Different Film Opening Types

Narrative Structure

Film openings with an narrative style are designed to guide us through the course of a film. The narrator would usually introduce elements of the film such as the characters or gradually introduce certain situations with in the film. Narrative opening scenes can be effective as they then add more importance to characters when they are eventually seen for the first time in the opening. Narrative structured film openings still have effective credits as this gives the audience something to visualise both in front of them and in their mind as they interpret what the narrator is talking about. For example all the institutions involved will be still listed in the opening minutes, so the importance of the companies behind the film are not taking away just because of the different approach they have taken.

Discrete title sequence

Discrete title sequences  give away very little to do with the story line or the location in which the film is set. The opening clip does the simple elements that most openings have such as credits of the companies behind the film. This type of opening sequence can be effective because it may make the audience more intrigued to what the film as they do not know what is going to happen.

A stylised edited opening

This type opening incorporates a lot of editing and transitions used to help give the audience an insight in to the film but without giving away the whole plot of the film. This type of opening may give out a number of clues that relate to the ending of the plot but this will be unclear to the audience as they have not watch the film yet. These type of openings can be found in a lot of action films as they have a lot of energetic scenes.

Titles over a blank screen

This type of opening sequence can be very limited as it does not give the audience any anticipation show they can not make any judgment on what they are going to watch. This opening consist of having a plain background and incorporates credits listing everyone involved in producing the film , which overall makes it bland and boring for the viewer. No other camera shots or images are shown which add to the limitations of this type of opening sequence.