'Opening sequences'

-What is the purpose of an opening sequence?

The purpose of an opening sequence is to establish the mood and character of a film.A film is also used to introduce the viewer to these elements; Characters, locations, Narrative, Plot, Themes and Visual style.

The opening sequence grabs your attention from the opening frame and or it knocks you out of your seat or even grinds you into it, you tend to remember it well, even if the rest of it fails to keep you engaged or interested. Modern American movies tend to do this very well; in general, most blockbuster Hollywood films result in a loud bang. By watching the opening scene, the TV audience has a taste of what is going to happen, for the short attention span of our generation, reassurance that the upcoming ten minutes of talk and character introduction will eventually be replaced by more of the visual shouting of the first scene. On the other hand in other films, you might find an enigma in the opening sequence. This gives the audience a feeling of uncertainty and as the film on to develop slowly but surely, the enigma is being established. Overall the purpose of an opening sequence is to introduce you to what is going to happen in the rest of the film. If the opening sequence has made a significant impact on the majority of the audience and the audience are excited and thrilled about what else is going to happen, then the director knows he has completed his first mission to draw in the audience.

-What is the difference between opening credits vs title sequences ?                                        

Opening credits:
The opening credits are shown at the very beginning of most movies, TV shows and video game. They list the most important members of the production. they are shown as text on a blank screen or static pictures. Sometimes they are shown on top of action in the show or movie. 2 good examples of this are James Bond and pink panther.

Title sequence:
A title sequence is the method by which movies or tv shows, show their title and key production and cast members, they utilise conceptual visuals and sound. they usually  include (or begin) the text of the opening credits, and help establish the setting and tone of the program or movie.They consist of live action, animation, music, still images, and/or graphics. In some films, the title sequence is preceded by a cold open.

-What techniques can be employed in an opening sequence ?

  - 2D graphics in 3D environments
  - Motion capture character animation
  - Freeze framing 
  - Fast editing 
  - Movie poster inspired typography 
  - Real time flow
  - Hand rendered type 
  - Glitchy effects
  - Live action close ups 
  - 3D CGI
  - Modelling 
  - Lighting 
  - Rigging 
  - Animation 
  - Rendering

My Modern thriller and Hitchcock film:

- Deadpool
- Vertigo

Vertigo:

The opening consists of two distinctly different sections. One is a mixture of live movement and graphic images, designed by Saul bass, the next section is only live action and was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The first part of the opening introduces the character of Madeleine,  and the second part introduces John ‘scottie’ Ferguson.

The use of dramatic and abstract images, as well as deceptively simple drawings and broken writing, this is all designed to give us an impression of the story. Vertigo uses the opening sequence as a way to condition the audience so when the film begins the audience  already has an emotional response to it.

The first view of Madeleine is a close up of her mouth; it is not shown as a still image because the viewer can see her lips twitch, this introduces anxiety and a close examination of this character as an integral theme.

As the camera pans up to her eyes they ping pong from left to right in a slightly panicked way, the woman clearly is on edge and is not comfortable with the viewers inspection. This enhances the suspense, which is a key convention in the thriller genre. It also highlights the idea of looking, or being seen watching someone else. This is also a common convention in thrillers.

more evidence to back up that this film belongs to the thriller genre is shown when the image is tinged with red and focuses in on one eye, with the words vertigo appearing on the screen revealing the title of the film. One of the themes commonly shown in thrillers is identity. The first part of the vertigo title sequence introduces identity as a big or major theme during the film. The focus is on Madeleines face and the way the viewer is brought into the internal way her mind works by the use of the graphics, this also indicates that her own subconscious struggles with her identity and this will also play a part in the narrative of the film. 

The music in the film becomes more and more mysterious and discordant. The screen becomes stained with red this also illustrates a change in the focus from examining the external signs of identity, for example facial features and moving the focus to the internal working of the mind, illustrated by the camera movement through the pupil and the first appearance of the graphical geometrical images. The theme of unstable identity is crucial and at the centre of the narrative of vertigo. The imagery of the pupil and the spirals also communicate that vertigo is a psychological thriller.

As a thriller the opening scene of vertigo sets the atmosphere of anxiety and suspense, because one of the central characters is literally left suspended in the air. Another aspect of the sequence is the music. Hitchcock’s film is about obsession, which means that it’s about circling back to the same moment again and again...  the music is also built around spirals and circles, as well as fulfilment and despair.

Deadpool:

When the opening scene of Deadpool starts, the fact that this movie isn't very serious becomes quite apparent very quickly. Many techniques have been used to clearly represent the overall themes of the movie, and its opening as a whole does a great job of setting the scene for the rest of the movie.

To begin with the opening shot of the camera zooming slowly outwards from the inside of a car cigarette burner. As it continues to zoom out a mans face Is revealed and it appears to have been burned, by the cigarette burner right in the centre of his forehead.

In the opening scene it is very chaotic as their are numerous items floating in the middle of the air, and as the scene progresses it becomes apparent that the scene is in fact just a moment frozen in time in which it explores a car crash which we have no other information about except what what is being shown on screen. This unawareness of whats going on creates a narrative enigma of how the car crash even happened in the first place. The opening scene overall quite dark, showing the mis-en-sene contains a lot of black and dark coloured items throughout. This leads the viewer then to believe that the men in this car were not nice people and got what what was coming to them which automatically softens the fact that most (if not probably all) of them are going to die.

The text used is a san serif font and is coloured white which suggests a certain innocence about the movie or its hero (Deadpool). The text could also be representing how the themes and attitude of the movie are quite silly and or immature as the san serif font used for the text isn't a very formal font in comparison to the more formal serif font which could have been used for the text. The opening scene also has credits such as the ones below the action which are very comical and set the scene for the rest of the movie being very immature with a lot of adult humour added as well. 

The opening scene also gives us a sense that the movie is very self aware and has a very postmodern style, and is also out there with its approach, because throughout the movie Deadpool continually breaks the 4th wall and there is even a reference to the green lantern movie which Ryan Reynolds (the actor of Deadpool) starred in before Deadpool even came out. This reference can be seen below as a small card, inside a wallet, with a picture of  green lantern drawn on the front  (this is also very intertextual as the movie is about a superhero and there is a superhero on the card which is in the opening of the movie).

Deadpool starts with a lot of CGI and this conveys that the movie budget is quite high and that the overall standard of the movie will be high. It also uses a song 'angel of the morning' that feels out of place and underestimates the sincerity of whats happening on screen by contrasting the mood of the song with the mood of the visuals. This choice of music is another link to the immature attitude of the movie and how it's not really taken that seriously. One aspect interesting about the opening of Deadpool is the way it begins. In comparison to most superhero movies which start with some sort of backstory to the superhero whereas deadpool starts with a freeze frame of a burning car seemingly floating in mid air almost like it wanted to be different to the other superhero movies and uniquely itself. Also the burning car was something different and not commonly seen.