Opening sequences help the audience understand what the genre is and what the film is going to contain throughout. From the sound, camera angles, mise-en-scene and editing it hints to the audience what to expect in the opening sequence.
Camera:
Throughout the opening sequence, there is a large amount of close-ups of what the man is doing and by what he is doing you can tell he is a criminal. Also, there are canted angles which creates disorientation towards the audience and makes them feel uneasy and uncomfortable when watching it but it makes them want to watch more so they find out what is going to happen, Lastly, there are point of view shots so the audience can also experience what he is doing and get a clearer picture however it is still blurry to give that effect of mysteriousness. These are all common features of opening sequence especially the close-ups because it doesn't give hardly any information to me so the audience cannot assume anything but just find out by watching the rest of the film.
Editing:
It cuts around every few seconds of footage into credits letting the audience know who is in the film. It is a black background, and black signifies death and danger and the font on top is in white which represents purity and good however it is also the complete opposite so it could just be to stand out from the back ground. The font is crooked, small and flashes as if it is being set on fire. This creates the feel of the genre to be a thriller/horror. There is action match when you see him cutting off the skin off his fingers, and this is to show the audience that he is not mentally stable and is the antagonist within the film. At 0:37 seconds, they have over-layed the clip to create visual interest and also it could possibly mean that he/she is thinking of what their writing to show what they're writing is important and unexplained so it leaves the audience questioning what he is writing and making them interested. When the credits appear, they don't stay still, they have an effect where they shake and look like it is a hand-held shot, this makes the opening sequence unsteady and on edge for the audience. Also, there is a split screen showing two things that the strange person is doing and this tells the audience that he is certain that he knows what he is doing and he isn't hesitating that it could be a crime that he is going to commit.
Mise-En-Scene:
From what we are being shown you can tell the persons body language is aggressive and evil as he is cutting himself and is crossing out peoples faces. From the look of his fingers you can tell he isn't hygienic as they are dirty and it could also imply he has committed a crime such as killing a dead body and burying it. Also, from the tools he is using you can tell that it is set in the 1980's-1990's because he is using polaroid pictures and negatives. There is low key lighting throughout, keeping the mysteriousness of the opening sequence and not letting anything slip and giving information away that could answer thr audiences unexplained questions.
Sound:
It starts of with non-diegetic and diegetic over the top of each other creating the effect of chaos and that there's loads of loud noises making it nearly unbearable for the audience to listen to. The non-diegetic sound is off sharp, blunt noises suggesting to the reader something bad is happening or is going to happen. The diegetic sound is a person turning a book allowing the reader to instantly know that he is reading something and from the sounds of the non-diegetic music suggests its not good. There are low pitch sounds frightening the audience and there are also loud bangs also scaring the audience.
To conclude, each of these techniques signifies the the genre of the film. The dark colours show it is going to be a horror and each colour such as black represent evil, darkness, mysteriousness and death. Also, the music that is played is perfect for the genre because it is loud, sharp, blunt and almost tries to scare the audience. These are all key conventions of an opening sequence because they leave unanswered questions and produces the audience to want to find out more and watch the rest of the film.
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