O°o●◦How does the opening three minutes of 'Heroes' compare to typical TV title sequences? ◦●o°O

As the series starts, the logo of ‘Heroes’ appears marking itself as a trademark and giving ‘Heroes’ a unique image. This is evidently the first distinction notable which makes this TV programme different from any other as other programmes would have logos of the broadcasting institutions or any other partnered institution. The logo includes an eclipse with the word 'Heroes' emerging from the side. This gives the programme their own establishment as by having their own logo to look unique and attractive. Additionally, the effects of the eclipse gives an insight to the genre as it is not an image with bright colours but it tends to use dark colours which connotes to the genre of the programme being a horror or a science fiction.

The episode begins with a re-cap of the previous episode, The recap is embedded into the scene creating a flow and doing what it initially intends to which is reviewing the episode for audience to remember the present story line. This is accompanied by a voice over of a male who summarises the storyline simultaneously. This would be a quick reminder to the audience about what happened previously. Many other TV programmes use the same similar method but some may differ as some TV programmes are not a continuation of the previous and don’t follow on and an example would be ‘The Simpsons’ as it is a new storyline each day. There are not many programmes who choose to include this method such as: One Tree Hill, Hollyoaks and Eastenders as they do not use these methods making it an uncommon method to use. This shows that the re-cap does not compare to typical TV title sequences but it could be ideal to keep the audience engaged in the programme, as they are always aware of what happened previously.


As the series begins the title appears: "Chapter Two: Don't look back" which is shown written on the building in capitals. The variation of any other TV programme and The Heroes is significant here as an ordinary TV programme would mark their title at the start positioned at the lower centre of the screen, whereas in this case the title ‘Don’t look back’ is shown on a building. This magnifies the importance of the buildings as the male actor is shown jumping of them, which corresponds to the previous episode. The typography of the text is quite informal and indicates that it has been hand written rather than typed, which signifies to the type of text you would find in a comic book.

Chronologically, the camera angle is changed into a bird’s eye view of the male standing on the building, this is done to intensify the drama being created as it gives the audience a full focus of the man and his surroundings. This connotes that the male may have some sort of importance or may be superior within the series or may even want to commit suicide. This would be the ideas in the audience's mind if they have not seen the series before, this shows the ambiguity of the opening title sequence as the audience may not have a clear idea of what is exactly happening especially if they have not seen the programme before. This would cause the audience to think and will create mystery in their mind which would keep them engaged into the programme. This is also an alternative technique used quite rarely as many would just open in to the first scene and establish the storyline.

On the whole, I think that the opening sequence of the programme 'Heroes' varies from a lot of other TV programmes as it uses different unique techniques to make the programme seem interesting. I also think that the programme does well in engaging its audience as not many programmes use ‘re-caps’ to set the mood of the series.