Elements of an Opening Sequence

Our task was to discuss how our film opening was going to include the elements of an opening sequence.

In our opening sequence we will need to include titles so that the audience are aware of the title of our film and the cast and crew that helped to create it. This is a essential part of any film opening sequence.
We will also need to indicate the place and time period that the film is set in. Part of our film is set in London in the early 1900s and part is set in modern day.. In order to get this across to the audience we will have the past in black and white to indicate that it is something that happened a long time ago and we will have the present day parts in colour to show it is something that is happening now. The audience will also be able to tell what the time period is based on how the characters act and their clothing. Showing the audience that the film is set in London will be difficult to do in the opening, however we can hint towards this by showing thing that could be found in cities, for example a large train station.
Our film opening will also have to include information about our main characters and the type of person that they are. This will be easy to do in our film opening sequence as we will be showing some of the things that our characters do in daily life and so information about them, and the similarities and contrasts between them as we see their lives play our side-by-side, will be obvious to the audience.
Indication about the genre, mood and tine of our film will be apparent in the opening sequence due to the slow pace of the scenes. The scenes are going to be serious and so it will show the audience that the film is a drama that is supposed to be taken seriously. We can  also show this with our choice of font in the titles of the film, by choosing something that is serious and not particularly fun or wacky, we are indicating the tone for the rest of the film right from the start.
There will be some questions asked by the audience, for example: Why are we being shown two women's lives? Do the women know each other? Are they related? Who are the people in the photographs? (Scene where modern day character is looking through box of photographs) Why does the women in modern day have a photograph of the woman from the past? These unanswered questions will encourage the viewer to watch the rest of the film to find out what is going to happen.
Mise en scene and cinematography that will be echoed or elaborated upon later in the film will be included in our film opening sequence also. We will include a wide range of camera shots that will be seen throughout the film. We will use mise en scene in the opening to show the audience hints about the characters' lives and therefore what would happen in the rest of the film. For example, the sets that we use will indicate to the audience the social class that these characters come from and also hint at their wealth.