JP: What are the conventions of an opening & the opening of Brick (Johnson, 2005)?

Brick (Johnson, 2005)

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- A film opening tends to be between 2-4 minutes long featuring several aspects that classify it as an opening.
- Openings tend to have the title of the film featured including the names of any key talent that the film has, the director and any other important cast or crew members.
- Openings include character exposition, which is where the audience is introduced to some of the various characters in the film, and who they are and why they are there.
- The mise-en-scene in openings is arguably the most important aspect to get right. It sets the scene for the rest of the film, draws viewers in, and introduces the audience to the character’s costumes, in turn telling the audience all about the characters.
- The opening of a film features enigmatic clues that give hints to the story and ask the audience questions.

- In the opening of Brick (Johnson, 2005) the audience is introduced to the protagonist and his scenario.
- Several camera techniques are featured such as the use of XCU and LS (framing), pans and swish-pans (movement), and techniques such as out of focus framing, the use of pull focus, rule of thirds, and shallow depth of field.
- The mise-en-scene in the opening tells the audience a lot about the character who seems to be fairly simplistic due to the black shoes and denim jeans, however the significance of the blue bangles on the woman’s arm ties the two juxtaposed shots of a seemingly dead woman clothed in white and the flashback of her posting a note through the protagonists’ locker together.
- Enigmatic codes are featured throughout such as the arrow on the cigarette the writing on the piece of paper.

- The title of the film is introduced half way through the opening in white lettering on a black background making it stand out and the audience can concentrate on it and what it may mean.