Codes and conventions

1. DIMITRIOS KYRIAZIS
AS LEVEL MEDIA STUDIES
FILM OPENING SEQUENCE
CODES AND CONVENTIONS

2. INTRODUCTION
Opening sequence is one of the most important parts of a film. The first few
minutes of a film gives the introduction and an image to the film. In this
presentation I have identified the most common conventions in a opening
sequence.
The following techniques are used:
• Establishing shot
• Flashback
• Narration
• Animation
• Narrative Content
• Title sequence
• Non-linear storytelling

3. TITLE SEQUENCE
A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is
the method by which films or television programmes present
their title and key production and cast members, utilizing
conceptual visuals and sound.

4. ESTABLISHING SHOT
An establishing shot is a shot in filmmaking or television
that sets up the context for the scene ahead, designed
to inform the audience where the action will be taking
place. It shows the relationship between people and
objects, and establishes the scene's geography.

5. FLASHBACK
A flashback (sometimes called an analepsis) is an
interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time
from the current point in the story. ... In film,
flashbacks depict the subjective experience of a
character by showing a memory of a previous event and
they are often used to resolve an enigma.

6. NARRATION
Narration in movies often explore greater themes and
specificities in point of view which underpin the images
on screen. This style of narration reveals the inner most
thoughts of the character speaking. It can be use to reveal
secrets or that which should remain unspoken. It is a
non-digetic sound

7. ANIMATION
Animation is a method in which figures are manipulated
to appear as moving images. In traditional animation,
images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent
celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on
film. Today, most animations are made with computer-
generated imagery (CGI).

8. NARRATIVE CONTENT
Narrative film, fiction film is a film that tells a fictional
or fictionalized story, event or narrative. In this style of
film, believable narratives and characters help convince
the audience that the unfolding fiction is real.

9. NON LINEAR STORYTELLING
Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative or disrupted
narrative is a narrative technique, sometimes used in
literature, film, hypertext websites and other narratives,
where events are portrayed, for example, out of
chronological order or in other ways where the
narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of
the events featured, such as parallel distinctive plot
lines, dream immersions or narrating another story
inside the main plot-line.