Author: Lachlan Salt
Salt, Lachlan, 2025 The Digital Title Sequence: Television Title Sequences in the 2010s, Flinders University, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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In the 2010s, the television marketplace became increasingly competitive due to the growth of streaming platforms across multiple regions. In response to streaming services’ expansion, the television title sequence has become an increasingly prominent component of how networks and over-the-top services use prestige branding to differentiate their products. This thesis conducts a close investigation of the title sequence’s aesthetic qualities, creation, viewing and branding in the 2010s for US produced television shows to understand how the title sequence contributes to the discursive construction of prestige television. To achieve this aim, this thesis investigates the industrial landscape of motion graphic companies to highlight the distinctive aesthetics of title sequences for prestigious television shows. This thesis studies two key motion graphic companies, Elastic and Imaginary Forces, that are responsible for the production of a number of major title sequence in the 2010s. This thesis examines the aesthetics of four key case studies: Game of Thrones (2011), True Detective (2014), Counterpart (2017) and Stranger Things (2016) to demonstrate how the title sequence’s distinct visuals contribute to online branding in the 2010s. These case studies are part of what I call the digital title sequence. The digital title sequence uses a dense computer-generated aesthetic, and these sequences are increasingly detached from the show itself and replicated across online spaces for the purposes of networks’ and over-the-top services prestige branding.
This thesis commences with an historical investigation of the development of the television title sequence through an analysis of influential designers Saul Bass and Kyle Cooper, as well as major trends that are evident in Emmy award winners and nominees since the 1980s. The historical analysis indicates that past title sequences and designers have impacted the digital title sequence. This historical investigation establishes that the digital title sequence is part of wider industrial, economic and technological television trends.
This thesis uses an industrial approach to understand the role of motion graphic companies in the development of the digital title sequence. Examining Elastic and Imaginary Forces’ workforces and projects in various mediums such as film, television and advertising highlights how media convergence has affected the digital title sequence’s form.
My thesis analyses the similarities between Game of Thrones’ title sequence and video game aesthetics to show how media convergence affects title design in the 2010s.
Investigating the aesthetics of the title sequences for Game of Thrones and True Detective demonstrates that title sequence’s visuals changed in the 2010s to become increasingly dense. These title sequences were uploaded by HBO onto video sharing websites to promote the network’s prestige branding. Starz continued the digital title sequence trend by emulating HBO and uploading Counterpart’s and American Gods’ title sequences onto YouTube to further engage viewers. HBO’s and Starz’s use of the title sequence as a branding device is evidence of its growing prominence in the television marketplace as a form of product differentiation.
In the late 2010s binge-watching became a dominant viewing practice and Netflix adopted it as a marketing strategy which fundamentally altered the title sequence’s aesthetics and its role as a branding device. This thesis’ analysis of the Stranger Things title sequence on Netflix suggests a distinct shift from elaborate dense aesthetics to shorter succinct designs. The examination of the digital title sequence’s development as a discrete trend produces new knowledge of the broader changes which the television medium underwent in the 2010s. Overall, the title sequence became a more prominent component of how prestige is constructed by critics, viewers and the television industry.
Keywords: Title Sequence, Television, Television Title Sequence
Subject: Humanities thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2025
School: College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Supervisor: Nicholas Godfrey