The document analyzes genre and opening sequence conventions in the films Children of Men and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. For Children of Men, it notes the serious font establishes an intense tone, elderly audiences establish a global issue, and dates set the future world. For The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, it discusses the dark title font hints at a dark story, tears represent character emotions, flames could reference the dragon, and symbols like skulls represent death. Both analyses aim to understand how the openings immerse audiences in the films' tense, thrilling worlds.

1. Children of Men
Opening sequence conventions: At the start of the film the company production credits are
shown such as ‘Universal’ and ‘Strike’.

2. Children of Men
Genre conventions: The font
used for this is bold and
authorative which my
connotate that follow scenes
will be quite intense and
serious as it stands out above
all.

3. Children of Men
Genre Conventions: The scene starts with
mainly elderly people looking up at a TV screen
with worried expressions on their face. This
may make the audience curious on why they
are worried which may cause tensions within
the audience, along with the audience curious
on why there are no young people in the room.
This is conventional as tensions is a main part
of thriller films.
Opening sequence convention: The
costumes of the people establish them as
ordinary day to day workers and citizens.

4. Children of Men
Opening sequence and genre
conventions: The close up on the
TV screen from the perspective of
a person in the crowd gives the
audience an insight on the
situation they are in, with the
dialogue explaining that the
youngest person just died with the
date of death and birth on the
screen.
This shows the audience that their
must be a global birth issue which
creates the plot of the film for the
audience.
This also builds tension as the
global situation is very serious and
dire

5. Children of Men
Opening sequence and genre convention: The
date and time of the movie is established for
the audience, giving them a taste of what the
future looks like with a establishing shot. This
future looks bleak, miserable and polluted
with a dull sky, this is conventional as thrillers
aim to create an environment suitable to
creating tension as well as this, it also creates
a sense of understanding for the audience,
the sequence continuing to allow the
audience to perceive the plots world with
little to no narrative at the time.

6. Children of Men
Genre conventions: This
scene shows the aftermath
of an explosion on the street
along with a woman carrying
her own arm while
screaming for help. This is a
convention of thriller as it is
intended to create much
tension as possible for the
audience along with
establishing that the main
character In the film lives in
a world of pain and suffering
due the birth epidemic.

7. Children of Men
Opening sequence conventions: The title of
the film is shown after the opening
sequence straight after the explosion
highlighting to the audience that the world
in the film is in chaos and unstable.
Genre convention: The font and colour of
the title is once again bolt and authorative
connoting to the audience that the movie is
only going to get more tense, which is a
common convention in thriller films in an
aim to get the audience on the edge of
their seats.

8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Opening sequence conventions: At the start of the film the
company production credits are shown such as ‘Columbia Pictures’
and ‘Yellow Bird Production’

9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Opening sequence conventions: With the title
showing before the action begins it highlights
to the audience that the upcoming scenes are
going to be very tense.
Genre conventions: The colour of the font
used is black, which represents darkness and
‘evil’. This might hint the following scenes to
be quite dark hearted as well as the bold,
matte and slanted font, these are all
conventions of a thriller movie.

10. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Genre conventions: This screenshot
shows tears on a feminine face, along
with a dark setting. The tears may
symbolise the emotions and mental
conditions of the people in film e.g.
main character. This is a convention of
the thriller genre as mental issues are
quite commonly used to justify a
murderers actions.

11. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Genre conventions: This shows a
flaming torch, which could possibly
relate to the fire of a dragon in the
darkness. It may connotate that the
main character is stuck in darkness
with only her own light to guide her,
with darkness being a convention of
thriller to help build tension within the
movie.
Opening sequence conventions: The
opening is constantly changing shots
and scenes (montage) which may be
an attempt to display the emotions of
the characters.

12. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Genre conventions: This screenshot shows a flaming skull and phoenix. A skull may symbolise death, the flames may
symbolise death by fire with death being a common thriller convention yet the phoenix can suggest have many
connotations possible leaving the audience wondering what it could represent.

13. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Genre convention: This scene contains
a clenched fist in motion of hitting
something. This represents anger and
violence, and thriller’s usually have
the conventions of violence within the
movie. It also may (vaguely) show a
flawed protagonist which is also
another convention for thrillers.