Titles that need to be included.

Titles that need to be included.

 

In an opening sequence the first thing that comes up which is important is the titles. This tells us the different jobs/roles that the different people had when creating that film and what actors and actresses are involved.

 

The first thing that you need to include is the distribution company logo. From this we can tell what company has distributed the film. some examples of where this is shown is in the film "The Sixth Sense", "Brick" and "Memento". But all distribution companies are not going to be the same for all films, there would be a different company for other types of films. Some examples of different distribution companies are:



Focus features

Hollywood Pictures
 

production company

The next part would be the production company loge and for this it shows you who had produced the film. It is the same as the distribution company where it isn't the same company used for every film, they would have different ones depending on the type of film that is shown.

Examples may be:

• Thriller
• Horror
• Comedy
• Family
• Sci-fi



This is one example of a production company
that is used in "The Sixth Sense"

 

Title of distribution company

This title just explains that the film has been distributed and being presented by tat company. An example of how it is shown is it will have the distribution company then presents.

As shown above this is from the "The Sixth Sense".
This shows the production company presenting the



Title of production team.

This is the next title in line to be shown. In this shot they will have a list of names that have been there to produce the film. It will be set out with the names then production, which shows that that certain amount of people had a part in the production of that film.

This shot shows that three people were involved with
the production of The Sixth Sense.

Main actor/actress
The next shot would be the main actor or actress in the film. This actor or actress would normally be a well known actor/ actress. An example of this would be from The Sixth Sense where the main character is Bruce Willis.
 



This actor is well known for many films


Title of film
the next shot of this would be the title of the film this just tells the audience what the is called. the shots that come after this are other main characters where the more important ones are near the beginning and the least important roles at the end.

Other main characters/casting by
Then you would see the casting list in this it will show you who is casting the roles for the different characters. This is shown after the main actor and title as they are not as important that the main character.

costume designer
 next you would have the costume designer this role is to decide what the character is going to wear as what they wear need to be specific to their character.

music by
The next shot would be music by, this tells you the creator of the music which is played through out the film. next you would see is edited by , his tells the audience that the editing was done by that certain person.

Editing by
This person is in charge of putting all of the cuts and all the different types of editing terminology such as fades, filters etc...

Production designer
this person is in charge of finding the props which are going to be used in the film, also they are in charge of finding suitable locations for the film which will always have a link to what the scene is about.

Director of photography
this person is in charge of setting up the camera for the perfect shot. this shows that the camera needs to be placed to portray the prefect shot to set a perfect effect on the audience to make them ask questions.

 

the titles come in this order importance this is because they want the audience to know the well known actors/actress first and then the other people involved who are important but not well known as the main actors/actresses.

Conventions of an opening sequence.

Conventions of an opening sequence

 

In an opening sequence there are a lot of conventions that are put into it to make it what it is. some of the conventions will be explained below.

 

 

Titles

In an opening sequence of any film they put in titles. from this we can get information about who directed it, who edited it, who the cinematographer is and who it was created by. this just gives the audience a brief bit of information about what has gone into the film. An example of this is shown below, this example is from Wallander - Firewall 7th December 2008 BBC1



 

Distribution and production companies

At the start of any opening sequence it will have the distribution and the production company. This allows the audience to see who distributed the film and what  industry produced the film. The order on which they appear on the opening sequence is the distribution company is first and the production company is second to be seen on screen. The example below is from the opening sequence Memento (Nolan, 2000, US).

 

 

Main purpose

The main purpose of an opening sequence is to give hints to the audience on what the film could be about. Ways they can do this is to slowly introduce the characters or obscure what the characters look like, this then makes the audience ask the question "who are these characters?" and what type of background do the characters have. Secondly it sets the scene of where the film is going to be or is set, this makes the audience ask questions about why is it set there.

Brief

Wallander(Firewall, 7th December 2008, BBC1)

Camera work

Camera work is used in the opening sequence of Wallander. For example there is an establishing shot which is showing the setting of the sequence might be, from this shot we an tell that the place of which is set in a remote and an alone place. This can suggest to the audience that the place where it is set, there is no one living or in that location and that it deserted. Also there is a tracking shot where the camera is tracking the shot of what we can make out of being two people. From this the audience can not tell who these two people are which makes the audience wonder who are these people and what are they doing in this remote area.

 

sound

Sound is used in the opening sequence of Wallander. For example at the start of the sequence you could hear a wind type of noise which slowly got louder as the sequence continued. This can suggest to the audience that there might be something bad that is going to happen as the wind can symbolises a mysterious and spooky atmosphere. Also at the end of this wind sequence there Is a sting which cuts to a shot of two female characters. This sting can represent to the audience that the two characters have done something or that something is going to happen.

 

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is used in the opening sequence of Wallander. For example a shot is shown where the two characters are walking together and you can see there faces. From this shot we can tell who would have more control and status by the costumes that they are wearing. the girl wearing the leather jacket can show that she has more status as the connotation which can relate to the leather jacket can be things such as rebellious which can have the meaning of being bad and in control.

Editing

Editing is used in the opening sequence of Wallander. For example at the end of the sequence the opening credits are shown, and it is just after the girl drops the knife on the floor. The title is displayed as a black pointed object that the audience might symbolise as the knife dropping on the floor. This makes the audience think why she had the knife and does it have any relationship with the characters.

