Analysing an opening sequence
I think that for any film the opening sequence is perhaps one of the most important aspects of the entire production. When going to watch the film, the audience sets the imaginary standards and expectations they've received from the trailers and the distribuition of the film so the opening needs to deliver the general tone and define the genre to begin with. This will prepare the audience for will come ahead and to give them a general sense of where it is, who it is and what's going on.
Apart from defining the genre, the opening sequence should also present to the audience the main character(s) and their relation to the storyline. Also including the opening credits, present in every film, informing of main cast and crew and important prduction members (eg. the director); especially if they are big names as the audiecence may recognise them and feel more related to what they're about to see.
I chose to analyze a particular opening scene which is from the comedy, 'Office Space' (1999) as its opening scene very clearly does its job and provides enough information about what sort of film is about to come. Although not very obvious, opening credits are also just as important as for the audience that recognises the different companies and their different films may know of the successful films and how they are. In 'Office Space' its opened straight away with credits being shown on top of the shots, in a light-blue buble font type which is to represent its comedy and light-hearted genre and not a serious one; which is even before any character interations are shown, thus already giving clues of the genre. After establishing that this particular scene is set in a traffic jam, we're then shown who seems to be the main character, stuck in the traffic jam just like all the other cars there; this perhaps presenting the character to be just a realistic ordinary guy going to his ordinary job, something the audience can relate to. In his frustation, the scene then takes a comic turn as we are shows his useless attempt to change lanes in the traffic jam in order to go faster, only to realise he is infact moving slower than the old man walking on the pavement next to him. Obviously setting the comedy genre by mocking the guy's fortune. And most importantly, the jolly sound score played throughout the scene reafirms the light-hearted, comedic atmosphere of the film which is crucial to set the tone of what we are seeing.
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