Conventions of an opening sequence-

The opening sequence of a film can be the most important part. There are certain forms and expectations in a film that are needed to be followed; the first element of an opening sequence is to reassure the audience by demonstrating the conventions of the chosen genre. The audience will need to be reassured that they are watching the right genre that they have payed to watch, this is done by the uses of  mise en scene, for example if the film was of a horror genre you would expect to see blood, weapons and items that would scare the audience. Locations need to be represented to the specific genre for example crime genres with the bad guys usually in warehouses or the good people being police and in police stations or at the crime scenes. The cinematic style will also be subconsciously reassuring the audience and this can be represented in horror films with bad guys represented with a low angle shot to show their superiority compared to the innocent victims usually depicted with high angle shots to show their vulnerability and innocence. Editing can also be a part of the reassurance with fast paced editing normal to action genres in chase scenes. Secondly the opening sequence must set up audience expectations for example in plot and media language, looking specifically at media language in a gangster genre film, a gangster that speaks in good English and not the usual colloquial language that consists of swearing would puzzle the audience and would not be there expectations . SFX are also usually expected for big budget films and action films like in Batman were there are explosions and special effects. Thirdly there will be an Introduction and establishing of characters and usually the main character. The character ideologies and their personality may also be shown to give their view on the events that will be presented, this would be shown in action films with the main characters being strong and having deep voices making the audience believe in their ability and no false hope. The main characters are usually shown to help the audience assert what side they are on. Fourthly, Enigmas drive the films forward and make the audience more intrigued in the film; enigmas are usually set up in the opening sequence to make the audience hooked on wanting to know the answers and this will make them want to watch the rest of the film. Like in crime films their maybe a murder and the enigmas are who killed them and how were they were killed which the audience want to know. Fifthly an initial equilibrium in the opening sequence will be shown and this will be indicating that at some point later in the film their will be disruption or disruption could also be shown at the start too. There will also be an introduction of any themes and motifs linked with to the ideologies in the film. Finally there will be an establishing of space and time. This can be done in numerous ways such as establishing shots of the area that the film is based on, there could also be a caption telling the audience of the place name of the area were the story is, or for example period genres show the date that the film is set and there could also be a voice over that is present in fantasy films with the voice over saying such things as “In a land far, far away” like in the film Shrek.