Research-task 4: What is the purpose of a title sequence and film opening?

During the Lesson i was shown 4 examples of well known film title openings. i realised that all these film openings had the same conventions regardless of the genre. The main features a film opening must have are...

To introduce the Characters:
it was very clear to see that all the film openings introduced the main character or side characters in some way, for example; in Hostage there was an implied reference to the main character at the end of the scene. Whilst in the other film openings the main character was the first and only person we saw on a close up.

To set the mood and atmosphere:
The film openings set the mood and atmosphere in many ways. I found that the choice of non diegetic music created the type of mood that contrasts with the genre of the film. For example; In Juno, non diegetic music with lyrics was used. The music played was quite quirky. this reflects on the film and makes it seem quite quirky as well. the lyrics which the music plays seems to talk about young teenage love quite a lot. this also creates a romantic and dramatic mood as well.



On the other hand the music for Skyfall is quite unique. It is quite rare that some film productions like the Skyfall production do something called Synergy. this is an agreement between the producer and an artist. the artist will actually sing a song that will be used through out the film opening. in this case Edelle sang in the film opening. the song created a dramatic atmosphere because it was quite fast paced and catchy.

To state ownership of the film:
At the very start of the film openings i recognised that there would always be an Indent. this will be the logo or title of the production company. The Forest Gump opening showed this. As this was an Paramont production, the Paramount logo was the first thing we saw. this was used to imbed the image of there logo in our heads and show off what there production can produce.



However Skyfall did not include an indent. the reason for this is because James bond is such a well know British film, so there is no need for them to present there logo because the audience is already familiar with the production that produces the James bond franchises.