Film Coventions...

I looked at lots of different film genre's and watched the openings of four films to help me choose which genre to use for my film....Here are my comments about each of them...

Comparison of Film Openings.

License to Kill – 007; You tube; License to kill opening titles. Action film.
Opening of the film is a mix of animated pictures and real footage. It uses different special effects to move between each shot. For example wipes, dissolves and cuts. Some of the shots have a coloured tint added to them to change the colour of the whole shot and it uses silhouettes in different colours. For some shots there is no background scenery and is just simply a black colour. Uses slow motion for when the bullet is fired and you see it moving across the screen, pan and tracking. The credits are in white capital letters to stand out from the dark colours used. You don’t see any particular production design or costume and the sound is simply a pre recorded non – diegetic track to set the mood.


Chariots of fire; You tube; Chariots of fire – movie opening scene. Drama

It uses cross fades through out to suggest continuity between scenes. Uses a pan to show the characters running across the beach, to make the audience feel as though they are there with them. Cuts to a long shot to show them moving along the beach and tracks to show a man, a boy and a dog. The characters are wearing old fashioned running kit and clothes. For examples, flat caps, long boots and socks and blazers. The colours are very light pastel colours such as white, baby blue and sand. Cuts to show a very old mansion house, possibly sets the location and time period. The credits and title are in white text, capital letters and an old fashioned font.

Juno; You tube; Juno opening. Romantic Comedy

Starts with a black screen with the word “Autumn” fading in, white text, capital letters. Immediately sets time of film. Fades from black to long shot of house, immediately sets the location. Cuts to show the main character, long shot so you can see she is wearing modern clothes with a modern hairstyle. Its use of close-ups allows you to see facial expressions. Uses cut to express her flashback. It then switches to animated shots with the effect of being hand drawn. It uses a wipe to push each new shot onto the screen. It uses superimposition with more than one shot on the screen and the dissolve effect. Some shots are just the animation of the main character with just a plain coloured back ground behind her. It fades back from animation into real life. It uses 2 shots and OTS to show the facial expressions during the conversation.

Titanic; You tube; titanic opening credits. Romance thriller.

The difference between this and all the others is that its opening credits are in black and white instead of colour. This immediately suggests to the audience that it is an old film. It fades between shots of people waving and the boat. White text is used for the credits and it finally fades to a shot of the darkly lit water and then “titanic” fades in, in white capital letters.