A2 Media Coursework Blog

As a conclusion for my research it’s evident that the concept of stereotyping in children’s TV drama is prominent. For example, in M.I.High, there is the good looking male character and his two female sidekicks, thus placing the stereotype of men being dominant than women. It begins to employ a sort of James Bond theme towards to the show, which makes it engaging for the audience to watch. Furthermore, it was also apparent that an engaging soundtrack is central to the entire opening in order to establish the tone of the show. For example, in The Sarah Jane Adventures the soundtrack dominates the opening. Therefore I will need to incorporate an engaging soundtrack for my opening title sequence in order to keep my audience watching and not lose interest.

Another commonality I found amongst children’s TV drama openings is that the predominant colour palette is black white and red. The black and white together may suggest reality. However, separately black may suggest darkness; white may connote purity and red, being an alerting colour helps to engage the audience and it also connotes danger. Young Dracula depicts this in its opening sequence. This colour palette is similar to that of my AS media coursework where the predominant colours were also red, black and white. This could be seen in openings such as Sin City (Frank Miller, 2005).

Whilst Young Dracula was the only animated opening I have investigated, most shows openings are live action ones which I find would be more appealing to my target audience of 11-15yr old boys. I plan on following this convention to in order to be relative to my target audience.

In terms of camera the predominant shot choices were LS’s and CU’s. The editing is usually in synch with the soundtrack which helps to provide a cohesive opening, therefore, allowing the audience to settle into the programme and grabbing their interest at the same time. There is always a wide range of mise en scene within the opening titles. “The worst witch” uses a variety of props such as the broomsticks, a witch’s wardrobe including the pointed hat and cloak. In terms of diegetic sounds and ambience, there is little or none included in title sequences of children’s TV drama.

Regarding the current impact that Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008) has on children explains the genre that was most voted for by my target audience. This will help me establish my opening for my children’s TV drama as I will know what they’re expecting to see. The concept of vampires and other creatures will help me to structure the narrative for my opening.

I intend to contradict Tzevetan Todorov’s- (http://misbournemedia.com/mediatheorists.htm) theory of the narrative at the beginning is always at equilibrium by setting my opening in a more paced momentum in order to keep the audience engaged with the text.