Conventions of Film Openings

This screen shot was taken from the opening of the film 'Unknown'

From the openings I watched I noticed that the majority introduced the distributors, production companies and director at the very beginning. The openings were mostly fast paced and none too revealing.

Taken from the opening of 'Unknown'

From the opening of 'The taking of Pelham 123'

The films would then show the name of the film and then go on to introduce the actors and actresses.








The films would then go on to show the location the film takes place. In this .gif from 'The taking of Pelham 123' you can see they have used two shots of the New York skyline to initially set up the location. Further on in the opening we see the hustle and bustle of the city thereby giving the viewer a sense of how many people a disaster could affect.


Once these things were done the film would then dive straight into the main story. However some, like 'Unknown' were shot in a film noir style and so began from the end. Arguably this is a better way of capturing the audience as it leaves people answering questions that they need to be answered.