Inspiration for Editing- The Tudors

The Tudors

The Tudors is a television series that loosely follows the reign of King Henry VIII. With series one shown in 2007, there has been three more following series the last aired in 2010. The historical drama created by Michael Hirst features a title sequence that is very inspirational and capturing intriguing to watch. The title sequence as a television show is obviously different from one of a film however I have found that elements of the title sequence can be a great source of inspiration for out film opening. 

Here is the opening sequence of the Tudors season 1:

THE SOUND

The Tudors title sequence is accompanied by music composed by Trevor Morris. The music features a collection of instruments to create and increasing mood putting the viewer back to the Tudor era. The sound convoys with that of the scenes played with it and follows the scenes bringing peace and calm at the beginning and tension and suspense at the end. The sound is inspiration as it is a good example of how sound can be created to build different emotions and feelings.

THE TITLES

The titles in the Tudors appear inn constant font, size and tone. It is a simple but formal font that accompanies the era and formality of the life Henry VII had. With the actors names the same distorted crown in shown and with the flashes in the scene titles also appear with them, in a split second the name Henry VIII appears. The titles are inspirational as it shows that consistency in font works well for title sequences and will encourage us to chose an appropriate font that will link with our film. 

THE EDITING

The editing of the opening sequence will act as a big part of our inspiration when we edit our films opening. The sequence features pictures of Henry VIII real and of the actor, his past wives, painting of the era and cutaway shots. These stills appear in quick flashes that last for roughly a second and are accompanied with the sound. At the last 5 seconds of the sequence there is a picture of Henry VIII looking calm and then there is a sudden flash of another picture of Henry  VIII looking stern and angered though this only lasts for a split second. This type of skilled editing will act as a muse to our editing when we film our needed footage. Its speed, mixture of stills and moving film, sound and titles are motivation for our group to create something that is up to its standards.