Key Conventions

After watching a few different film openings, I have identified some key conventions, such as:

• The production companies title or logo.
• Non diegetic backing music, which can carry on throughout the opening, perhaps switching in and out of diegetic and non diegetic (on the radio for example), it usually peaks at the end of the intro for effect.
• An establishing shot to set the location.
• The first voice usually is the protagonist.
• The film could start with an ellipsis, in other words, the film starts ahead of the story, so events have taken place that the viewer is not yet aware of.
• Credits are also usually on the screen, showing the most important people such as the lead actors, producers and directors.
• The main characters are usually introduced at the start, it builds their characters with voice overs and footage of them. Another technique in films such as Train spotting is where the scene is frozen and a text overlay of the characters name is put on screen to give viewers a quick snapshot of what they are like.
• Often the girl who the protagonist is trying to win over is also introduced early on.
• Enigma is established early on, making the movie more mysterious, hooking the viewer. This is usually done with an ellipsis with a character in a confusing scenario.

The point of an opening sequence essentially is to hook the viewer into the film and make them want to continue watching it. Directors can use different theories and techniques such as Strauss' theory of Binary Opposition, Tzvetan Todorov's 5 stage theory or Barthes' Enigma Code. In binary opposition, there are two opposites defined, such as good and evil, establishing this at the start of the movie makes it alot more interesting for the viewer. Todorov's 5 stage theory states that in the 1st stage (ie. the opening sequence) A state of equilibrium is defined, which can be done through a variety of methods such as Establishing shots or character building, this makes viewers want to continue to watch ready to see the second stage, were the equilibrium is disturbed. Barthes' Enigma theory suggests a text should start with mystery, producing lots of questions which the viewer wants answered. The main use of opening sequences are to: establish characters, location and time, initialize plots and display certain credits.