Different types of structures of a film opening

Throughout all the films i have researched, i noticed only four different types of film openings used to help introduce the film. For these films, in-particular thrillers, the type of opening it includes will have a huge impact in the audiences first initial thoughts and perceptions of the film. The four different types of film openings are; discrete, traditional/narrative, credits over a blank/black screen and stylised editing. Within under 30 seconds, the audience should automatically know what type of the four is being used. 

Here are some examples from previous films: 

Arlington Road - Discrete

When learning about titles and sound, we created a opening from the silent version of the film and noticed what we added to help amplifies the fact that its a discrete opening. It stands out from the overs because of the editing that's been put into it. It doesn't give too much information about the characters or the location, it keeps the film in suspense and tension, this helps keeps the viewers attention and allows them to question "whats next?". In Arlington Road, we notice a kid is bleeding at the start of the film, we don't know why however, we want to find out.




Panic Room - Traditional/Narrative

This is the most often used title opening, one that everyone goes back to. It is a opening consist of mainly video clips and titles. As you can see in Panic Room, they establish the location (New York City) of the shots with the titles along side it, some of them are even in front of buildings, as if they are attached to it when filming. In addition the sound of the title is often quiet but becomes high pitch which helps create tension.

Momento - Credits Over A Blank/Black Screen

 Here it shows the production company who helped produced the film.

In this photo, the director name is being shown, who basically created the film. 

And here is the title of the film, they choose to create spaces in between each letter to spread the title across the screen showing its propriety and difference from the others, it also is a larger font. 

Credits over a blank screen is simply putting titles on a black screen, this may be simple, easy or boring to watch as there's no moving images but can be very effective. By adding a soundtrack that fits the mood, it has to be creative, and catches the viewers attention, sound effects and transitions can be added throughout each cut for different  names as well to make it more exciting for the viewer. 

The Taking of Pelham - Slylised Editing 

Stylised title sequences sees the images and pictures specially edited to make it fit in with the theme of the movie. This can be used to create great effect of action. It is one of the most difficult one out of all of them to create, you would have to put a lot of research and effort as a editor or sound producer to help create the effect the director is looking for. In this particular movie, sound is mostly being concentrated it, it allows the actions to be more dramatic then it usually would.