Film openings

The opening sequence of a film is constructed to draw in their target audience by introducing one or more of the characters that you either might be able to relate to or that you might have lots of questions about that you want to find out the answers to.  Also the music would help to introduce the genre of the film for example a horror film would have creepy and eerie music that the audience would immediately link to a horror movie and a romance movie would have romance music that the audience would immediately link to a romance film. Sometimes the target audience might be people who watch movies because of the actor and/or director so the opening always has detail of the cast and crew along with the film’s title. There is often pathetic fallacy in the opening as well so if it is dark or has bad weather the audiences knows that something bad is going to happen in the film. The first few minutes of a film nearly always introduce the main characters in the film and also lets the audience know a bit about what the character is like e.g. if they are romantic, funny or sinister.

The opening in “Final Destination 3” (opening) clearly shows that it is a horror film so it would appeal to that audience for example the music is eerie and sinister and the shot of the rides have been sped up so they only look like lights. When the title comes up it is shown above tarot cards which are associated with bad things. Also the main thing in the opening is a fortune teller machine and every other shot is of the machine showing different parts and how it works to tel the fortunes. The last shot in the opening is of a silver ball inside the fortune teller machine that falls into the hole marked “Death”. The first few minuets in the film introduce the main characters as teenagers who are finishing school, this draws in the target audience of teenagers to around late 20’s early 30’s because they can relate to the characters.

The opening in “Meet the Parents” is completely different because it isn’t a horror film instead it is a romance-comedy so the opening appeals to the target audience (of people who enjoy romance and/or comedy) because the opening music is a romantic song. Also the shots are edited to look as if they were shot using a camcorder in the “home-video” style which adds to the romance style because it portrays a man shooting films of his girlfriend. The first few minutes add to the romantic theme because the main character is practising proposing to his girlfriend before going off to meet her to propose for real. The first few also show the comedy aspect to the film because when he is practising proposing, he is practising to an old man in the hospital where he works. The fact that he is working as a nurse adds to the comedy because it is open to jokes later by one of the other characters.