The purpose of a title sequence and film opening
A title sequence or film opening sets out to achieve three different purposes.
- Firstly, it would be that it sets the mood of the entire film.
- Secondly, it would be to draw in the entire audience to continue watching the film.
- Thirdly, state the ownership of the film and who has made it.
The common features of a title sequence and film opening?
The common features that occur in almost every title sequence or film opening would be features such as...
- Characters - commonly the main character's
- The film's title
- Overview or context to the 'story' or plot (exposition)
- The film's setting, location, place and time era
- An Indent - Institutional information about who owns and who made the film (Paramount, Fox etc.)
- Credits - A feature of the names of actors and main production crew involved in the making of the film
- Non-diegetic audio - E.g. background music which can be used to set the theme, tone, emotion or atmosphere of the film
Example of my favourite title sequence:
Forrest Gump
It opens with an ident of paramount who are the company that either made or distributed the film. After that, it opens with a feather falling from the sky into a 1980's American town along with subtle music.
Towards the end of the title sequence we're just introduced to the main character (presumably Forrest Gump). Specifically when he's seen picking up the feather once it has fallen to the ground just before his feet.
Throughout the entire sequence, title credits appear in a plain white text in the middle of the screen but aren't supposed to be the main focus of the sequence.
The story/plot is hinted at through the part when the feather is shown on the ground before the main character's feet. From this, you can tell that he is probably a keen runner/jogger by his quite worn out trainers. This suggests the film might be about running.
Also, at the end of the sequence he's seen boarding a bus. This leads into the rest of the film which leaves viewers wondering where he is going and enticing them to watch on.
Because of all of this, I guess that the film is about the main character's life and that the genre of the movie is drama.
