Opening Sequence

Examples of opening sequences:

The purpose of a film opening is to entice the audience into carrying on watching a film. A film opening should also establish characters and genre. Directors can do this in many ways.

This opening sequence if from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It is a title sequence which sets the mood and theme of the film through the font and special effects in editing. It does this in an interesting and visually pleasing way by using interesting and unsual objects and using special effects while remaining dark throughout with low level lighting to create a sense of mystery and intrigue. The common theme used for many of the objects is to be smashed or set on fire. This shows the agressive, violent nature of the film which the audience may enjoy. The music is also very important in creating an emotional and aggressive feel.  
This opening sequence is from Children of Men. The sequence begins with a blank screen with exerts playing as audio from radio or TV reports. This allows us to gain an understanding of the plot without even seeing anything on screen. It also draws attention to the reports and emphasizes the tragic events that have occurred along with creating realism. Later, it shows a terrible event with the shop blowing up which instantly grabs the audience and shows how this is interesting and important. It leaves the audience asking questions as to what is happening and why - making them want to watch on. It also holds typical conventions such as using continuity editing.
This opening sequence is from Captain America The Winter Soldier. This sequence throws the audience straight into the action without any introduction. This gives an idea that the audience need to catch up and find out themselves what is going on, whilst having many questions forming in their heads. The sequence is fast paced and instantly grabs the audiences attention and makes them want to watch on to find out what happens next as the events materializing are very important and high-risk. We follow the main character of Captain America throughout which makes the audience emphasize with this character for the rest of the film.