Conventions of opening sequences of FilmsKiera Rickford

Introduction and Conventions• The purpose of a film opening is to attract the audience’s attention and to entice them into watching the film.• Films should establish genre during the opening sequence, as well as key themes and characters.• Directors of these films can portray these by using different digital techniques.• A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their key credit

productions and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. The opening credits of motion pictures are shown at the beginning and list the most important members of the production, they are now shown as the superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. There may or may not be accompanying music.

Flashback:• A flashback is a scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story.• Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of events to fill in

crucial backstory. In the opposite direction, a flash forward reveals events that will occur in the future. • Both flashback and flash forward are used to create suspense in a story, develop a character, or add structure to

the narrative. • In movies, several camera techniques and special effects have evolved to alert the viewer that the action shown is

a flashback or flash forward; for example, the edges of the picture may be deliberately blurred, photography may be jarring or choppy, or unusual coloration or sepia tone, or monochrome when most of the story is in full colour, may be used.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTpYwAJm3zo&feature=player_detailpage• This short clip is about the making of the film 127 hours and how they decided to include flashbacks in the film.

Establishing shot

• An establishing shot in filmmaking production sets up, or establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects. It is designed to show the audience where the action is taking place.

• It is generally a long or extreme-long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place.

• Establishing shots were more common during the classical era of filmmaking than they are now. Today's filmmakers tend to skip the establishing shot in order to move the scene along more quickly. In addition, the expositional nature of the shot may be unsuitable to scenes in mysteries, where details are intentionally obscured or left out.

• Establishing shots may use famous landmarks to indicate the city where the action is taking place or has moved to, such as the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty to identify New York City, the London Eye or Big Ben to identify London, the Sydney Opera House to identify Sydney, the Eiffel Tower to identify Paris and the Las Vegas Strip to identify Las Vegas.

• Sometimes the viewer is guided in their understanding of the action. For example, an exterior shot of a building at night followed by an interior shot of people talking implies that the conversation is taking place at night inside that building - the conversation may in fact have been filmed on a studio set far from the apparent location, because of budget, permits or time limitations.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axt0nETgEXo&feature=player_detailpage• This is a compilation of establishing shots from extremely popular films.

Narrations• The opening narration of a film, usually gives the viewer background information necessary for a full

understanding of the plot. It sets the scene, creates atmosphere and introduces a character.• It is an easy and effective way of getting the audience involved straight away. This technique is used to give the

audience an insight, making the rest of the film simple to follow.• A narrator is a personal character or a non-personal voice that the creator of the film develops to deliver

information to the audience, particularly about the plot. The narrator may be a voice devised by the author of the story as an anonymous, non-personal, or stand-alone entity; as the author themselves as a character; or as some other fictional or non-fictional character appearing and participating within their own story.

• Some stories have multiple narrators to illustrate the story-lines of various characters at the same, similar, or different times, thus allowing a more complex, non-singular point of view.

• Narration encompasses not only who tells the story, but also how the story is told. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__x8CYAVMbk&feature=player_detailpage• This clip is the opening sequence from the Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VhAQsCNBrI&feature=player_detailpage• And this, is the opening of Disney’s Cinderella. • Walt Disney’s use of narration in his films is very widespread, from the classics of Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast

and Hercules, to the family favourites of Treasure planet , Tangled and Brother Bear.

Action• A fast paced opening to a film attracts the audience immediately. It also very clearly shows the

genre of the film, if included.• Action films tend to feature a resourceful character struggling against incredible odds, which

include life-threatening situations, a villain, or a pursuit which generally concludes in victory for the hero.

• Advancements in CGI have made it cheaper and easier to create action sequences and other visual effects that required the efforts of professional stunt crews in the past. However, reactions to action films containing significant amounts of CGI have been mixed as films that use computer animations to create unrealistic, highly unbelievable events are often met with criticism.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2DUFYqc27w&feature=player_detailpage• The clip above is an example of as action opening scene.

Chase• Similar to action, this technique catches the audiences attention. It engages them as they will want to carry on

watching to find out what happens.• In film, the term "car chase" refers to a scene involving one or more automobiles pursuing one another; the chase

may or may not involve a police car. Car chases are a staple of the action movie genre, and feature-length films have been built entirely around car chases, often featuring high-powered, exotic vehicles.

