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The British soap opera Coronation Street is one of the longest running television programmes in the world, and if its network promotions are to be believed its also “The Nation’s Street”, a sentiment I actually quite like.
Earlier this week Corrie began broadcasting in High Definition, and to mark the occasion they updated the opening sequence, bringing with it a depth, warmth and intimacy missing from the earlier incarnation.
Despite the fact I don’t watch any soaps I’m actually a huge fan of the format. The daily, long running nature of the programmes open up huge creative possibilities that can reflect the life of a nation, and really engage a wide audience.
And while these long running stalwarts of the genre have a place, I hope we see some new takes on the soap opera format appear on the scene as well.
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The Emmy and Peabody award winning performance art and cultural phenomenon that is Stephen Colbert recently took his show into the world of high definition, and you know what that means.. a new opening sequence.
Produced by the New York based gang at Mr Wonderful, the new look is as delightfully jingoistic as the old, and a perfect way to start an almost perfect show.
Or as Stephen puts it in the press release they’ve “created the Avatar of show opens”… topical and funny, you’ve done it done Colbert.
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The 2009 Primetime Emmy for Main Title Design has just been awarded, last year Mad Men won, and in the running for it this year was:
> Vampire drama True Blood from HBO
> Showtime’s multiple personality comedy United States of Tara.
> AMC’s industry chat fest Storymakers
> HBO telemovie Taking Chance
> And Fox’s body language drama Lie To Me.
And the winner is..
For all the details on who made what, check out this.
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Australia’s Funniest Home Videos now has one redeeming feature.. this swish new title sequence and its very cool spaghetti lettering.
- Thanks for the video Alex, and sorry again for.. well you know.
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Brazillian based agency Santa Motion have created this strange yet compelling opening sequence for a new MTV show called Acesso.
The broad concept behind the video is about how information changes people, an idea represented through the various transitions. MTV Latin America have always pumped out really interesting stuff, including this from a few years back.
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One of televisions most iconic opening sequences got its most dramatic and permanent update today.
The Simpson’s have taken the leap into high definition, and used it as an opportunity to completely recreate the famous race home.
Sticking to the basic premise that debuted back in 1989, the new sequence see’s the addition of countless secondary characters and a few in-jokes from the shows over 400 episode history.
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True Blood is the latest creation from Alan Ball, the creator of Six Feet Under and American Beauty screenwriter. Just like Six Feet Under, the main titles for True Blood have been designed by Digital Kitchen, who also did the opener for Dexter.
The high concept premise behind True Blood revolves around the co-existence of vampires and humans in the southern US state of Louisiana. And from the pilot episode at least, it appears Ball intends to draw on vampires and their recent “outing” into mainstream society as an allegory for the struggle to achieve homosexual rights, racial equality and acceptance.
The gritty and compelling opening sequence, accompanied by the track Bad Things by Jace Everett, even goes so far to feature a sign saying “God Hates Fangs”, an obvious play on the famous protest signs of the Westboro Baptist Church.
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Having covered the Sydney and Beijing games already, it seems only fair to fill in the blank that is Athens 2004. These two videos, produced for the Seven Network and the Athens Olympic Broadcasting organisation respectively, prove that the timeless formula of “athletes + cultural imagery = Olympic opener” will apparently never go out of fashion.
- Another big thanks to Christian for the videos.
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These two opening titles for the Sydney 2000 games (aka “the best Olympics games ever“) show just how little creative progress has been made in the field of Olympic television branding. And while they’re not bad, you have to wonder how many more Olympics broadcasts are going to open with video of a guy jumping up and kicking a soccer ball before somebody thinks up a new idea.
The first video is from the Seven network, the Australian broadcaster of the 2000 games, and the second video is the “official” opening sequence, produced by the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation for international telecasts.
- Huge thanks to Alex and Christian for the videos.
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Germany’s ZDF (aka Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) combines the Chinese landscape with Olympic athleticism, along with the obligatory cultural reference in the form of a flying dragon for this slick branding of their Games coverage.
- Big thanks to Ulrich for the video.
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