Codes and Conventions of film opening sequences

Conventions of credits:

Watching the openings for six films, there were some main conventions of credits in these openings, these consist of:

-The logo or name of the film company:

  

This is important as it shows the audience which company was in charge of making the film, or which company created the idea for the film. It can also be used for audiences to refer to if they have not heard of the company before and want to see what else they have done or if it is one they are familiar with then it may be more appealing for them to watch as they may have watched and liked previous films the company have made.  

- The name or title of the film:

This is important as it lets the audience know what it is that they are watching. The font of the title is also important as it can say quite a lot about the film, for example, Legally Blonde is a 'chick flick', we get this impression from the font of the text as the colour is pink which is usually associated with girls.

- Names of the director, producers, main actors:

             

                                               

This is important as the audience learn who is in the film. This may mean that if members of the audience like a certain actor/actress that appear in the film they may be more likely to enjoy the film or make them want to watch it more. It is also good for reference if people want to know more about the people in the film.

Typical order of names in opening credits:

This table shows the order of the starting credits of three films. There is a main convention that occurs in the order of the credits in these three films, this is:

- Names of main cast

- Names of other cast

- Names of creative producers / directors such as music, screenplay, design, writers etc.

- Name of director

Narrative:

The narrative consists of what is introduced to us in the first few moments of a film, for example, is there a big scene of a fight, is there just a shot of the surroundings so we get and idea of where the film is set and possibly when or are we introduced to the main character straight away. 

In the openings of the films I watched there were similar things we were introduced to but in a different way depending on the type of film it is. For example:

In Legally Blonde we are introduced to one of the main characters named 'Elle' we do not see her but straight away we see her name:     

We are also introduced to the setting of the film, it is set in a school / college, we know this from the fact that we see that a girl (Elle) is running for president in the school. We also get to know what Elle is like in a way, she is quite feminine and a 'typical' girl, we know this because we see that she has makeup all on her desk and she is also on the phone talking to a friend about gossip etc..  

Similar things happen in other openings of films that I watched, such as Amadeus:

In Amadeus we are introduced to Mozart, whom the film is about, we are introduced to him by somebody shouting his name. We are also introduced to a setting of the film, the opening is set in an old castle / mansion, we are also shown what time of year it is, it is winter time, we know this because we see that it is snowing.

                                                            

 Pride and Prejudice, another opening that I watched, in the opening of this film we are once again introduced a main character, although we don't immediately learn her name, we get to see what she looks like, a young pretty woman, and also get a slight insight into her personality and we are shown a scene of her walking through a field reading a book.

We are also shown what time period it is set in, due to the fact that we are shown inside the house and we see that the furnishings look very old fashioned.

Style of fonts:

Whilst analysing the openings of these 6 films I noticed that the styles and colours of the fonts usually correspond with the genre of the film.

The style of the fonts tends to represent 

For example, the font in the opening sequence of Pride and Prejudice the font is very formal, representing the time it is set in, it is plain white text, once again formal, formality is a link with social class as well as the time period.

                                     

                                         

A second example is IronMan3, the text in IronMan3 corresponds with the genre and type of film it is, the text looks very modern yet formal which reflects the genre of the film as IronMan is based in the modern day.

Sounds:

In the openings of the films I have analysed they all have an element of sound in them, whether it is music playing over the top of a scene or dialogue within the scene. Sound is also a very important part of an opening sequence as if there if music playing it will set the scene, for example in Legally Blonde there is a very 'cheesy pop' song over the top of the scene, this sets the tone of the movie as the film is based around girls who typically like this type of music. There is also some dialogue in the opening sequence, it is of one of the girls gossiping on the phone to a friend, suggesting that gossip could be a central theme of the film. 

Again, in Pride and Prejudice there is music playing, it is classical piano that is played slowly and softly, this sounds very sophisticated and elegant giving the impression that it is a period drama. It is also music that is typically associated with the upper-class which is important as one of the main themes of the film is social class.