The opening titles to any film, are in a way the most crucial parts of it. They draw the audience in. They set the scene. They create a basic narrative. They make the film a success or flop (in most casues.) The first two minutes of any film need to captivate audience, it needs to make the viewer to want to know what happens next. Most productions need to capture their audience in these few minutes otherwise they have lost that audience.
An establishment of who, what, when and where are key conventions to the sequence as these are what make the audience familiar and feel comfortable with the film. The audience needs to be reassured that they are the clever ones, out of them and the film makers, at being able to understand what is happening or coming in the upcoming film. People will stay and watch if they can feel comfortable in understanding and predicting something they feel safe about. However on the contradictary note, not all films begin with a declaration of setting or character etc. and most will show as little as possible about the upcoming film as not to spoil the plot. However prior to visiting a film most audiences will have watched trailers, read reviews, watched clips etc. of the film they are going to watch, so the unexplained plot of a film, in the opening titles, must be more of a nuissance than a spoiler saver.
I will watch and annotate three movie opening sequences, the first two minutes of all three, to see exactly how they attract their target audiences and also how each one of them can inspire us in creating our own two minutes.
(The films are all from Richard Curtis' collection and the genre is comedy.)
An establishment of who, what, when and where are key conventions to the sequence as these are what make the audience familiar and feel comfortable with the film. The audience needs to be reassured that they are the clever ones, out of them and the film makers, at being able to understand what is happening or coming in the upcoming film. People will stay and watch if they can feel comfortable in understanding and predicting something they feel safe about. However on the contradictary note, not all films begin with a declaration of setting or character etc. and most will show as little as possible about the upcoming film as not to spoil the plot. However prior to visiting a film most audiences will have watched trailers, read reviews, watched clips etc. of the film they are going to watch, so the unexplained plot of a film, in the opening titles, must be more of a nuissance than a spoiler saver.
I will watch and annotate three movie opening sequences, the first two minutes of all three, to see exactly how they attract their target audiences and also how each one of them can inspire us in creating our own two minutes.
(The films are all from Richard Curtis' collection and the genre is comedy.)
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