Balamory opening.
Camerawork:
The opening sequence starts with a high angle shot of the sea, this shot is setting the scene showing the land and a boat. This shot shows balamory being a nice and pretty place. The camera then moves from the high angle shot and pans over towards the boat, suggesting the boat may be a key object in the programme. The camera then continues panning left and dolphins start emerging from the water, this is appealing to young children as they generally see dolphins as a kind and caring animal. The camera then continues to pan until you see the land. Then there is an establishing shot identifying the setting. The camera then zooms in closer and closer, showing all the different colours and aspects of balamory which will attract the children in. Whilst this is happening, balamory appears on screen above letter by letter, these appear in different colour which children will like. The shot then changes to a low angle shot of the land. After this the camera the cuts to a mid shot of the town, and tracks the minibus as it travels down the street seeing all the houses. Again all the colours are bright and cheerful which will attract children. The camera then jumps too "pocket and sweets" a name children will find appealing, the characters are smiling, happy and waving which will appeal to young children. Also their clothes are matching to the colours of the buildings, red and blue. The camera then turns and faces towards the sky, and zooms into a big pink castle building, showing the person on the balcony. He is also matching the colour of his building and is similing and waving. There is then a wipe transition, moving onto an establising shot of trees and the front on balamory, there is also a bird flying which will attract children. The camera then pans towards the yellow house, then shows a mid shot of the man painting it, he is smiling and happy, this is effective to children. The camera zooms onto his painting of a house, which then jump cuts into a real house, this is yellow and then a yellow character appears, also happy and smiling. The camera then pans onto a while bungalow, and introduces a policeman on his bike, although he is authorative he is still happy and smiling which is showing he is caring too. The camera then pans towards "McCreedie Transport." there is then a long shot of the woman infront of the building waving. The camera then travels over the roof, showing another building, the camera stays holding that shot and the house transforms into one which is more real life looking, where a woman appears from the door. She is shown as a happy domimant character. The camera tracks her walking down the street smiling, waving and interacting with the other characters. This is effective and appealing to children because it shows them how to be nice to everyone and be happy. The camera then cuts to mid shot into a house, which shows a mother cleaning her childs teeth, this is effective because it's showing children that it's important to clean their teeth, but also not effective because they should clean them themselves. The camera then tracks the lady walking down the street and shows her entering the nursery/school. This is effective as she is shown to be a happy character, and it may encourage children to go to school if they know their teacher is going to be happy and friendly like her.
Editing:
There are many moments in this introduction where editing is used, mostly through CGI and jump cuts throughout the sequences. Jump cuts are used throughout to help introduce all the characters that need to be introduced, without the opening being too long. CGI are used because they create something which is cartoon like which children love. This is effective because it makes children want to watch Balamory. An example of a CGI is the dolphins at the beginning, (0.05 seconds) although there is many more throughout. There is also an example of a shot transition, (0.32-0.34 seconds) this is important because it creates a smoother transition between shots, also helping to make the opening sequence shorter so the children dont get bored and loose interest.
Sound & Narrative
There is non diegetic and digetic soung used throughout the sequence of balamory. Non diegetic sound is used at the beginning of the sequence as you can hear seagulls but you cant see them, this is something children can relate to in a normal day life as you can hear birds in the mornings but cant necessarily see them. Throughout the whole sequence Balamory has its own opening theme tune which is diegetic. This is effective, because it travels in time with the camera, introducing the characters one by one etc, telling you what their jobs are and what their going to do, e.g "or moving and jumping with Josie Jump, would that be the story in Balamory" making sure the children know whats what. The song is catchy and fun and children can remember it, it's like it's telling a story. The song is the narrative to Balamory, it explains everything and is sung by a happy woman which is appealing because she has a nice sounding high pitched voice.
Mis-en-scence
Balamory is set in a small seaside town, which is extremly bright and colourful throughout, this will apeal to young children as they sterotypically like bright colours and animals. The lighting they use is natural, giving it the real life feel. Dolphins are used to excite the children, as many people find them incredible, and the thought of them being in balamory will encourage the children to watch it. Their clothes /costumes used are exteremly effective because they are the same colour to the building each character is assosiated with, this is effective because if a child couldnt remember the name of a character, they could easily assoisate the colours they are wearing back to their job etc. Although PC Plum is dressed in uniform because he shows authority. The props used are the dolphin, boat and a seagull at the beginning. These all signify youth and fun for the children. The other prop used is the Balamory nursery sign, this is most effective because the actually program Balamory is based on a school/nursery. It is also an effective prop because it promotes the nursery and encourages children to attend.
Representations:
I think Balamory uses adults in it's opening sequence because they are a role model children can look up too. It's also effective because all the characters are different and have their own personalities, giving mostly everyone someone to aspire to be like. The adults act immature because they are supposed to excite the children, which works effectively. The children in the programme are all happy and excited to go to nursery, which is effective because children and home can relate to them and be excited to go to nursery aswel.
Conventions:
Balamory is conventional in many different ways. They use bright colours to appeal to young children, they use CGI to make the characters appear as cartoons, which is brilliant because children love it. The music they use is happy and exciting holding the childs attention. Balamory does well to appeal to it's target audience of young children.
Screen shot showing a example of use of CGI - dolphins
Screen shot - example of shot transition
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