RESEARCH: The Structure of Film Openings

there are three main types of film openings, the majority of films will follow one of the three structures detailed below to introduce the film/opening title.

Narrative Opening: in my example i used the film 'Limitless'
(only trailer here as it has a voice over similar to the opening, the actual opening will be added soon)
A narrative opening is when there is a character (usually the main character) who speaks over scenes which are shown in a film, these scenes can be present or it tends to be a few shots from the end of the film and then they cut back to the beginning to explain how it all happend.

Discrete title sequence: This is where the titles are seperate from the actual shots, they are unique from the story line and do not contribute to the story itself.

Titles over blank screen: