Film Opening Research

For my project I need to create a film opening that fits into the genre I chose to work with. For that I had to research the different elements that make up a film opening for that genre. With my research I developed my understanding for the components of what a horror film opening actually needs to successfully convey the tone to the audience. 

Halloween (1978)

I've never seen Halloween before, but after watching the opening it made me want to continue. The plot twist at the end made the audience want to continue to understand why the character did what he did and how it will continue. The opening itself was not very fast paced. It was silent for the most part which created suspense for what the audience was assuming to be a climactic moment. The use of point of view shots for the majority of the opening created a sense of mystery for who we were following in the scene as well. This opening, like the ones I will mention later, did not include the credits in the opening itself, but I do think it did a good job of developing the elements of suspense and mystery that I want to incorporate into my own film opening. (watch the opening here)

It (2017)

the opening for It, develops the characters in it's film very well. It introduces the antagonist, Pennywise, and other protagonists as well. The film opened with different sounds working together to bring in the setting they wanted to create. The rain was introduced before the film began to create an ambiance that helped set the tone. This is something I would like to include in my opening. The credits were included in the first part of the scene,  leaving the rest without distractions for the audience. I think that this opening developed the characters well while also introducing the conflict that will follow them in a mysterious way which I really liked. (watch the opening here)

After I watched my second opening, It, I started to realize that film openings in horror are a lot longer because they need to introduce the audience to the main conflict of the film. I realized it was going to be a lot harder to make a short 2 minute opening while still including everything that made a good horror opening, but I kept looking for different openings that could show me varying lengths. 

Sinister (2012)

Sinister's opening is a lot shorter than the opening of the other two films I looked at. This one is a lot simpler and leaves the audience with a greater sense of mystery. The editing is a key element of this opening. It is made to look like it is old footage, telling the audience this is something from the past. The title is added at the very end in a font that fits the overall theme of what it happening in the opening and fits in with the editing. I like that it matched with the rest of the opening and I think that it's an important think to note. 

(watch the opening here)

Overall, I liked the way all of these openings developed their tone with different techniques and I found different ones that I wanted to include. I like that they included the elements of suspense and mystery I was intending to include in my own and I found the use of sound in It to be very inspirational for my own opening. I liked that Sinister gave me an idea of what a shorter film opening could be for horror, because the other ones were a lot longer. It gave me a good idea of how I could use my time and how I could incorporate all the elements I want to. I think that this research really helped me better understand what I want to include in my own opening and how I will go about it.