting I will most likely use live action instead of claymation or Lego, simply because I believe I am more proficient with a camera and actors than I am at creating and positioning clay models or building Lego characters/structures. However this may change after I have experimented with claymation in the coming lessons.