What Is An Opening Sequence?

In our first lesson we looked at three different opening sequences

• Office Space
• Sweeney Todd
• Trainspotting

We watched the first 2 minutes of each film and wrote down what we felt that we got from each opening sequence.

Office Space: I thought this was a comedy due to the font used which was blue, bubbly letters which popped up all through the opening with names of people that are in the film.

Upbeat music is used (quite jazzy)

The film looks less modern due to the quality of the film, the clothes that are worn, the settings and the cars as the cars are very old fashioned. You can tell the film is set in America due to the number plates on the cars.

the first credits that came up were the main characters. Jennifer Aniston was a name that came on first which could also link back to the comment that I made about comedy, as she is well known for the television series "Friends" so as an audience they would associate her with comedy.

Sweeney Todd: Dark, Sinister, Dramatic music at the beginning sets the tone of the film and makes us assume that this is a horror movie.

Dark Setting

A lot of blood used throughout the whole opening sequence which supports the point that this is a horror film.

The opening sequence is a title sequence so we don't see any characters faces, just their names when the credits come up. (Big character names such as Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are the first ones to come up)

Trainspotting: Bold, clear font for the credits

Really upbeat music which can excite the audience as everything is very fast paced

a lot of cuts which go straight into the action.

Voiceover whilst all the action is going on

Some comedic aspect due to the movement of some characters and facial expressions.

overall my favorite opening sequence would be Trainspotting as having seen the film I know how crucial the opening sequence is to set the scene for the rest of the film.