What is a Film Opening?

In my opinion, the main purpose of a film opening is to grab and hook the audience, and to set the mood for the rest of the film. The most important thing that the opening of a film must accomplish is to establish a tone so that the audience fall into the same mood as the film they are watching. It's also important to make sure that the opening is dynamic as well. If this scene is only one long, dragged out, recurring shot, then the audience doesn’t become engaged with the characters or the story. The way a film is created within the first few minutes is vital and by using the visual and sound, the director is able to create an opening that will leave the audience wanting more, therefore staying to watch the rest of  the film.

An example one of my favourite film openings would be horror film 'Stephen King's, IT" (1990). The film begins with a shot of a young girl riding her bike around a gloomy neighbourhood, whilst singing 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' (emphasizing the fact that she is a very young girl.) After her mother warns her to return to the house due to the terrible weather, she slowly walks up to the pathway and comes to a halt after she sees a doll laying in front of her. After she picks it up, she suddenly hears a creepy and threatening laugh coming from behind the clothes which her mother had laid outside to dry. Soon after, she witnesses a odd looking clown, who's peeking from behind the clothes, trying to get her attention. The whole atmosphere created is very eery and unsettling, and this is shown mainly through the music non diegetic music used, which is 'circus-inspired'. The camera then stays fixated on the worried little girls' face and slowly tracks closer and closer to her, followed by a blackout. The audience eventually discover that this clown is in fact a serial murderer who targets young children. I find this film opening very interesting because it manages to set the mood of the rest of the film. It starts off with a high, therefore the audience are somewhat prepared and intrigued to see what happens next.