Film Openings

By Paige Hawkes

Purpose of film openings.

Opening Credits –These credits list the most important members of the

production. This is so the audience can see early on the crew of the film or programme. The credits can be seen in many ways but are usually brought in the first few minutes of the opening sequence, usually with music. These can be shown while the film is setting the scene.

However many recent films have not included opening credits such as; 2001 the mummy returns,

2008 the dark knight, 2009 avatar, 2010 inception.

Examples.

Napoleon Dynamite;The production dedicated several minutes to the

opening credits, and they use a creative way to show this so the audience doesn’t get bored watching them.

To Kill A Mockingbird This also uses very creative ways to show the credits,

they also used different types of shots which made the images more appealing.

Setting the Scene In the first few minutes of a film, an establishing

shot is usually used to show the audience where the first scene is set for example; a high school, cars on the motorway ect. Both films and television programmes do this so the beginning is clear to the viewer from the start. It is also very important because it grabs the attention from the start. If people aren't enticed from the beginning the it is unlikely they will enjoy the rest of the production.

Examples. House Bunny This sets the scene at the beginning where there at a

house party, starting with an establishing shot from the sky zooming down to the house and then from room to room. It also includes narration so it makes it clear who the main character is from the start.

JunoThis film starts off differently from many other film as it

includes animation and a cartoon styles. Also it starts in animation the scene still shows streets and Juno walking her way though to the shot which is the starting location of the film.

Showing the Genre Even though the genre of the film is known before

the opening, it is still important because the opening can have a great influence to it. They can do this by creating moods though image, audio and other factors like the font they use on the credits or title.

Examples. The ShiningThis opening creates a scene of loneliness, as they show a

vast landscape with no one in it except one car which is clear to have the main characters in, also there is no audio to the beginning so it seems isolated. Another way to set the scene is the music, however the film doesn’t included music which makes it more disturbing.

Slumdog Millionaire This film is set to be a tragedy, and form the beginning this

is clear. Firstly the scene shows poverty as the children are playing on a rubbish tip. However the children seem to be playing which is ironic to the rest of the film.