Opening Sequences Evaluation

I
Opening sequences can take the form of:

• A short sequence which flows on to the rest of the film seamlessly.
• A short 'film' in itself which features at least one of the main characters in a previous time / different location to the rest of the film. (e.g. the James Bond films).
• A montage of video and audio with titles on top. (e.g. Se7en).

To be easily recognisable to audiences, opening sequences must have several conventions. The 4 most important conventions (in my opinion) are:

1. Introductions to the characters. These let the audience create their initial impressions of the characters and tell the audience how they should respond to them.
2. An introduction to the context of the narrative. Films will quickly show the audience when and where the story is set. In most films, the audience must work out the context by picking up various clues. In a few films, this is explicitly established with a simple subtitle.
3. Opening titles / credit sequences. These will tell the audience who stars in it, who directs, who else worked on the project and the title of the film. The first two of these help the audience gain information about the film (as I talk about more in III).
4. A soundtrack relevant to the plot / genre of the film. These anchor the genre of the film; a comedy is likely to have fast-paced, upbeat, pop music for example whereas a horror movie will probably use tension-building music.
   

II
As opening sequences are part of the narrative structure, they also have various narrative functions:

• Establish the initial equilibrium (according to Todorov's theory) and sometimes show the disruption.
• Show the audience who the main protagonist and often hint at what their journey will be (according to Propp's theory).
• Initially get the audience's attention so that they want to keep watching the film to find out more.

III
From watching an opening sequence, an audience member can gain multiple things:

• Institutional information about the film from the opening title sequence / who is credited.
• Information about the genre of the film; this information comes from all the signifiers in the film and what they signify, and sometimes by who helped with the production of the film (e.g. if the opening sequence says it was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the audience will assume it is a thriller).
• Information about the film's themes and some of the narrative. (as mentioned before).

IV
An opening sequence is also important for film-makers as they gain the audience's attention. The audience's interest (which is gained from reasons mentioned previously) is very important for making a profit by getting the audience to spread the film via word-of-mouth and getting more people to watch the film.