Why are openings used?

As you guys already know, I have started my Portfolio project for Aice Media. The project, as I mentioned before, revolves around a 2 min opening of a new non-fiction film. I feel that a film opening is truly one of the most important parts of any piece of media, given that it's the first thing the audience sees. This means it has a big responsibility, to grabs the audience's attention in only a few minutes, so they feel the film is worth their time. 

The film opening establishes all the main details to the audience, for example; they set a mood, introduce the main characters, set a tone, set emotions, give the setting, give the title, give the production names, and much more. With all the different camera angles, shots,  colors, lighting, and sounds a director can choose to add to their first few frames, so they can get the audience's attention from the get-go. It is basically the baseline for any movie, everything is built from the opening.  

DARK SHADOWS 

An example of an opening scene used to introduce the backstory of the main character would be "Dark Shadows". In a few minutes, the director was able to take the audience through the story of the Collins family and it demonstrates to the audience what the film is about. 

In the first few frames, they were able to set the mood of the story and introduce the main characters. The film starts with a dark, gloomy,  night with the main characters leaving their home country. The only faces shown in this whole short sequence was the little girl's and little boy's face. The camera angles are strategic use to limit the number of people shown in the frame. This way audience can safely assume that the story is about them, it's their story. 

As I just mentioned, the scenes are made up of a dark and gloomy aesthetic.  The whole first scene has an overwhelming amount of black, dark blues, and brown mise-en-scene. For example the dark brown boat, dock, boxes, etc.  Also, it's good to take note of the fog at the very start of the movie in the ocean, which gives the movie a mysterious feel (you as the audience, don't know what behind it). These little details in the back of the scene all add to the feeling the is trying scene to convey to the audience. 

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 As well as the costume that most characters are wearing is made up of a similar color scheme. All in blacks, whites, reds, and sometimes browns. All except the little girl from the start, she is in a light blue dress. This choice sticks her out from everyone else in the scenes. It's clear that she is different someway. We aren't told directly that she is different, but it could be inferred from the small details. 

Lastly, the voiceover is done by one of the Collins family members introduces themes that weren't introduced in the combination of scenes. The voiceover is heard almost all throughout the opening scenes, focusing only on the Collins family, their values, and roles. It fails to introduce other characters, though this way the audience knows that this family is important, they are the people we are focusing on. 

All of these small details add to the whole movie's aesthetic. These small details are all in a small time frame of a few minutes. Where the director was able to introduce us to the main characters, the tone and get our attention in the opening scene.  

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