Sunday, 20 January 2013

Types Of Film Openings

Discrete

A discrete opening would most likely be heavily edited with many uses of cuts and non-diegetic sound. Props used in the opening may give the audience hints about the the overall storyline of the film. But the fast transitions of shots make it difficult for the audience to make a conclusion about what they are actually being shown. Leaving them to watch the film and figure out how the opening linked to it later.


These are the opening credits to the film orphan, it is a discrete opening:





Narrative

The sequence of a narrative opening is part of the film, it is the beginning of the film with titles running throughout. As is it the opening of the film it will establish the setting and most likely introduce the audience to the main character. Most times non-diegetic music will be played until the title sequence is over to communicate that the opening of the film has ended.

An example of a film with a narrative opening is Panic Room.



Stylized

A stylized opening is kind of like a collision of a Narrative opening and Discrete opening. It is similar to a narrative opening because it establishes the setting and may introduce the audience to some important characters in the film. Also when the title sequences end the film may continue from that point. It is similar to a Discrete opening because it also takes advantage of editing and incorporates non-diegetic music to accompany the opening titles.


The Take of  Pelham 123 is a good example of a Stylized opening:






Titles over a black screen: 

'Titles over a black screen' is the most basic type of opening. It is literately just titles placed over a black background. A film which has used this opening sequence style is 'Psycho'.



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