• They are popular because they are fast moving scenes that generate a great deal of excitement and action, due to the speed of the vehicles involved, and the potential collisions and the debris resulting from the wreckage, while not being hugely expensive to stage.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHRLX8jRjq8&feature=player_detailpage

Production logo• At the start of most films, they will always show the production logo. If the film has a high budget, the logo will be

adapted to reflect the film and its storyline, characters, genres etc.Eg: DreamWorks and the film Shrek.• A production logo is a logo used by movie studios and television production companies to brand what they

produce. • Many production logos have become famous over the years, such as the 20th Century Fox's monument and

searchlights, Paramount Pictures' mountain, Universal Studio's spinning globe, Columbia Pictures' personification of Columbia, MGM's Leo the Lion, and Walt Disney Pictures' fantasy castle.

• Unlike logos for most other media, production logos can take advantage of motion and synchronized sound, and almost always do.

• In the early days of Hollywood, production logos and brands were simple and very much like their print counterparts, usually appearing on title cards and in the opening credits. The Paramount Pictures mountain hails from this era, and originally featured no special effects.

• As the studios grew, more effort was put into their identities, and motion and sound began to be used. MGM and Universal were the first studios to take advantage of the new medium's possibilities, MGM first using Leo the Lion in 1924 and Universal debuting their globe around the same time.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GjN7x90Jmvc

Title sequence

• A title sequence is the method by which films present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. It typically includes the text of the opening credits, and helps establish the setting and tone of the program.

• It may consist of live action, animation, music, still images, and/or graphics.• Some opening credits are presented over the opening sequences of a film, rather than in a separate title

sequence. The opening credits for the 1993 film The Fugitive continued over several opening scenes, and did not finish until fifteen minutes into the film. The opening credits for the 1968 film Once Upon a Time in the West lasted for fourteen minutes.

• The first sound film to begin without any opening credits was Walt Disney's Fantasia, released in 1940. In the film's general release, a title card and the credit "Colour by Technicolour" were spliced onto the beginning of the film, but otherwise there were no credits.

• This general release version has been the one most often seen by audiences. In the roadshow version of the film, unseen by most audiences until its DVD release, the title card is seen only at the halfway point of the film, as a cue that the intermission is about to begin.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nJtUdm3TLZ8&list=PLbEb562CLykF1DEw2z6aDdnMQ7SgowNxS

Narrative content and structure• This includes the context( Where/when/who). Also, the pace of the narrative increases as the

level of engagement increases.• A film narrative is an account of a string of events occurring in space and time. A film narrative

presents an ordered series of events connected by the logic of cause and effect. The logic of cause and effect in a film narrative ties together character traits, goals, obstacles and actions. Narrative films generally tend to deal with human characters and their internal and external conflicts and struggles.

• Film makers use the convention of a narrative point of voice to decide from whose point of view the story will be presented. In a conventional three act narrative structure, the point of view is generally from the main protagonist; however there can be multiple points of view. The most common narrative points of view in film are presented in either; First Person, Third Person and Narrative Voice.

• Film makers use narrative structure to organise the story of the film. Narrative structures are broken down into the story and the plot. This is the three act structure;

Three-Act Structure

Act One: Exposition leads to a turning point

Act Two: Complications lead to climax

Act Three: Action leading to resolution

Soundtrack• This is the use of tone, volume and tempo, which will generally start quiet and slow placed. This

could also be diegetic, non-diegetic and sound effects.• In opening scenes of films there is usually sound. Non-diegetic and diegetic sound. Non-diegetic is

the most common as it helps set the scene for the audience and conveys the type of genre and what to expect in the film. For example slow and tense music will be used in a horror. However, some opening films use diegetic music to help set the scene were the actors can hear the sound. This is usually used in film genres such as comedy where the actor may be dancing too a funny type of music to help the audience establish the genre.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TgCejsyS0t8• Sound builds up the atmosphere; Scary scene- creepy music in background, creaking door,

footsteps coming etc.; Sad scene- slow and emotive music; Happy scene- laughter, joy, and upbeat music; Serious Scene- May use silence to enhance the atmosphere.

Conventions• Some directors prefer to have an unconventional opening, to

portray a sense of mystery or giving the film and ‘artistic edge’.For example:• Lack of credits, establishing shot and main characters are not

introduced.

Some picture examples.

Flashback scene in ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’

Establishing Shot in ‘The devil wears Prada’

Production logos for Disney Pictures and Universal

Title sequence for the film ‘ Se7en’

Animated opening scene from the film ‘Up’

Thank you for watching.