The document discusses the conventions used in the opening title sequence for the television show "Penny Dreadful". It analyzes several conventions: establishing mood and genre through the music, using animals to represent characters, including the names of actors but not the studio, and creating mystery through brief clips and lighting. The effectiveness of the sequence is evaluated, finding it draws viewers in without spoiling the show, while setting the theme and scene.

1. Assignment 2:
Conventions of opening title sequence.
By Toby Prichard, Josh Gibson, Liam Cornwall-Tombs and Mykola Serbov.
Opening title sequence:
Penny dreadful

2. The first convention is the “Film title” which as you
can see clearly displays the name of the film
OTS conventions (Liam)
Another convention is credit film company,
which means it displays the company that made the film.
This also tells you a lot about the film, if it is some
company like Warner Brothers you expect to see a big
block buster.
Credit actors is another convention.
This means it shows who the main characters are. This is
important as if it is someone who is famous in comedy
you know it might be a comedy film. It also tells you if it
is a good film as the actor would not accept a bad one.
There are also credit cast members which just mean it
shows who the cast are. This is mostly the same as
credit actor because if some one is famous for music
in films you know that the music aspect of the film
will be good. It would also be the same for director
and other roles.

3. Sound is also a convention, it plays a very important part as it helps the audience tell what
genre it is. It also sets a mood for the film for example a slow and tense music would be
associated with horror. It can also be used to set up audience expectations, practically if the
film belongs to a well know franchise.
Another convention is enigma they are used in a opening sequence to help create
questions and tension from the start to entice the audience. It also keeps the
audience interested in the film and wanting to find the answers and keeping the
audience hooked on the film
It also try’s to establish the films genre. Within the opening the audience should be able to
establish the genre of the film due to key genre conventions. For example in a psychological
thriller they would use low key lighting for tension, eerie music and the colour black, grey and
red for death and danger.
Establishing the characters is a convention as it shows the
characters importance and place in the film. It is also an
enigma as we don't know who they are. So this creates
questions as we see them like who, what, why, etc.

4. Ots convections explained
Mykola
All of the text used in the opening title was in the same
style and was placed on dark blue/black background. The
meaning behind that is too create a dark theme while
switching the screens. The colour of the text is grey,
making the text look darker. The colour white would be
easier to see, but they have used the grey colour to
make it too look corrupted instead of “pure”
In the animation there have been used special effects to
create a “poisonous” and deadly atmosphere. That is
created by the use of different animals and insects
representing the people in the show. For example you
can see that to the right where this person to the right is
represented by the spider. They use filters to give this an
even eerier feeling and give a feeling of disgust to the
audience.

5. Compare to the ots in the starter
Penny dreadful GO
Introduction of characters in the film in a
very disturbing way. Introduced with
their
Introduction of characters in the film in a
flashy way by springing through slides
The pace of the ots is quite slow and pays
a lot of detail to the shots
The pace is really fast making it hard to
see what is going on in the shot
Has a lot of symbolic references Doesn't have any symbolic references
The music is very deep and creates an
emotional response to it
The music is very fast paced and cruises
though the scenes

6. Penny Dreadful use of conventions
(Josh)
Enigma- as mentioned in the first
section, penny dreadful uses enigma
in order create mystery and
questioning for the audience. Quick
clips that show religious imagery and
use of low key lighting help to
provide this sense of mystery.
Score Music- penny dreadful OTS uses a fast paced violin lead orchestra. This sets the genre as
the music sets a tense and mysterious atmosphere.
Text-text used in the OTS uses the font
BELL MT. the bell MT font helps set the
time period as it gives a Victorian esc
look to the text.
Character- in this OTS the characters are
established with the use of animals. First
showing the animal in the frame followed
by the character. This helps set the genre
of monster horror

7. Not useful for penny dreadful
(Josh)
Crediting studio- penny dreadful OTS does not have the
convention of studio crediting. This is mainly due to the series
belonging to sky and only being aired on channels owned by sky.
3rd person narrative- this OTS doesn’t require a 3rd person
narrative to introduce any information to the audience. This is
mainly due to penny dreadful being a TV series meaning that the
OTS remains constant as new information is revealed during the
show. This convention only really applies to films where there is
only a one off OTS.

8. Are the conventions in your OTS typical in films
of the same genre? Why or why not? (Toby)
• the conventions in our OTS are typical to a degree for films of
the same genre. This is because for a thriller/horror film they
want you to know as little as possible about the story while in
TV Series of the same genre they want you to know basic
things to do with the show. The conventions of the actors
names and the setting are displayed . This is because TV series
and Films serve different purposes and must therefore follow
conventions respectively.
The shiningSilence of the lambsPenny dreadful

9. Evaluate the effectiveness of the OTS
(Toby)
• The opening title
sequencewas effective
as it draws in theviewer
and shows them what the
show is about. It shows
thetheme, characters,
actors and thegenre
withoutspoiling the
show. It is donequickly
and sets thescenefor the
rest of theshow.
Why it is effective Why it is not effective