Codes and Convention for film openings

1. Codes and Convention
for Film Openings
By Charlie Clements

2. Art of The Title
• Art of the Title is an online resource for title
sequence design, going across film, television and
video game industries. Art of the Title also
features title design from countries around the
world.
• Art of the Title holds hundreds of title sequences
that can be viewed online, at any time. It also has
a description under each title sequence where it
gives a short description about the movie, and
then it is followed by who created it. It also
describes what is going on during the title
sequence and what the music is like in the
background.
• Under the movie ‘Slice’ there is a Q&A with the
director Austin Vesely, he gives details about the
making of the move and what it was like on the
set of it.

3. Central Conventions
• The main purposes of film openings is to give audiences a taste of what is to
come in the actual movie. A good movie opening will grab the audiences
attention and keep them wanting to watch more. Any film opening will
include the names of the actors at the beginning, it will mainly start with
the main character and then go the less important characters. They will also
identify famous actors in theses credits.
• The film openings will clearly signal the genre of the film, for example a
western film will usually be accompanied by country music and would use
deserts and horses. These types of movies would usually use real sets and
natural lighting, as it will feel as if the audience member is in the scene with
the characters.
• Film openings are so different, as they need to adapt to whatever the movie
is trying to be. A western movie’s title sequence is not going to look the same
as a futuristic movies title sequence.

4. Narrative Codes
The majority of film openings either start with the ‘action’ code or the ‘enigma’ code/
Films that begin with an enigma code, are those which have some mystery, a puzzle or a
crime scene. This puts the audiences in a situation that needs an explanation. This will
then commonly follow throughout the movie with different theories about what could have
happened, and then the big reveal would be shown near the end as all the details are
uncovered. An example of films that follow this code would be crime movies.
Films that have a action code have events that lead to events and the characters are in
the same situation as the audience. Each development leads to the next scene and the
tension builds up until it reaches the climax at the end of the movie.

5. Enigma codes
Enigma codes are where the audience starts
halfway though a already movie story, they are
thrown in without any knowledge about what has
happened before. This leaves them wanting more,
and is commonly used in horror and thriller
movies, as the less the audience know the less
they can be prepared.
Enigma codes keep the audience asking
questions, this is very effective as it hooks the
audience in as they still want to know more about
the background or what is going to happen in the
future.

6. Genre
• There are many ways in which a movie
can establish its genre, a good example of
this is mise-en-scene. It is essential that
that audience understands what the film
is, the most effective way to do this is by
using certain lighting and costumes.
• For example with a western the
characters outfits play a massive part in
the setting of the movie, classic cowboy’s
wear cowboy hats and the surroundings
would be desert and the lighting would be
harsh and extremely bright.

7. Narrative (how the main characters
are introduced) Voice over
• Main characters are usually introduced into the movie through the use of
voice overs, this could be done by the character, or by a narrator. This helps
ease the blend from the title sequence to the actual movie, giving a smooth
transition and making it seem like the title sequence is a part of the actual
movie.
• An example of a movie starting with a voice over is America Psycho, as it is
the main character inviting the audience into his life and how he lives.

8. Production Company Logos
• Production companies will always show
their logo in their movie openings.
These logos such as twentieth century
fox’s logo and Warner Brothers logos are
often ignored by the viewer. But
knowing the different logos can give
insight into the move the person is
about to view. For instance if the Marvel
logo is shown at the beginning of a
movie, then the viewer knows that it is
going to be a big budget superhero
movie.

9. Typography
In the TV show, The Walking Dead, the typography used for the main title is
covered in a mossy like substance, making the viewer think of it as being old
and decayed. The writing is also in capital letters and in bold, this makes it
stand out, another feature that makes its stand out is how unique the mossy
on concrete lettering is.
Sherlock Holmes also has a unique typography, it has a hand written
lettering, instantly showing the audience that this is not set in modern times,
and is set in the 1800s. This engages the audiences attention as it has a
famous character name of Sherlock Holmes in a unique way.

10. Sound
• The sound of many of the title sequences
depend on their genre. For instance for a title
sequence such as Godless, it had a very
cowboy, country music type. Whereas a title
sequence such as Sherlock (2010) which as a
upbeat, modern style of music. The sound for
each of the two are completely different, as the
two genres are polar opposites, one is set in
the past in south America. Sherlock is set in
London in the modern day, this can be heard
throughout the title sequence as it has a
modern style of music.
• This shows how much of an effect the music in
the background has on the audiences first
impression of the film or TV production.