RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE - SHERLOCK

Sherlock is a British crime TV series created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat that is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective stories. The series follows the story of detective Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his assistant John Watson (Martin Freeman).

I chose to analyse this title sequence because of the power of its visual style which helps to enhance it's genre of a contemporary Victorian TV show. I also took interest to its different shot types and visual codes that I want to emulate and use in my own work. 

The first thing we see is a birds-eye view shot of the streets and sights of London which instantly tells the viewer that the series is primarily set in the city. The scenes of London are sped up much like a time lapse which is effective in making the audience feel excited as the pace of the sequence is increased. As well as this, because there is no diegetic sound, the fast-tempo action acts as a substitution in order to show the hustle of London life. 

The style of the piece is developed and further explored through the simple colour palette. The murky dark tones of grey and brown infer realism onto the audience which emphasises the style and genre. This is because it makes the scene of  London look very bleak and full of crime highlighting Sherlock and John's relevance in this city and their importance within the show. 

Furthermore, throughout the title sequence, the creators use a low opacity to allow the fast movement of images and clips to overlap each other and fade in and out, giving the title sequence a mysterious effect because the blur of images makes it is hard to focus on one thing and analyse it. Equally, it also creates a manic and busy feel as everything is happening at once, making the audience feel frantic and overwhelmed. I also found this technique effective because it is almost symbolic of the main character 'Sherlock Holmes'. This is because in the second shot, we are shown is a close-up shot of his eyes which is followed by the overlapping images. Therefore, it is as if the audience are entering Sherlock's brain and seeing the world from his point of view and all the images are various thoughts and visions in his head. This gives us an insight into his character and we can appreciate his remarkable intellect as he can deal with all these overwhelming thoughts and pieces of information, store it and then use irrelevant and small details to solve crimes. 

The audio codes in this title sequence consists of non-diegetic sound and it is effective in creating a sense of adventure which is achieved through the upbeat tune and quick rhythm of the music because the pulse matches the pace of the various images throughout the sequence so the whole piece feels faster and exciting. Also, the melody of the music is very mysterious as the instruments play lots of sharps and flats, giving the tune a sense of uncertainty as you aren't sure where it is going to go which compliments the crime-drama genre of the series. As well as this, the theme song is a full orchestral piece and is therefore loud in volume, making the title sequence bold and powerful unlike the kind of quiet and suspenseful music you hear in horror films.

Press here for audio codes of Sherlock Title Sequence