Brick (Johnson,2005,US) Analyses

Cinematography

In the clip brick it uses cinematography to create meaning. An example of this is the extreme close up of the main characters feet. This shows the audience that the director has only shown us his feet to only give us a little bit of information the director is hiding the identity of the character as if he or she doesn't want to know who this character is. Also the director has done a close up of the characters face but it is obscured by his hands. This shows the audience that the director still doesn't want the audience to know who this character is this is done because he wants the audience to think who is he and what sort of background does he have.

 

 

Editing

In the clip the director has used editing to create meaning. An example of this is the quick cuts which are used and a graphic match, this is shown when the girl is dead on the ground and we see a shot of her arm in the water then it cut to her alive putting something in a locker. This tells the audience that she was alive and makes them ask the question of how did she die and what did she slip into the locker. Also the shots are all slow paced. This can suggest to the audience that the boy in the shot is thinking about what he is seeing and what he can do.

first shot

second shot

 

 

Sound

In the clip the director has used sound well. The sound track which the director has chosen has an eerie and disturbing feel. As the audience we are made to feel and think what is the film going to be about and makes them feel tense as the track is slow paced which can make the affect link onto the thought of what is the film going to be about. also the music is suddenly lowered and  interrupted by a school bell which can the indication that the setting of this film is based in a school.

 

Mise-en-scene

The director has used Mise-en-scene well to show different meanings. An example of this is the setting from the start of the clip that it set in a sewage run-off. This make the audience ask questions like why are they down there and how did they end up down there. Secondly the director has used lighting to set the atmosphere for the audience, an example of this is in the sewage run-off which is low key lighting. the director has done this because he wants the audience to feel that this place that they are in is a dark and gloomy place and that you should not go down to where the characters are. Also there is high key lighting where the character is in a place where it looks like a school or a place of work/learning, this makes the audience feel safe as the area that the characters are is well lit up.

low key:Here you can see only a single source of light

high key: here you can see two sources of light which make it bright

 

The Sixth Sense (shyamalan, 1999, US)

The Sixth Sense

 

Editing

in the clip it uses editing to create meaning. for example they use a serif font in the titles. this type of font is used in most newspapers which creates a formal tone which suggests to the audience that the film might be set in a formal way. also another bit of editing is the text colour that is used, for example the font is a light blue which can suggest the meaning silence and mystery and because of this it makes the audience think about what the film is going to be about.

 

Camera work

In the clip it uses camera work to show meaning. An example of this is where at the start of the clip there is a black screen and then a close up of an outline of the bulb slowly turning on. This creates a meaning of suspicion, this is because the audience is wondering what the object is and what will it turn out to be. Also there is a crane shot which shows a shot where the camera is behind the wine wrack. this shows the audience that there could be someone in the cellar with her, watching her and that she is not alone in there.

 

Mise-en-scene

In the clip, it uses Mise-en-scene to create meaning. an example of this is the characters costume. the character is wearing a purple dress which can symbolize the meaning of simple and defenceless. this shows that the woman can be weak and defenceless to whatever is in the cellar with her, which suggests that she might not be able to protect herself .

 

 

Sound

The sound in the opening sequence is used to create an atmosphere of mystery and suspicion. An example of this is in the titles. This show a black screen with titles and just a sound track to start off with, this is meant to give the audience a feeling of mystery and suspicion as they want to know what the film is going to be about. Some ideas they might think of are murder, romance or mystery.

Memento (Nolan, 2000, US)

Analysing an opening sequences

Cinematography

In the clip Memento the director has used cinematography to show the statuses of the two different character. An example of this is where the camera is at a low angle looking up at the man in the suit. This shows that this man could have an important role as it shows that he has a higher status from the angle at which it was filmed at. Also there is a second shot which is a high angle of a dead person on the floor. this can show the audience that this man who is dead had a low status, but it makes the audience think what has he done to die as the angle of the camera makes him look weak.

Sound
In the clip Memento the director has used hyperbolic sound to exaggerate certain sounds in the clip. An example of this is when the character in the suit is taking a picture of the dead guy on the floor and as he is taking the picture the sound of the shutter and flash is exaggerated. This suggests to the audience that because he is taking the picture it could be important for the future or it could relate to something that happens later on in the film. Also at the end of the clip there is a small section of dialogue where the character shouts at the man in the suit. this may suggest to the audience that before he got shot he could of been having an argument or that he was trying to do something and the man with the glasses was getting annoyed.

Mise-en-scene

In the clip Memento the director has used mise-en-scene to create meaning. An example of this it the costumes that the character wears, the character in the suit could suggest to the audience that this man could be of importance as he is in large overcoat, this could also mean that he has got something to hide as it looks like it is covering something. also props are used to show meaning. for example the camera that is used to take the picture can mean and show that it is used to capture moments that he doesn't want to forget. the lighting for this sequence is low key lighting, this can show the audience that the location that he is in a dark evil/bad place.

 

editing

in the clip memento the director has used editing to create meaning. in the clip it starts off with slow cuts as nothing exciting is happening but as the clip goes on, the cutting speed of the scene gets quicker. this shows the meaning that as the is played there is going to be more things happening which is being shown at a quicker speed which might show that something is going to be shown, the example of this is where he has shot the person on the floor.