BFI British Film Institution

At the BFI, the British Film Institution. Pete Fraser gave us a presentation about opening sequences and what we should do and include in order to have a good opening sequence with top grades. He showed us 4 opening sequences grading from e-a* which we had to decide what grade it deserved in terms of genre, narrative, structure, atmosphere and character. Pete Fraser then spoke us through what they did wrong and how they could of improved their opening sequences. We identified that most sequences he showed us looked more like a trailer because they got ride of the enigma by showing their whole story in their opening sequence. From this I learnt that there should be a narrative enigma to ask questions to the audience through the opening sequence to make them want to watch the whole film.

From this presentation I learnt a lot and helped me to decide which 5 aspects are most important in an opening sequence, those being Genre, Narrative, Structure, Atmosphere and Character. Pete recommended atmosphere. 50% of opening sequences are about sound so its important that the sound is relevant to the opening sequence and film. We can create our own sound effects by using Foley. The 4 opening sequences that Pete showed us lacked in titles, or all the opening titles were shown at the start. So I learnt to make sure the titles appear merged with the imagery and not just at the beginning of the sequence. Its also interesting to  have a mixture of actors from all ages, like famous films have not just including people of my age. I must also remember that opening sequences only last for 2 minutes so not to have an opening sequence running for too long or too short.