Differences Between Film Openings and Trailers

There are many aspects to film openings and trailers that separates them as equals. They both vary and differentiate as individuals. They both capture the audience in different ways. For example a film opening needs to grab the audiences attention (first 2 minutes) to make them want to continue to watch the rest of the film, this is essential in a film, because if the start is of low quality, this could make them lose interest very quickly. On the other hand, a trailer is giving a small insight describing the plot and the best scenes of the film, to make the audience want to go see the film and maybe even buy it.

Trailers

• Builds up tension to grab audiences attention.
• Gives a plot of the film (never really spoilers).
• Narrative.
• Films the best bits.

Film Opening

• Start of the film.
• Includes opening credits and titles.
• Relates to the film.
• Sets the scene and maybe genre.
• Introduced to the actors, cast and crew.

Film Openings establish many different aspect to the film in the very first few minutes of the film beginning.

• Genre
• Narrative
• Character
• Atmosphere
• Themes
• Setting
• Sound
• Title

This link is the film opening of Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, This of the course is the start of the film, portraying a mystery but also a sense of action. The man is presented as very courageous and professional, seeing him as an alpha male and 'cool'. Then towards the end of the opening, he is then shot by a 'mysterious' woman, who then takes the bag off him. This leaves the audience with multiple questions in their head, like why did they both need the bag? What did it have inside? Why did she shoot him? Why were those men after the man? This then leads to the audience wanting to find out why this all happened causing them to keep watching.

This link is the film opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this is a very dramatic opening scene, as it has been implemented with music and fast paced editing. Throughout this it includes two men surviving multiple bullets and explosions, and even wars. Asking the audience how they are not dead yet? They are behaving like animals but yet they are humans, again asking the audience who they are and how they became the way they are. This is different to a film trailer as it is not giving any of the plot away, just grabbing the audiences eyes but making it very dramatic and mystical.

This link is the trailer to the new X-Men Logan film coming out in March of 2017. This is a very eye catching trailer at this gives a brief overview of the plot, but not giving away any vital scenes. It presents Wolverine in a very crippled and decrepit manor, as he in every other film of the X-Men is always on top form due to his powers of healing. This makes the audience wonder what has happened in the meantime and asking multiple questions about this 'new' girl that has been introduced. This film trailer is different to film openings as this is the first step of making the audience want to watch and buy the film. 

These film openings and trailers can help us when creating our film, as we can use similar camera shots, angles and other aesthetic necessities to create ours. This would be good as these films are very popular and are shown in Hollywood, using their ideas can help our film become good quality.

The trailer has helped us in the fact of what we don't do for our film opening. As trailers differ from openings on a big scale, although the trailers are good, we need to learn the differences between a 2 minute opening to a 2 minute clip about the whole film. The film openings shown above have inspired us to create a film that gives other people inspiration. It has helped us in picking our genres for our film opening, as the action captures a wide audience to all ages. We can use our own unique ideas and ideas from the clips implemented into our own to make the best film possible. The film opening has also helped us, in the fact that we need to be organised in order to create a quality film, and it requires a lot of detail and hard work to officially call it 'complete'.