News Opening Sequence Analysis

Connotations of Title Sequence

This is the new opening sequence from the ITV News at Ten (from January 2013). This particular opening sequence does follow some of the iconography of TV news.

At the very beginning of the sequence (at 0:31) you can see that there are clocks which is showing the news as it happens, the clocks seem to be from Big Ben, which is also phallic symbol and a  famous landmark.  The next part of the sequence is the world from space, rotating. This is showing that they are covering news from all over the world. The whole starting sequence has rushing graphics and camera movements. The pictures of the clocks, world etc. are in squares which are moving around quickly- which is a rushing graphic showing that the news is coming to the audience quickly and up to date.

One thing that is different to the connotation of news is that they have used a woman's voice for the voice-over. News programs may usually use a male for a voice over to suggest power however, in this case, they have used a woman's voice. However, her voice is quite low so this could  show power, but also seriousness. She is saying "this is ITV News at 10 with..." so, she is basically introducing the show and mainly telling information, and the seriousness of her voice links with that.

The end part of the sequence where there is text saying 'ITV News' has strong beats to it which suggests the importance of the news as the text moves on each beat. 'NEWS' is in capital letters and is also white which makes it clear to read and the capitals, again, suggest importance. During the opening sequence, there is a lot of beaty, fast-paced music which suggest the importance of the news.

Connotations of the Newsreaders

Newsreaders "read" the news, and they are different from other presenters in the way that they are not celebrities etc. and they basically just share information. Therefore they also do not share any of their own opinions, they just deliver and "read" the news directly to the camera/audience.

The newsreaders from this particular news also follow some of the iconography that newsreaders generally have. For an example, they are dressed smartly- as both the men and woman are in suits. This is suggesting overall seriousness and therefore makes the audience take them and what they are saying seriously. We can see that the man is in a black suit, and looks at least 45 years old and the woman is wearing a white suit, looking considerably younger, around 30. If you look at many TV News shows, this is actually the general age of the newsreaders. In this sexist culture, the men being of older age is connoting authority and wisdom, whereas the woman's age is generally connoting the loss of physical attraction.

When the opening sequence finishes the camera cranes towards them and we can see that they are already sitting behind the desk. We usually in the most cases see the newsreader always, already sitting behind a big desk, which is connoting importance and urgency. The newsreaders also address the audience directly by looking straight at the camera, putting emphasis on the importance of communication.  
When we first hear the newsreaders, we can already hear that they use standard English but also have 'received pronunciation', which is basically a 'neutral' way of speaking. Newsreaders generally have this way of speaking, as other accents would connote too much about the newsreader themselves.
We can also take them seriously as they generally have a limited range of emotion (not usually smiling until the end of the news), which is reinforcing the "neutrality".

Mise-en-scene of Studio

The only part of the studio you can see from the opening sequence is where the newsreaders are, but there is also the background where you can see the rest of the building. Here, it is showing multiple screens, possibly representing that this is part of the way of how the news is "brought" to the studio. It also shows that the studio is modern and uses high technology by the TVs, which could show that the news being shown is up-to-date and modern.
The only other part of the studio you can really see is the big desk that the newsreaders are sitting at. The desk is very big and modern, and also is very smart and business like (linking to the smartness of their outfits too). This helps us take them more seriously and  therefore also take the news seriously.

Sometimes during this particular part of the opening sequence, they pan in from much further away showing the sets; including the cameras and microphones. This is trying to show us that the news is "real" and not hiding equipment such as you would with films.