Film Opening Research
The purpose of this blog post is to document my research into film opening. It will contain the following:
-Key Elements and features of a film opening sequence
-The purpose and reason for film openings
-What similarities are in the opening scenes (conventions) irrespective genre.
Key Elements / Features
-Teaser
-An opening moment, scene or sequence intended to hook the audience from the get-go by generating curiosity and/or conflict that leaves the audience wanting more.
-Theme
-Openings can be used to set up a stories theme.
Ex: A few Good Men, written by Aaron Sorkin. The opening is a credit sequence depicting a Marine Corp. drill team in action. Their synchronized moves not only emphasize their disciplined training, but also shows them working as a single unified force - a machine of precision with on objective in mind, which is to bring honor to the marine Corps. Honor being the films central theme.
-Tone
-Tone causes an unconscious expectation to form in the audiences mind as to how they should view the film.
Ex: in the film There Something about Mary it opens on a tree in front of a Highschool in a bucolic neighborhood...only to end up revealing two guys up in the tree signing the opening sound track and playing instruments.
- This oddity establishes the film's broad comedic tone.
-Character
-openings are often used to begin setting up the main characters
-Backstory
-It's a characters relevant history prior to the start of the story
-The Amalgam
-Great openings are actually an amalgam of several narrative functions.
Ex: The openings of "Goodfellas" not only establishes the gritty tone of the film, but it's a compelling teaser, and it sets up the violent nature of the characters.
5 Essential Types of Powerful Opening Scenes - ScreenCraft
-Establishing Setting
-Can draw the audience in and give them an insight into where the film set is, and some good clues into the plot & narrative of the story.
-Can be done with an establishing shot (gives the viewer important context about the characters & more details about the film).
-Mise-en-Scene
-Means place on stage in French
-We the audience get a sense of authority and feel for the film, which all opening sequences should obtain.
-Most important features of the movie that entices us to watch on.
-Representing Genre
-By using genre conventions, the viewer can suggest the narrative and storyline and give us an insight for what is to come further in the film.
-Cinematography
-How it looks visually is very important when creating an opening sequence.
-If it looks aesthetically pleasing we the audience will become induced into the film because it meets our ends.
Main features of an Opening Sequence | Saffron Lee: AS Media (wordpress.com)
Purpose of Film Openings
*The opening is meant to interest you*
-Prologue Montage with Voice Over
-Sometimes dumps a ton of exposition on the audience.
-Are especially common in fantasy movies and epics.
-Are also used in films that hinge on the unique voice and P.O.V of the main character.
-Prologue Scene without Voice Over
-Sometimes uses flashback to a scene that reveals a pivotal moment in the past of an important main character.
-Flashbacks are dangerous because the lack tension because the scene has already passed.
-Often involve characters that wont be present in the rest of the story.
-Inciting Incident-
-There are about ten minuets of set up before a movies inciting incident happens on the first page.
-It sets the story into motion.
-Could be a wedding, funeral, an apocalypses.
- Exciting Day in the Life
-A especially exciting or dramatic moment in their everyday life.
-Sometimes this scene will turn out to tie with the larger plot of the movie.
-Most often seen this type of scene when the main character has an exciting job: a spy, cop, assassin, bank robber, etc. but not always.
-Uneventful day in the Life
-Many writers open their stories this way by default.
-The key to making this scene work is to have something fresh and unusual about the setting , situation, dialogue, or character.
-Scenes usually set the tone and genre of the movie.
-Cold Opening
-Sometimes called a teaser, most common in horror movies, crime thrillers, and action flicks.
-The main purpose is to grab audiences attention and establish genre elements before act 1.
-Will be the "before picture" of the characters' lives and therefore the least exciting part of the film.
-Can also demonstrate the strength of a powerful antagonistic force.
-Never involves the movies main characters.
-Flashforward-
-When the movie starts with a scene in the present and the rest of the movie takes in the past leading up to that opening moment.
The 5 Types of Opening Scenes: An Analysis of 80 Films - The Story Breakdown
Title Sequence-
-Very similar to the cover of a topi.
-Not only gives us the tittle and information and the author it also attracts the curiosity of the audience, encouraging them to open it up and start reading.
-Music
-Could be compared to the concert overture of a classical musical performance or opera
*Elements a designer & animator will have to keep in mind*
-Typography
-Color palette
-Textures
-Lighting
-Camera/ Movement Style
-Editing
-Imagery
-Style/Techniques
Compare and Contrast
The three genres I picked were Action, comedy, and Horror.
Visual elements-
Horror movies usually have dark lighting. Creating a tense atmosphere in the audiences. Comedy on the other hand has bright lighting. Giving the movie a light hearted feel to it making it easer to make the audience laugh. Action has different lighting based on the scene. There could be a serious situation going on, the lighting could darken.
Auditory Elements-
Most Horror movies have low dialogue during important scenes. Action movies have loud dialogue and sound. Comedy movies have a mix of both loud and low audio. Horror movies have a high pitch violin sound that plays sometimes. When you hear that sound, you know that something bad is going to happen in the movie.
Character Development-
The character development differs from each movie. In Horror movies, you will most likely see the most character development in the main character and maybe another character. In action movies the main character could become the villain or the hero. They could develop in a good way that could end up making them the villain or the villain.
Plot Introduction-
Horror movies can introduce the plot in the beginning of the movie. They could start the movie off with someone dying and continue the movie from there. Action Movies might take a little longer. they could introduce it during the middle of the movie. Comedy could introduce the plot in the beginning of the movie.
Representation-
The representation we get in Horror movies is very little. they could have African American character in the movie but then kill that character of first . The representation we get in Action movies is very divers. Shang Chi has Asian representation in it. Get Out is a horror /comedy/ movie but we get black representation in it.
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