Research And Planning: E4 and the brief

Who owns E4? 

E4 is owned by channel 4 and they were created in 2001. They are aimed at the 15-35 age group and the E stands for entertainment.

How long have E4 existed? 

E4 have been around since 2001 and they launched on January 18th.

What programmes are shown regularly on E4?

E4 aim at the lucrative 15-35 age group so the majority of their programmes are aimed at this demographic. As well as their original content they also import a lot of programmes from USA such as The Big Bang Theory and Ugly Betty, these are two of their most successful broadcasts with one episode of The Big Bang Theory pulling in over 3 million viewers.

Despite the US imports being successful their original content is very popular and the well known series The Inbetweeners has been their most successful show of all time with one of their episodes nearing 4 million viewers. As well as this regular content back in 2005 they used to show 'first look' programmes such as Hollyoaks and Come Dine With Me that would air in advance to the transmission on Channel 4.

Who is the target primary audience for E4? 

In terms of age, E4 go for the younger generation and target the 15-35 year olds due to the nature of programmes that they show. Due to this target audience it is likely that this will match the the demographic group E of the unemployed, students and casual workers. It is unlikely that the majority of youngsters will have a job as they will probably be in full time education and if they are in a job they won't be much higher than D or C2 in the demographic table. In terms of Psychographics the E4 target audience will likely be strugglers although this age group is very varied so there is a difference in programmes to suit the need of everyone who watches the channel. For example the Teen Drama, Skins will be for Strugglers while US import, The Big Bang Theory will be for Succeeders as that programme is based on the knowledge of the characters who are on the show.



Who is the secondary audience for E4?  

The secondary audience for E4 is likely to be part of the C1 demographic as this section is made up of mainly junior supervisors and junior professionals. The reason for this is because of these professionals wanting to escape from their day to day lifestyle and be absorbed into a different world, that of the programmes being shown. These could make up the individual segment as they are often hard to classify and not really found their feet in the world yet or the Aspirers who are wanting to be successful and are working there way to that stage but want the relaxation that E4 provides. E4 may also target an older audience as well such as the 35-50 year olds who can connect on a certain level with some of the programmes as some of the shows may allow them to connect with their teen self and feel nostalgic about the past.

What other channels are owned by this broadcaster and who are they aimed at? 

Channel 4 is the umbrella company that is owned by Stakeholders but also have subsidiary companies that they own. These include, More 4, Film 4, E4 and their online only service, All 4. All of these channels are aimed at the younger demographic and also individuals due to the uniqueness of some of their shows.

What is an E-Sting and what is it's purpose?

An E-Sting is a very short video clip that is shown in between programmes to keep the brand image of the channel in the viewers mind. The purpose of these stings is to reinforce the brand in the viewers mind and to remind the viewer of what channel they are watching their favourite programme on.

Analyse 3 genuine E-stings for genre, audience and content



The first E-Sting isn't a stop motion animated one but it still works incredibly well. The use of the POV camera angle works really nicely and the subtle inclusion of the E4 branding still does the job of brand reinforcement but isn't too heavy which creates for nice content. The quality isn't great which would suggest to me this aims for cat lovers who won't mind the poor quality as they appreciate the cat's viewpoint and the demographic who like cats is very large. Non cat lovers might not enjoy this but it fits with E4's brand of being unique and edgy, that works really well.



This is a sting that is used on E4 in 2015. This is a sting that is targeted at teens, mainly males. The fact that they are skating shows that E4 are trying to reach their younger audience that reach their channel to make them feel engaged with the channel and make them feel like they are a part of it. Usually skaters will fall into the explorer category as they are fueled on adventure and experience and this ident fits that.I liked this E-Sting because it is different from the normal sting and fits a section of their audience perfectly, it's a fresh, clean design that works really nicely.





Above is an ident that E4 used that was used between programmes to reinforce brand awareness. The ident is set in a living room that of course everyone has, it's relatable and doesn't discount anyone from connecting with their brand. They have tried to target a target audience but been subtle with this. They have filled the room with trees and animals near the end which is very unique, E4 is a channel that is predominately watched by the younger generation and they will like this, it's fresh and different from other channels. The use of purple means that this colour will stick in peoples heads and is also associated with being a luxury colour which means the upper classes will be able to relate with the advert as well. By including a mix of all the above it allows E4 to have their brand image and remain different but not discount anyone, they keep their identity but remain a channel for the explores. I really like this ident because it turns from a normal living room into an odd E4 themed room, it relates to the way you feel when you watch E4 as you are fully consumed by the TV and go into you own little world.

What planning have you already done to help respond to the brief

Please refer to the early animation toys blog post to see the video I created in which I recorded my thaumatrope, praxinoscope and zoetrope videos on.

Above is a screenshot of my Lego stop motion animation blog that I posted. Lego was the first material that I worked with to create the stop motion animation sequence and there were many positives to it. The fact that they have such prominent movements makes them really easy to move and animate. Another positive is that they are really easy to sculpt but they also have so many different options which means you can make them unique and also shoe emotion through the characters which is hugely important.  Using Lego does have certain limitations though such as facial movements that you can create with clay. As well as this the characters and props that you build with lego will always look a certain way because of the way that Lego is created, it's very rigid and square which is hard to use when trying to create different objects, for example certain animals would be tough to create using Lego, Wallace and Gromit could have never been created using Lego. Also, Lego has copyright on it which means you are not allowed to use it for commercial purposes without permission which means you will run into problems.

After watching this stop motion video which was created with people there were evident positives and negatives compared to that of Lego. First of all the movements that can be created with people are of course more natural compared to Lego. You are slightly limited with Lego due to the jolty movements that they produce but that is not the case with people. As well as this you are able to place the people in real life environments which makes everything a lot more realistic. Another positive of creating stop motion with people is that facial impressions are much easier to create as it is near enough impossible to create this with Lego animation.

A negative of using people for stop motion animation is that there can be certain limitations. Due to the big space that is needed to film in

Terms and conditions 

Here are some terms and conditions from the E4 e-sting website that you must comply to.