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.

I questioned a total of 20 people in order to get concrete evidence for the planning of my children’s TV drama opening. 16 boys and 4 girls were interviewed and they were all in between the age ranges of 11-15. This means that my children’s TV drama must be relative to the teenage market. Surprisingly, the two genders didn’t vote for the typical comedy or romance genres. Instead the genres of Horror and Action were opted. This may have derived from the current vampire trends of “twilight”. The two most watched TV shows that were circled were Young Dracula and Sarah Jane Adventures. These sorts of shows tend to have cliff hangers at the end in order to keep the audience returning. My audience tends to come at 4pm in the afternoon when the children’s TV shows are at their peak in the day. They tend to watch television for at least 1hour to 2hours.

This is the questionnaire I intend to propose to my audience. Ihave kept the language simple so that they can understand it easily.

M.I.High
Richard Elson (2007-current)

NB- 2.25-2.52 ONLY !!

The camera mainly adheres to CU’s., MS and LS of the characters. All the characters are positioned in the centre in order to make them the focal point of the sequence. The post production has included split screens in order to show the sort of things these characters do. Also, wipes have been used in order to show a change in character, time and place. The Big Ben is an iconic signifier of the city London, this helps to establish where the location of the show is. The colour palette of this sequence is black to connote evil, white to connote goodness and red to connote danger. The soundtrack is quite fast paced and quite like mission impossible. There is a voice over that helps to guide the audience through the title sequence.

Young Dracula
Danny Robins (2006-2008)

NB- 0.00-0.13!!

The title sequence for young Dracula consists of mainly LS and CU’s. This helps the audience follow the car easily. The editing mainly consists of wipes in order to suggest a change in time and place. The mise-en-scene involve a colour palette of red to connote danger or blood. Blood helps to reinforce the idea of “Dracula.” Oranges to connote autumn, which is when Halloween occurs, thus reinforcing the idea of Dracula again and last but not least, blacks to connote darkness as vampires only come out at night. The background has Transylvania written on it which acts as a textual signifier of vampires, as well as castles. The soundtrack is spooky and provides a dark atmosphere to the sequence, there are diegetic bat squeaks to heighten the verisimilitude of the text and lastly the thunder crashing helps to conclude the title sequence.

The Worst Witch
Alex Kirby (1998-2001)

The sequence begins with a LS of the moon, this helps to reinforce the concept of witches only coming out at night. Furthermore, there are LS of the girls in order to show the audience their wardrobe and the effectively put across the concept of them flying. The editing is mainly slow cuts to match on with the music and the titles are superimposed upon the pictures in order to show recognition of the author of the books. The mise-en-scene consists of the stereotypical wardrobe signifiers of the pointy witch’s hat, cloaks and brooms. This helps the audience settle into the genre of fantasy. Also, the typical location of the castle in the forest helps to establish the genre further. The soundtrack consists of mainly ethereal vocals. This provides a pace for the editing and slowly allows the audience to settle into the atmosphere.