Codes and conventions

Film opening sequences

Studio/Production team
Most films begin with showing the production team/studio logo
and logo of the company who have helped with the
distribution of the film. For example the DreamWorks or Pixar
logo will be displayed before the opening credits begin. Many
of these logos are changed depending on the film as on the
Simpsons movie, one of the characters ralph was singing the
company theme tune while standing logo. This connotes that
the the companies logo can connote the genre of the film.

Establishing shot.
Many films use an establishing shot directly before the opening
credits begin. The establishing shot shows the audience the
setting in which the film could possibly be setting , Allowing them
to create there own idea on what the rest of the film is about.
Many films do chose to skip the establishing shot as it creates
more enigma

Title and opening sequence

The titles of the film is the opening credits. This when all the
actors names are raveled on screen. Some titles display a
characters title synergistically to an image of them on the
screen. The director and producers names are also shown in
the opening credits. The credits are usually displayed in a
particular order . This is so the audience find it easier to work
out who has a higher importance and a more significant role in
the film.
Today many film openings use very advanced computer
graphics in order to produce there opening titles in order to
attract an audience to their film.

Themes and topics

A theme/topic is the story within a genre. Whatever of the
genre there will always be some sort of theme within the
opening sequence. The is used to help the audience into
understanding the film, allowing them to distinguish between
the different conventions helping them to understand what
the genre of the film is.
Some films do not show themes in their opening sequence.
This is so the audience is left completely in the dark , making
them think and analysis what is happening.

Introducing the characters

In the opening sequence the main characters are usually
introduced to the audience. Showing them so early In the film
signifies their importance in the film as from minute one they
have been introduced to the audience.
In some films the main characters are not introduced to the
audience in the opening sequence, only small and very faint
clues are revealed. This connotes mystery and causes
confusion between audience members as they are unable to
distinguish what is going on.
The introduction is like a first impression for the characters.
The way the characters are presented in the early stages of
the film is the way the audience is going going to
acknowledge them them for the rest of the film /

Narration and text.

Narrations in films are very important as they explain what is
going on in the film , As famously seen in star wars the
narration at the start of the film always give the audience
background information. When no narration is included in the
film it becomes more puzzling for the audience as they need
to work out background information for themselves.
Other films use non diegetic voice overs to narrate what is
going on in the scene. This makes it much more interesting, as
the audience can just listen instead of reading paragraphs on
the screen.

Action/events
The action/event is the story in which is going on during the
opening scene. Usually this is a little story, in which helps the
audience work out hidden plots and background story's in
which relate to the main film.
Sometimes there is no events at the start of the movie. This is
because the shots , location and non diegetic sound have a
very significant importance to the film and the directors do not
want them getting distracted from what the film is about and
all the hidden messages inside.

Sound, non diagetic

Non diagetic music is generally played at the start of the film
when the characters. Different types of non diagetic signify
different things and can connote what is to come later in
the film. Sometimes the music is Asynchronous and does
not relate to the images on screen, this technique is use to
disorientate the audiences perception of the images
displayed on the green. The sould gives them a different
interpretation.
Some films use diagetic sound from radios to set the scene
and introduce the audience to the film.

Enigma
Enigma in a film is all the unanswered questions. There are
many questions in which the audience need to answers,
when watching the first part of the film. These questions
generally include WHO? WHAT? WHERE? And WHY?.
Enigmas are usually used as the increase audience
engagement. Instead of just watching the films the
audience needs to be 100% engaged at all times in order to
awnser all the vital questions in which will help them
understand the film better