Generic Conventions In Film Openings

Film Openings are very important when it comes to genre and generic conventions. This is because the generic conventions help the audience get an idea of what the genre is unless they know already if the film is a sequel or its being watched again. Certain aspects from certain genres will be put into the opening of the film to embed the genre into the audiences mind to let them know that this is what the genre is and this may give them an idea of what the film may be about.

Different Genres have different conventions in their openings, such as

Drive (thriller/ crime)

• Dark establishing shot 
• Not much about the story is given away 
• Lots of low key lighting used 
• The characters dont speak which adds to how the story isn't given away
• The character is shown in a dark atmosphere 
• Slow editing pace 

Dawn of the Dead (Horror)

• Lots of death shown 
• Music is ironically upbeat 
• Close up shots of the zombies 
• Blood smearing away the titles 
• Screams and the news reporter (diegetic sound)
• Title gives it away as well, 'dead' in the title 

Super bad (Comedy) 

• Music is light hearted and upbeat
• Comical dancing 
• The colours are bright and vibrant
• Characters are all over the place and shown in a funny way 

This will help when our opening because it gives us a better knowledge of what generic conventions are in certain genres and will help us find out what conventions we need to add to our opening to make it look as if it comes from that genre.