TV titles have quite a job to do, they need to introduce the tone, genre and characters of the show whilst still holding the audience’s attention. To get across a range of characters in such as short amount of time producers will use stereotypes through symbolic, technical and written codes and in the structure of the conventions of the medium.
For this Outcome you will be working in groups of four to create your own titles sequence for a television show.
The television show will be based around the television genre of your choosing, but must be set at a public high school. Examples of television genres could include:
- Comedy / Situation Comedy (Friends, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother)
- Soap Opera (Home and Away, Neighbours)
- Action / Superhero show (Agents of Shield, 24, Arrow)
- Gritty Drama (The Wire, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead)
- Reality Show (My Kitchen Rules, The Amazing Race, Survivor)
- Police Procedural / Detective (NCIS, Law and Order, CSI)
- Horror / Fantasy (Game of Thrones, America Horror Story, Supernatural)
- Other (Lawyer show, Doctor show, Prison show, political drama, period drama)
Your titles sequence must do the following:
- Be no longer than one minute
- Signify the genre of the tv show (using technical and symbolic codes)
- Establish at least 4 stereotypical characters of the chosen genre
Development: TV Titles Research
Watch the following Intro videos and answer the following questions:
- What genre is this TV show? How do you know?
- Name a character trope / stereotype used in the the opening.
- Describe how this trope / stereotype is represented.
How does 'Too Many Cooks' use and subvert sitcom tropes and expectations?
Pre-production: TV Show Pitch
You are to create a pitch for your television show. Your show will be based around the television genre of your choosing, but must be set at a public high school.
A pitch is used to sell a show, so you need to make your show sound exciting as possible.