Amy’s Weblog

After presenting our initial ideas to the different people in our class, we decided that our third idea (four best friends) would be the best idea for us to do.
We have carried out some research into some title sequences of TV series with similar audiences and similar characters.

‘The Sleepover Club – Series 2′ theme song

‘Hannah Montana’ Series 1 theme song

‘The Suite Life of Zack and Cody’ Season 1 theme song

‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ – Season 1 theme song

‘My Parents Are Aliens’ Series 7 theme song

‘Saved by the Bell’ opening sequence

‘Demon Headmaster’ opening sequence

‘ZZZAP’ opening sequence

‘Sonny with a chance’ opening sequence

‘Britannia High’ opening sequence

‘Taina’ opening sequence

Analysis
From researching eleven title sequences of Children’s TV dramas, I have found some similarities between them, some differences and some ideas that I feel could be useful for our own title sequence.
Some of the title sequences (all videos listed above), including ‘The Sleepover Club’, ‘Hannah Montana’, ‘The Suite Life of Zack and Cody’, ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ and ‘Zzzap’, all had clips from the series incorporated into the title sequence itself. I really like this idea because it can really give a clear introduction to the show but it would be a lot harder for us to achieve as it would involve us having to film in several different locations at different times with different costumes to give the illusion of different episodes. This would be more challenging for us because it would take a lot more time and might take over from the title sequence itself. 
A feature which is common in a lot of the title sequences is the introduction of the actors / characters. My favourite example of this is in the ‘Saved By the Bell’ sequence because it shows clips of the different characters and gives the actors names. It gives the audience a chance to feel connected with the character. Although this is an idea I like, it could also be difficult for us to achieve because each character has a few very short clips, kind of like the clips in some of other sequences, but a lot more brief. However, it is easier for us to achieve because it would only involve a few different locations and costume changes. I really like ‘The Sleepover Club’ opening sequence because it presents still images of the characters and gives their names. I like this idea because it’s achievable for us and it gives the audience a clear view of all of the characters. This would also be easier for us in the editing process. The ‘Sonny with a chance’ theme song is quite interesting because it is part animation and part live footage. I like it because without the animation something like this could be quite achievable for us. It’s really interesting because it introduces the characters but also involves quite a long piece of video. This relates to the ‘Taina’ title sequence and the ‘Britannia High’ title sequence.

For my A2 advanced portfolio, I am working in a group with another member of my media class.
The question we are going to be working on is:
6. A selection of materials related to an original children’s TV drama, to include the title sequence to the TV programme, together with two of the following three options:
• the front cover to a magazine for the series;
• a DVD cover for the series;
• a radio advertisement for the magazine.

We have decided to complete a title sequence to the TV programme, a DVD cover for the series and a radio advertisement. We have chosen these three options because it gives us a chance to demonstrate our skills in three different areas of media.

Initial Ideas
From looking at several different examples of children’s TV programmes (British and American) both online and on television, we have decided that we would like to work to create a TV show for an audience of 10-15 year olds. We chose to create a show for this age group because it meant that we could use live footage to create a real life drama that they would be interested in and find more entertaining rather than using costumed actors or cartoon as this would appeal more to a younger audience. We also chose to work with this target audience because we felt it would be easier for us to relate to as it is closer to us in age than maybe a ‘teletubbies’ style show for a very young audience. Our examples helped us to decide that our opening sequence would need to feature a catchy theme song, a focus on the main character, the names of the actors and the production team and footage that would be from other episodes in the series. Also the opening sequence will need to give the audience a brief idea of what the drama is to be about.
We’ve looked at examples of opening sequences of children’s TV dramas to help us come up with the following ideas:

Idea One

• 16 year old brother and 14 year old sister. Story about their lives, they live with mum one week and dad the next week. Different lifestyles at each. Each have 2 friends.
• School life / Home life.

Idea Two

• Based around one boy who can time travel. He discovered an old time machine and uses it to travel back in time and save the world.

Idea Three

• Group of four best friends. All different to eachother.      + cool / popular, geek, pretty and tomboy.

media presentation pp