Research: Key Conventions

One of the main points of the opening sequences is to introduce the genres, the cast and the crew, the key conventions and crucial information. We looked at the opening sequences of Kickass, Shifty, In Search of a Midnight Kiss, London to Brighton, Brick and Juno. 

For example Roland Barthe's Enigma code is used in Brick to make the audience ask questions to draw them in further by using this omniscient narration, it makes the viewers ask why is there a body on the floor? And through this we understand that Brick is dark and noir fillm.

 Exposition is used during the opening sequence of Kick Ass in the form of a voice over to give the viewers an idea of the main characters life, we understand that he a lonely teenager with an uneventful life, he lives with his dad, goes to school ect. Also ellipsis is used in the exposition, six months earlier, which gives the viewers an idea that it could be a flash back. This contrasts with this idea of a super hero sky which gives the idea that the film will be about action. Linking to Levi Strauss's Binary Opposites; Super Hero v Normal Human. Tzvetan Todorov’s  stage theory is also used but starts at the second stage; the problem is that he isn't popular and he is normal so he looks for a solution so he can become popular.

We have also learnt that we understand who the dominant characters are through the amount of screen time they have. For example in Shifty one guy has the majority of the screen time so we empathise with him the most and we want to like him and understand more about him.