First of all I believe that an opening sequence should be
able to tell a story on its own, should be riddled with suggestions toward the
films themes and ideas. I would also expect to see SOME company credits and the
top billed cast displayed on screen. The more powerful and effective opening credits scenes
always include music to help set an atmosphere, and always makes me want to
continue watching the movie. It should be a powerful and establishing moment of
2-3 minutes to help set up the story and most of the time the scene will be
very high impact in some way. In the opening sequence for the secret life of Walter Mitty
all of the shots used are extreme establishing shots, which suggests themes of loneliness
and the fact that the world is huge and waiting to be explored. The music used
in this sequence heighten these themes with very melodic yet inspirational
music, slow motion shots are used in some shots as the character is walking to
almost make you think that he is stuck in an average lifestyle/ daily scheme. Another thing I find very effective in opening sequences is when you have the film summed up in a subtle and hinting way, for example in the opening scene for James Bond Skyfall we see a sequence of interesting imagery that hint at failure and getting back up again, also we see sets and props that will become huge parts of the story. this is very effective at setting up a story in my opinion.
What I will need to avoid when making my own credit sequence.
- filming interesting things that don't help tell the story.
- over complicating things
- using the same types of shots
- letting the music tell the story
- using too many company credits
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