Clean version of film opening

Saul Bass

Saul Bass was a designer who pioneered the opening title sequence. He is a good source of inspiration for opening titles but tended to create stand alone title sequences, rather than title sequences within the action, which is what we are looking to create with our film opening. An example of his work is below.

The Usual Suspects Opening Scene

This is the opening scene of The Usual Suspects, a 1995 film directed by Bryan Singer.

This was my first time watching this opening scene, as I haven't seen The Usual Suspects yet. My initial reaction was confusion because the film appears to begin with the ending.

Usually, I would think that this would not be a good way to open a film because of the inevitable spoilers, but I think that this film handles that well in that the beginning will only make sense at the end of the film, so the audience will have to watch the whole film to understand it. 

However, I don't find myself caring for either of the characters, so I'm not invested in where their story is going, which I think is what you need in a film and in characters.

So, overall, I think it is an effective opening to a film, as it hooks the audience in because they want to be able to make sense of the opening. I think that must be why it is held in such high regard by the film industry as a whole.

My Favourite Film Openings

My favourite film openings (in no particular order) are:

1. Pride (2014, Matthew Warchus)

Pride opens with archive footage from the miner's strikes of the 1980's and the song 'Solidarity Forever' playing behind it, this helps to set the scene of the film. In addition, within the opening 2 minutes, the main character, Mark Ashton, is introduced as a fun character, which gets the audience on his side from the start. The opening also sets the tone of the film well, as the solemnity of the miner's situation is countered by the optimism of Mark.

2. Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)

My next favourite film opening is Shaun of the Dead because it is an entertaining and humorous beginning to the film. The shots mirror those of other popular zombie films, such as Dawn of the Dead, however the people are not yet actually zombies, they're just living boring and repetitive lives.

3. Birdman (2014, Alejandro G. Iñárritu)

I really like the opening to Birdman because the first shot, after the opening credits is a wide shot of Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) and it seems to be on a tripod but then the camera starts to move to follow the action and follows the action seemingly without cuts for the entire film. This is really effective as it sets up the kind of cinematography that will be used for the rest of the film. The opening is also very still and calm and then the drums kick in and begin to build the tension that will only increase over the rest of the film. It is the calm before the storm.

4. The Social Network (2011, David Fincher)

The opening scene of The Social Network is a conversation between the main character and his girlfriend and is very fast-paced. I really like this opening scene because the dialogue flows so well and it is refreshing to have a film open with dialogue rather than big cinematic scenes. The effect of the opening is that the audience is plunged right into the fast pace that the film has, and it feels like you are being swept along by the very intelligent and quick thinking mind of Mark Zuckerburg.

5. Whiplash (2014, Damien Chazelle)

My final favourite opening scene to a film is the first scene of Whiplash. This is because
the first shot is a long wide shot, moving towards Miles Teller playing the drums. This long shot, with the fast drums in the background, builds the tension very nicely, and this tension is maintained throughout the entire film. In addition, J.K Simmons' character is introduced to the audience stepping out from the shadows, which already implies to the audience that he is an intimidating and threatening character.