An analysis of the title sequence of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

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Charmaine Hughes        Media Unit        English Coursework

An analysis of the title sequence of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

In this essay I am going to analyse the title sequence of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

I am going to talk about the camera shots and angles for each scene; the different mise-en-scenes and the unusual narrative in the beginning, I will also mention the different typefaces (text) used; the Characters; the language; colours and music

The Fresh Prince of Bel-air is a typical American teenage show, with a big multi-media star. The show has been a long-running success and is famous all over the world. I am going to begin this essay by addressing the unusual narrative. This goes on for the whole of the title sequence. It explains the story in RAP (Rhythm And Poetry). It begins off by saying: “Now this is a story all about how my life got twisted upside down, and I’d like to take a minute so just sit right there and I’ll tell you about how I became a prince of a town called Bel-air.”  The music is an easy beat to attract all types of teenagers.

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The first mise-en-scene which is Will Smith who plays the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air sitting on a rotating throne with the graffiti wall in the background. The titles and The graffiti are brightly coloured to attract teenagers to the show. The graffiti is also usually very popular to teenagers. A majority of teenagers will also see graffiti in their country as well as America where the show is filmed. The camera angles (high/medium angle) adds meaning to the shot and links the props to the theme. The throne is there to emphasise the phrase Prince and it also represents teenagers ...

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