Common Codes and Conventions of film openings.

When making a film, certain codes and conventions are usually followed for particular genres e.g. using a blue tint on horror movies to create a tense/eerie atmosphere.
To try to work out the common codes and conventions of film openings, I have watched various films (some presented by the class) of different genres and analysed them.

Friday the 13th
-Low key lighting
-Lack of music - SFX for tension.
-Involvement of comedy/sci-fi/slasher with use of mise-en-scene/props/costuming/dialoge - hybrid genre for wider audience appeal.
-Intertextuality (references to other films) such as Jason X's wrestling move which has previously been done by another wrestler. The mask worn is also used by another horror film.
-Post-modern film - almost impossible to have original ideas in a film due to so many being made covering almost all themes possible - this one uses ideas from other horrors.
-Stereotypical 'girl' - can't drive - dies.
Brown haired girl - stereotypical strong female character (attracts a female audience) who kills antagonist.
Confined space - high tension and lower budget.

Coach Carter
-Hip-hop music - ethnic minority. Also basketball stereotype.
-Social Realism film - signified by location, dialogue and costume.
-Central Protagonist (Samuel L Jackson) on LEFT of screen to emphasise his importance as the audience naturally read the text from left to right.
-Credits pause on big named/a-list actors
-Teenage boys playing basket ball - exposition of the films main theme.
Mixed race basketball team - causes tension to build, shows ethnicity groups, focus on race throughout film.
-Arguments - lack of respect - suggests confrontational characters will cause trouble.
-Introduction of protagonist's wife - Exposition of sexuality (hetereosexual) and shows he's a family man - family and important factor of film?

Casino Royale
-Depth of field used to blur the gun - mystery from beginning makes use of the Narrative Enigma theory.
-Close up of facial expression is immediate exposition.
-Humour added - hybrid genre (action/adventure/romance/comedy) to widen possible audience.
-Flashback to bathroom scene where the fight took place suggests it is likely to be a violent film.
-Music builds up to death of man in water - TENSION.
-Counter-hegemonic.
-Close up showing lack of emotion and suggests character kills for a job, involving no emotion - exposition of character traits.
-Black & White used to look simplistic (opposite to storyline) and used to show flashbacks (makes it obvious it is a different time period).
-Iconography is key in the opening of this film, for example the use of a gun automatically connotes James Bond.

These films all seem to suggest that Narrative Enigma is crucial to keep the attention of the audience and make them want to carry on watching. The element of mystery causes the audience to want to know what happens next. Narrative Enigma makes the audience ask the questions: Who? What? Where? Why? How? For example, in the film Indiana Jones, the central protagonist is not properly seen in the first scene to make the audience wonder who the man is, up until the point where he lashes his whip (which is iconography as it is Indiana Jones' signature move) at which point his face is then exposed to the audience.

From these openings, i also found that tension is often used to draw in the audience's attention and make them want to watch on.
Exposition is also mandatory in the opening of a film. Although the audience like to have some mystery involved, if the opening doesn't make any sense and the audience has no idea what's going on, they will get bored very quickly. Exposition could be in the form of dialogue, text on screen, props, introduction of character or shots of items which give away character traits e.g. a gun in James Bond. The gun is also iconography which immediately connoted James Bond, and also prepares the audience for the themes throughout the film. Exposition also helps to give the audience an idea of what the rest of the film will be about. For example in a social realism film such as This Is England, a non-caucasian character is introduced and this gives the audience an idea that the film may involve racism/mixed ethnicity/social stereotypes. If dialogue is used as exposition, it is usually as part of a conversation or in a way that gives the audience clues, rather than just having straightforward dialogue such as 'Hello, my name is James and I am a criminal', as this would not hold the audience's attention.

Generally, when we watch the opening of a film, we expect to see an introduction of the central protagonist(s), find out the genre of the film and the general themes, receive information about the location and get an insight into the storyline. Although most films do this, it is possible for film openings to oppose this in order to cause suspense and tension for the audience by not giving too much away. Openings of films can vary greatly, as the intention is to do something which will capture the audience's attention and make them want to watch on. We do not expect to find out the whole storyline in the opening of a film, as this would cause the remainder of the film to be boring. However, it is likely that shock tactics will be used, such as violence. The film Apocalypse has a very action-filled opening which drops the audience straight into the action, however other films such as Love Actually slowly draw the audience into the story without stirring up much excitement, as the intention of this film is to bring about various emotions linked with family and romance. Different films have to have different types of openings depending on what effect they want it to have on the audience, for example the film Enchanted starts with animation, even though the majority of the film uses rea actors, which is an automatic signifier that is is targeted at a child audience.

Most films have an introduction of the central protagonist in the opening as this helps the audience to understand who the storyline of the film will be following. Often the character is centrally framed, or tracked to give the effect of the audience actually following them.

Along with narrative enigma comes polysemy. Polysemy is when something has multiple meanings and plays an important role in the openings of many films as in creates mystery. Narrative enigma and polysemic encoding work alonsgide each other to make the audience question what is going on, why things are happening and who is involved. This type of film opening is often used in horrors to create a feeling of suspense