Understanding the difference between a trailer and a opening sequence

The difference between a trailer and a opening sequence is that a trailer needs to give the audience an overview of the plot , but not too much that all is revealed. The trailer should give the audience enough to engage them and want to go and watch the whole film.A trailer usually includes fast pace editing to get all of the best bits into a short trailer. By showing us short clips from the film , the audience wants to fill in the gaps. Whereas, the purpose of an opening sequence is to create interest and to draw the audience in so that they look forward to watching the rest of the film. The opening sequence establishes the atmosphere preparing the audience for what is to come.

The conventions of a trailer should include :

- main actors

- voice over

- energetic sound track

- words appear helping us show the genre

- the text has connotations

- fast pace clips

- release date

The conventions of a opening scene include :

- 'close ups' limits the audiences view and leaves them guessing

-titles

-sets the mood/atmosphere for the film

-soundtrack

I chose 'The Others' as an example to show the difference between trailers and a opening scene as this example follows the different conventions we expect to find . For example during the opening sequence we are limited to what we are shown , as the shot is shown as though we are using a candle to wander around the house. This draws the audience in and makes them look forward to watching the rest of the film. The trailer or 'The Others' gives us an overview of the plot and leaves the audience guessing and trying to fill in the gaps. The soundtrack sets the atmosphere and gives us an insight to what genre the film is.

My Brief

To create the titles and opening sequence to a thriller movie , lasting no longer than two minutes.

The Preliminary Task- Continuity Editing

The Preliminary Task needed to include someone sitting in a chair , having a conversation and opening a door.Continuity is used to make the editing between shots seamless and un-noticable, good continuity editing should make the shots appear to flow from one to the other.
Using this task we had to show four techniques. These included:the 180 degree rule , match on action , shot reverse shot and eye-line match. Shot reverse shot is usually used to show conversations , it is where the camera is focused on one character then shows the reaction of another character, showing response and reaction.Shot reverse shot is used during our preliminary task to show the conversation during the job interview.
Eye-line match is where someone is looking at something off screen , the camera then cuts to what the character is looking at. We used eye-line match as the job interviewer looks at the applicant , the camera then cuts to the applicant.
Match on action is where the character carries out an action , which the camera shots from one angle , we then see the action from another angle. We used match on action to show our character sitting down on his chair.We shot this from side on of him walking to his chair , just as he sat down we cut the shot and showed him sitting down from a front on angle.
If I were to re-do this task I would ensure that I stuck to the 180 degree rule fully, as this can ensure the continuity is seamless.I would also improve any small gliches , such as sudden jerks in the camera , by making sure the tri-pod is used correctly.