Table of Film Openings and conventions of openings

Normally the opening of a film will take the form of one of the following;

• Flashback
• Panning on Landscape
• Narrations
• Chase scene
• Fight/shoot out
• Title Sequence

Though some are used more often than others, they are all used to draw the audience into the film and the plot or characters. By choosing the right opening for a movie, it sets the mood and genre of the film. It usually sets up a basic plot and gives the audience an equilibrium. We studied a few films and took notes of the openings.

Film	Genre	Conventions	Style of opening	Info in credits	Narrative/story line of film
Pretty Woman	Romantic/comedy	Non-Digetic music-piano sets up romantic genre, characters, pan of landscape, titles	Panning of landscape/scenery. Shows audience location-	Production company	Aimed at women, love story.
Dark Knight	Action/superhero	Non Digetic Music-dramatic, builds tension. Introduction to a main Villain.	Action, robbery, fight. Introduction to character, The casual introduction of violence so early in the beginning of the movie suggests that violence is going to be a constant thing in the movie.	Style of credits has been changed to suit style of genre. production company	Hero VS Villain
Final Destination	Horror/thriller	Non-Digetic music- sinister and creates tension, pan of fairground, Digetic sounds of fairground rides/games –make it familiar but they are loud and therefore, make the audience feel uncomfortable.	Title Sequence,, introduction to characters	Designers, producers, actors-main members of cast and crew.	Fate/destiny – suggested by the cards
Pulp Fiction	Comedy/action	Title sequence, Introduction to  characters	Character introduction	Actors, title	Crime stories
The shining	Horror/thriller	Non Digetic music builds tension and fear due to its resemblance to wailing, Title Sequence	Establishing shot, view of landscape-sets scene, shows audience the isolation- far out in the middle of the mountains. Titles over the top of opening shot.	Actors, key crew members, producers	Shows house is in the middle of nowhere-car driving for a long time-isolation, raises question