RESEARCH: Conventions of film openings

In the first half of our lesson we concentrated on the different features of an opening of a thriller. We looked particularly at the different elements that provides particular feelings to the audience and also helps them indicate the genre of the movie. The music, camera work and editing all work together to create suspense and also helps to introduce key characters and themes.

After looking at various different openings we saw a trend starting to appear. Most of the openings included tense music. Even though there are similarities, there are also differences. Some of the openings we looked at were action packed with fast editing and fast, tense music. We also had a look at openings were the camera work and editing was fairly relaxed, but the music was still tense. The music is definitely one of the main aspects when trying to understand the genre of a movie.

We also looked at the order of the titles, how the titles appear and how much of an effect it has on the audience. The order will usually be started off by the production company, leading onto the directors and then the actors. In the thriller opening I looked at (Seven), there was a black background with white titles. This for me created tension and gave me a hint of what the genre might be.

We analysed how the credits of a film can reveal the genre of a movie and also at the different ways you can present credits e.g. scrolling etc.

There were also clips where the credits were cut into the film or over the film as characters and events are shown.