What are the common techniques and conventions?
The purpose of an opening sequence is to establish the mood and visual character of a film, to introduce the viewer to all or some of the following elements; characters, locations,narrative/plot, themes, visual style, genre.
The opening sequence can come in many ways; titles then action, action then titles, titles during the opening sequence gradually layered over the action or a short title at the beginning such as the production company and sponsors as seen in London To Brighton (2006) with the main title at the end of the opening sequence. All films may vary but thrillers tend to keepto the main title of the film and maybe the film sponsor and leave the rest of the titles to the end of the film such as characters, producers and directors.
Opening sequences can vary in terms of dialogue and sound. For example a psychological thriller is more likely to have little to no dialogue as the film aims to leave the viewer with many unanswered questions, it will aim to keep them puzzled and in suspense. Whereas a comedy thriller will have more dialogue, as it aims to keep the audience enjoying the film as well as building on their tension.
Below we have various clips from the opening sequence of Saw, the titles are layered over a black screen and the writing is blue. The titles relate to the opening sequence as the effect used is almost like water, the titles move like water on the screen and when we see the main film title it moves in a water wave like circle as if it is going down a drain, this is also seen in the main sequence as the key flows down the drain, the connection between the two have a more joint effect on the audience.
These two medium/ close up shots show two characters in the opening sequence, they look grime and tortured, the light is intense and the characters faces seem worried and lost. This type of opening sequence can lead straight to the goriness of the thriller, the audience straight away gains tension as they don’t know what could happen next, there has been no build up to this action and so therefore tension is gained straight away. The way the characters have been displayed also builds tension as they seem to have been hurt in some sort of way leaving the audience suspicious with many unanswered questions, such as why are they there? Why are they chained up?
Here are various shots from the opening sequence of the James Bond Film `From Russia With Love` here we can see that the opening action is dark and suspicious, clips of two men one after the other, the audience is instantly left asking questions as they know little of what will happen next, at the end of the opening sequence a red herring is revealed as the man who is caught they pull a mask from his face revealing his true identity this leaves us with more questions. By looking at the two clips of the opening titles, the colours used are bright and bold, projected onto the silhouettes of women’s body parts. These are glamorous women and make the film seem upbeat along with the score in the background. The way the titles have been left until the end of the opening sequence show that there is no connection between the opening sequence and main film part, this is due to the contrast between the opening sequence and titles, the opening sequence being suspicious and dark whereas the titles bold and Hollywood style.
These two shots show a different type of opening sequence, they bring in the aspect of enigma codes like the Saw opening sequence yet there is a lot more action, there is a build up to what will happen next, unlike the opening sequence in Saw the lighting is dark bringing mystery and suspicion to the actions of the characters. The close up and medium shots show the build up of the characters movements until they both meet and the antagonist attacks James Bond. This sort of opening sequence has a different effect on the audience as their questions remain unanswered; there is more action in this opening sequence than in the Saw opening sequence however this opening sequence is less scary than the Saw one, as the Saw opening sequence manages to leave the audience on edge as the characters seem to be tortured. The titles in `From Russia With Love` are used after the opening sequence, which breaks up the film and contrasts the opening sequence.
Do different approaches to opening sequences have different effects?
By looking into a range of opening sequences I have analysed the different effects they create in terms of narrative structure and titles. Different opening sequences can have different effects on the audience in terms of tension and fear. For example the 1963 James Bond film- From Russia with Love, the film opens with a brief bond motif and then cuts straight to the action. In the opening sequence the audience is left full of enigmas. Many unanswered questions like where are they? Why are they there? There are no titles during this opening sequence, we then cut to the main titles that appear at the end of the opening scene, the titles are layered over images on the screen-silhouettes of women’s body parts. These images are totally irrelevant to the opening sequence and show that there is no link between the titles and the opening scene. However looking at another film; Saw the sequence starts straight away with tension for the viewer, we briefly see action and then the title is revealed over a black screen, and then we return to the action again, it is unclear to see what is happening in the opening sequence which leads us straight to the tension of the thriller and the asynchronous sounds leave us suspicious anticipating what will happen next.
An opening sequence could start with a main piece of action, this can bring the audience straight into the thrill of the film giving them a slight taster of what is left to see, however other film producers may prefer to keep the opening sequence slow and gradual in order to build up to the climax of the film and work on building the tension. Therefore it is clear to see that different opening sequences can have a very different effect on the viewer.
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