Opening sequences

In an opening sequence it should give us an idea of:

• Genre
• Atmosphere
• Narrative (enigma)
• Setting
• Character

I watched three opening sequences to get a feel for the different conventions for each genre
The first one was Cape Fear and I focused on character. We get a sense of who might be a main character at 1:55 when a man's reflection is shown on rippling bloody water. The bloody water suggests that he is the bad guy or that he gets killed off. Towards the end of the sequence there is a short monologue by a woman she looks twenties early thirties in age. The short monologue suggests that it is her story being told.

The second opening sequence I looked at was Hell Boy 2: The Golden Army and we focused on genre.
I think that the genre is action adventure, this is because the music sounds like war music, there were giant pieces of swinging metal and fire which gave it an element danger.

The last opening sequence I looked at was Forest Gump and we focused on narrative. The music was whimsical but had an element of sadness to it. Throughout the sequence we follow a feather drifting in the wind as though searching for something and this foreshadows a long journey of searching. We meet the main character when the feather lands at his feet and he appears to care for it. The camera stops at his feet and slowly travels up his body to his face. The first thing we see is him wearing a muddy and worn pair of trainers which says that those shoes are important to him. He opens his case to put the feather in and we see the children's book Curious George this might suggest that the story has a happy ending but also that the main character is childlike.

I watched these sequences at: http://www.artofthetitle.com