Types of film openings

Animated Opening - Films sometimes include an animated character even if they are live action films. This can trigger the viewer to think what is the importance and purpose of the animation, also can lead the viewer to find out the genre or sub-genre. It can create a sense of mystery to the film without the use of actors. For example the comedy drama JUNO (2007)  began with an animated opening allowing the viewers mind to think will the rest of the film evolve animation, this opening also relates to the film as its about teenage pregnancy, the animated effect on the opening connects with this .


Classic Opening - Some films just start off with a black screen with the film titles and go straight into the film. Many films created on a low budget do this as they do not have the funding for the production cost to make film openings. For example kidulthood what was made on a £600,000 budget just began with a black screen and the titles and went straight into the film. Even though this is basic it can create suspense and work very well with certain film types.


In the top corner it can be seen how the film opens up.

Non-Linear narrative opening - This is where the viewer is pulled into a scene from the end/middle of the story and then the film goes back to the beginning. For example the film Pulp Fiction does this it starts of with a scene of a woman and a man robbing a diner, this has no relevance till later on in the film.This can be a very good way of opening the film as the viewers will begin to think why is it relevant through out the film and then when they see it later on it will add up to them.



Montage opening -this means different sequences what are layered and can be cut very rapidly as they move from one thing to another. This works very well in horror or thriller genres because the viewer will have no idea what is going on at the start of the film. An example of this is Se7en this opening as the viewer clueless as weird videography appears such as a man scraping of his skin with a razor blade and many book clippings this won't add up to the viewer so this allowes suspense to be created..