Conventions of an opening sequence:
- Eerie/fast paced soundtrack
- Slow build up of soundtrack
- Production/distribution logos
- Fast crosscutting/cuts
- Flashbacks
- Establishing shots of setting
- An eerie and fast paced soundtrack helps set the tone and atmosphere of the sequence and help the audience identify what genre the opening sequence is. The soundtrack tends to start off slow and build up as more and more things are revealed throughout the sequence leading to the climax. This engages the viewer as they are following with the music. This is seen in the opening sequence se7en where the music picks up as more and more shots are revealed.
- Crosscutting help engage the audience in piecing the opening sequence together and to make them think what has happened in the past that links to the story. Crosscutting also helps the audience identify different characters so they can understand them better and follow the story knowing everyone involved it also builds a lot of suspense and tension as we are constantly switching from environment making the audience feel very uneasy about what is going on. We have used Crosscutting in our opening sequence to when the partner Jack Matthews is killed. Shown below. It is also used in se7en as they are crosscutting from different objects and settings.
- Production/Distribution logos are used to also identify what kind of film it will be from the companies that are taking part with the distribution of the film. For example our opening sequence uses the Vertigo Films ident as they are known for producing many thriller movies and so with our opening sequence being a thriller it was the perfect match to begin our sequence with.
- Establishing shots in an opening sequence help the audience identify the location of the sequence and from that to be able to pick apart about what kind of film it will be as if they are local shots it will typically be low budget and so the audience can recognize this. We have used many different establishing shots for our sequence as we switch from a few different environments, and so it just helps our audience to know where we are and what is happening rather than trying to figure it out so they can just focus on the story. Like shown below we have established an office like setting.
In our opening sequence titles play a crucial part as we have made our own silhouettes for them and have carefully thought about placement and timing for each of the title on different shots. Titles help credit all those involved in the film but also give the audience an idea of what the film will be about based on the actors and director that has shot the film. For our titles we took inspiration from James bond as they use silhouettes and as we wanted a very thriller/detective feel we decided to use these, after experimenting we found that the silhouettes worked very well and effectively for setting our tone and mood of mystery.
Finally introducing our characters and creating the setting. In our opening sequence we feel as though we have done this in a creative way as we do not give too much away about our killers environment we have done this to leave the audience wondering, we did however show our crime scene using an array of long shots and close ups of certain parts, we have also done this to the office setting. We have done this so our audience does not get confused by the changing environment and can work out where they are in the film. Creating a setting is crucial as it helps set the narrative for the audience and allow them to see what type of characters we have and make their own judgements and opinions based on the introduction, We see this used here in while it is not a thriller it does give a clear indication of the establishing
shot and our introduction to the main character by how they are placed in the shot.
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