Analysis of The Only Way is Essex title sequence

With the "TOWIE" title sequence viewers are immediately drawn into the program and are made aware of the style and sub genre straight away. For a start is done with lighting. Presumably the majority of the effects, such as the light streaks and sparkles, high key lighting is also clearly present. This lighting gives connotations of happiness and joy, telling the audience what they're about to watch will make them feel good. This is important, as one of the reasons title sequences are included is to hook the audience in the hope that they will continue watching the program.

A cheesy pop song (The Only Way is Up) is as the music for the title sequence. It blends nicely with the overdone lighting and hints to the audience a sense of falseness much like the story/ characters within the show. The main lyrics are the same as the program title (The Only Way Is...) , this establishes the show as a brand in which will be easily recognizable and identifiable to the audiences simply when they hear that song. The music sets the exciting tone of the program in which the cast member appear in sync to the rhythm. This makes the sequence flow better.

MS and CU are the main shots used. One of things they do is that they show a CU they then jump cut to MS. This makes the sequence more exciting and more playful, both features in which show hopes to present. In the mise-en-scene , with each character we are shown clips of luxury items (cars, watches, champagne etc). This tells the audience the people featured are rich.

The whole sequence is cheesy and tacky, yet establishes its sub genre and tone very clearly to the audience. We can easily assume the show is low cultured.