Opening sequence research

What takes to make a good introduction?

My ask is to create a 2-minute introduction for the film, in those two minutes I must set up the premise and hint at how it's going to go. The start of a production is one of the hardest parts because it's new and there is no concrete idea if it's going to work. The  introduction must do a lot as its the only thing its going to be seen, there is no rest of movie that will add more information or give sense to the introduction.

So, it's important to research more about introductions, and one of the best ways to learn is to see how successful media have done their introductions. So, I investigated the first two minutes of a couple opening sequences that had thing that would benefit our film and had different starts.

Knives out,2019

A lot of things happen in less than two minutes, it starts with a long establishing shot which feels surreal as it's in slow motion and it has very dramatic music over what is supposed to be a normal scene of dogs running. This effectively puts the audience out and makes them start asking questions from the beginning. Characterization starts happening even before meeting the characters. While woman walks around with the tray of breakfast there is fast edits with a lot of cuts showing different parts of the house. Especially all the different Thrombey books which start hinting to the audience about Thrombey being a writer.


This was a good opening scene to study as it has a lot of the elements that My own film has. This introduction has so much personality in everything, it's important to think about how the house of someone will say so much about them and to do story telling as quick as possible in 2 minutes to set up the character something as simple as showing some of the decorations and surrounding the character is will be a good way give them personality in a fast way,

Joker,2019

This film intro does a good job of making the character as unsettling as possible while still giving him a bit of humanity. The cinematography is uncomfortable close, and the camera is always shaky, it makes the audience feel like they are invading a private moment where the character is breaking down. The use of clown make up is a fast way of telling the audience about the job the character has but also a really easy way to show his tear as it makes the makeup smudge. While the radio is a diegetic sound that is more of the general narrative and foreshadows the future. There is an abrupt change to happy piano music which is also diegetic and the camera being farther way from the character, making it less suffocating.

This opening sequence is slower than Knives out, yet it does tell a lot. The use of radio for seamlessly giving information to the audience while also at the same time having the character be the full focus of the shot does a lot for storytelling. A problem that i see in this is the fact that the audience won't be able to pay attention to both fully. Especially because the audience will mostly look at the character first, so the information given orally through radio or phone won't be fully taken in. So, any information given in that way is best if it isnt too complicated or necessary. Another thing to take in with this introduction is the cinematography of the first scene. It makes the audience feel awkward and tense yet feel empathy for the character which is something we want to invoke in our movie.

Its learning not copying

These opening sequences are unique in their way, they have different forms of story telling a short amount of time. None of them perfectly fits my film but its a way of seeing what worked for them and what would work for us. Not every movie is the same and each one has different need. These introductions worked for them and we can take small elements of them, but its important to be aware of differences and to not copy it just because it won awards. Take things, learn and tweak it so it works for the intended project.