Structure Openings

In class today, we watched a variety of film openings in order to get our group inspired! 

There are three different types of film openings : A narrative opening with the titles running throughout, A discrete title sequence, titles over a blank screen followed by the narrative opening and 'stylized editing'.

A good example of a film with a narrative opening is :  'The Panic Room' 

The opening sequence for the movie 'Panic Room' shows a collection of urban videotography ; buildings , city life and cars, A conventional scene of a city. Throughout the opening of the movie big, bold, gradient, silver text is show (the titles) and there are various tracking shots of buildings. Immediantely  we are introduced to the narrative, the locations, settings and characters within the movie. The sound within this opening sequence is of a ticking sound, this refers to the fast paced aspect of the city life where everything runs quickly, it also gives us an insight into the movies narrative.

A good example of a film with a discrete title sequence is : 'Seven'

A discrete title sequence is something without a narrative, mostly images and video clips of things that may relate to the film but it is not made as obvious as a narrative opening. The typography used is modern, stylized and it has a 'Tomato' typographic feel to it, which gives the viewer a sense of the environment within the movie (urban, city). They're a variety of quick edits and colours that connote death and negativity (red and black).

A good example of a film with a title over a black screen , followed by a narrative is:  ' 
Mesrine; Killer instinct'

The movie 'Mesrine' opens with white credits on a black screen which then follows onto a short narrative. There's a use of story line editing and a wide variety of different camera angles to enable us to see many different point of views, it gives the scene a unsafe, mystery feel to it being that we are able to see everything. Within the opening of the movie there's a music build up, the volume starts off really low and slowly rises (crescendo). There is also a use of stylized editing which include 1970's imagery and film techniques.