Film openings

Film openings help set the stage for the film. It is important that they draw the viewer in so that they want to carry on watching the rest of the film. Sometimes the opening may be a 'cold open', a brief scene of the film or a teaser. The opening to films usually include all the major actors and crews names that took part in the making of the film and the title.

'Pulp Fiction' is an action comedy, rated 18. It is set in a stereotypical American cafe, with two characters, Pumpkin and Honey-bunny. Without knowing the exact relationship between the two of them, your first impression is that they are good friends or a couple, because of the way they are talking to each other and later they exchange a kiss. The first line is said within the first few seconds of the film beginning, "Forget it, it's too risky. I'm through with that shit." This makes the viewer want to carry on watching the rest of the film. You want to know what they are 'through with'. It is now clear as to why it is rated 18 because of the strong language used. Within the second minute of the film both characters start talking about moving on from robbing liquor stores, to banks. You now start to understand a bit more of what is going on in the film, although you still do not know if these are the main characters or not and whether the film will be about robbing banks. After 4 minutes and 10 seconds of talking, a gun is put on the table by Pumpkin and both characters share a kiss and tell each other they love them. It is now clearer that they are a couple. At 4:23 Pumpkin stands on his seat and shouts "Everybody stay cool, this is a robbery". Music then begins and the opening credits start.


The opening scene is shot using a mid shot and close up shots of the characters. This allows the viewers focus to just be on the characters and what they are saying. When each character is speaking the shot is mainly focused on them and their facial expressions.


The opening credits include information about who is staring in the film, who produced it, the film industry and the title of the film. It is written in a 90's styled font to match the time period in which the film was set in.

Batman - The Dark Knight is an action film, rated 12. The film begins with a long shot of a tall glass building in a town centre. The camera gets closer to the building, leaving the viewer anticipating on whats going to happen next. Then a gun shot is made through one of the windows in the building and two people dressed up in clown masks are shown on camera. As the film carries on you see more men in masks. 'The Joker' is then mentioned by all the men but at different times in the film. This makes the viewer curious as to who or what The Joker is and start to understand that he will play a main roll in the film. The men run into a bank and stereotypically start shooting guns and telling everyone to "get down!" One by one the men in masks are killing each other. It's like a game, whoever lasts till the end will get the most money. By the end of the film The Joker is left with all the money, leaving on a children's school bus with the police behind him. The batman sign is shown and the opening credits start.

Pretty woman is a romcom, rated 18. At the beginning of this film it is set in an upper class house, with smarty dressed people having a party. The first scene you see is a man doing magic tricks with fake money. This could represent the rest of the movie. How the woman is a prostitute being paid. The scene then changes to a man walking around the party shaking every ones hand. You get the idea that it is his house, but you don't yet know whether he is going to play the main part or not. The camera then changes to a close up shot of a man on the phone, he is having an argument with a woman, in this conversation they are having, you realise that it is in fact his girlfriend on the phone. He then excuses himself to leave. On his way out he gets distracted by a woman. You learn the relationship between the both of them and understand that she is an ex of his. Both the women present and then women on the phone tell him that they were closer to his secretary then him. You get the idea of him being a 'ladies man'. He gets in his friends expensive car and leaves and the camera follows his journey to a house. The title of the of the film comes up and all the information about who is staring in it and producers. The scene now cuts to the rough area of Hollywood. This time you see peoples hands exchange drugs instead of money. This helps you see just how different these two places are.