Eventually the audience sees what it is they are looking at and it is an intricate symbol with ‘£’ signs woven into the design. The lights were making up this symbol all the way through until this point/. The symbol has ‘millionaire’ written to the camera goes through this the studio is revealed from above. The camera zooms down and Chris Tarrant (the presenter enters).
The camera work very much resembles a chat show, it uses a lot of close-ups of the person talking conveying emotion, yet pans outwards every so often to show the three of them together and prior to this, pans out to show the whole wide-angle shot and a long shot.
As the cameras portray sub-conscious messages to the audience a very limited amount of movement is used. The most extravagant piece of movement within this whole sequence is the couple’s entrance as they move down the stairs.
The editing, blending the cameras into each others shot is also used somewhat limited as it just simply switches from one view to another, out of the three views used.
When the title sequence of ‘millionaire’ commences the shot of the woman quickly establishes an enigma for the audience who want to know ‘what is the light?’ and ‘what is she looking at? The ‘?’ is a symbol of mystery and intrigue and adds to the audience’s feeling of wonder. The mystery is developed further with more people being shown with lines of light appearing across their faces and the close-ups which are usually used as very emotive shots break convention and are used instead to show the lack of emotion and expressions on the faces of the, almost zombie-like people. This makes the atmosphere even tenser and re-establishes the question of what they are looking at. The few long shots are used to taunt the audience by revealing quick glimpses of what they are seeing from behind peoples legs or heads whilst the camera pans across.
The light has strong connotations of money and it is almost as if affluence and love of money towards the light are drawing the people. When the symbol is revealed this interpretation is supported by the ‘£’ sign woven into the design and by the word millionaire.
However, lighting is not used a lot in the whole sequence of Blind Date, though this is the scene that uses it mostly and for the most reason. The audience can notice that to begin with the lighting started as pink, covering the back wall by the side of the steps. It also had a special effect inside it, almost resembling a giant lava lamp. Again, relating to the shows content with a feel of love to it, using love-related colouring. The pink slowly blends into a dark red colour as the couple moves towards the bottom of the steps. This practically shows more and more love as the couple as the couple moves along, proving the shows purpose.
Up until now, the audience of millionaire has been left with the feeling something strange and supernatural – almost otherworldly is going on. The audience has been kept interested by the enigma and now that it has been solved the title sequence has to keep their interest while at the same time continuing on the same theme. When the camera goes through the ‘o’ there is a sense that the audience is being drawn into another world. Also up until now the place where this is being filmed has been very bare providing an eerie feel and connotes an almost alien atmosphere.
‘BT’ is now sponsoring ‘Blind Date’. Proving that the new series must be good as it already has a sponsor. The BT image is intertextual from the shows content showing a couple relating with each other, though the image of this couple is just a simple outline, filled with the letters ‘B’ and ‘T’. This is ‘BT’ advertising themselves, symbolising to the shows audience that ‘BT’ can bring people together. Associating with the target audience, which are families who will be very likely to own a house phone so is also a big part of Bt’s target audience.
Other than just families, the target audience is mainly made up of middle age and above people of around the middle class section. This is proved from the shows scheduling, 7:30 on a Saturday night. As it is unlikely those young children will be awake, and people between the ages of young children and middle age would be most probably out somewhere else, away from the television set. However, any family member could be watching, so really the show is based towards a high majority of ages, yet runs along the middle age and above guidelines.
However, the opening sequence to ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ has representatives from different ethnic groups. The age range is from 20+ although mainly the elderly and people in their 30’s –40’s. They all appear to be middle class and the clothes and hairstyles are meant to be appropriate to their age, for example, someone in their 80’s is not wearing jeans and has blue hair. This however, stereotypes the people in a way so they can appeal to a wider audience.
The mis-en-scene in ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ changes in the studio, although the atmosphere remains the same. The studio follows the same colour scheme of the lights in the title sequence so far and there is a lot of metal and a technological feel to it. This builds up the connotations of this being in another world. The music helps to build up the atmosphere and has a very obvious beat. It is especially effective as the camera zooms through the ‘o’ as it speeds up to reflect the movement of the camera and builds tension.
Just this small, quick section of Blind Date portrays a variety of mis-en-scene. However, each selection of mis-en-scene is very small, for instance: there are few camera angles used within the studio, the editing is very basic and so are the special effects. Though it is effective and matches the genre and priorities of the show. This simplistic sequence targets the audience expectations appropriately.
Whereas, the tile sequence of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ targets its audience in two main ways, one by using the enigma from the beginning and two by trying to get the audience to identify with the zombie-like people in the sequence. They are suppose to represent all the audience watching the show and the way that they do this is by stereotyping people.
