Amy’s Weblog

Initial Research of Children’s TV Programme Title Sequences

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.

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