Downton Abbey Opening Credits
Downton Abbey is a costume/period drama and from the opening credits we can tell this.
The first scene is a man walking a dog in a large field with a large castle in the foreground, this already creates a historical, british type setting. It then goes on to show the interior of a building which isn't very modern and shows close up shots of objects. For example, bells, letters, crockery and cutlery, flowers, candle lit lamps and chandeliers and other household objects, but they are all very old fashioned, and so this helps set the scene. The crockery shot especially helps us realise things...
The cutlery is set perfectly, along with the glasses. The gold trimmed plates with a gold emblem on against a dark oak table suggests this is a house holding a wealthy family of upper class and adds to what we already know if it being set in the past.
The chandelier is a well known old fashioned type of lighting, and it is being polished in the shot below. This not only suggests wealth and a greater sense of the time period, but also that the person polishing is probably a maid or butler as we saw a hand setting the crockery on the table, a hand turning on the candlelit light, and a man walking the dog and also someone tending to the pan on the stove. We also see a bell ringing which could be for a maid, and we see a woman in uniform go upstairs with laundry. So again, wealth and upper class is shown due to them having a maid/butler(s). Yet it also adds mystery as we have seen the characters belongings and associates and their home, so we have an idea of what they are like, and have had an insight into their life but we are still not introduced to any of character.
When watching the opening credits on mute, you can imagine that the sound would be a very classical type soundtrack, no lyrics or narration just a simple piano or violin or even an orchestra.
I then listened with music and the music is a piano, there is no singing and its not heavy going music, as it a piano it adds to the fact that its set from many years ago where they would have listened to this kind of music. Because the music is not to loud or upbeat it doesnt take the attention away from the images being shown on screen.
The text also is a basic serif font which is thought to be a less modern font, the credits simply fade on and off in either white or black to help the audience read it more easily. It is a smooth graphic transaction, even at the end when the name of the show is revealed, it keeps the same font, uses black and white and has a smooth and slow movement.
