JB - Genre, Form and Style of Film Openings

A genre is a categorisation of media texts based on a similar set of conventions, which are:

• Familiar to the audience
• Repeated over time
• Fluid and dynamic

For example, both Final Destination and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are films from the horror genre.

The form of a media text is the structure of it (i.e. the way it is put together).
For example, the opening sequence of a film may be a flashback or flash-forward, and then it could cut to the present time. Alternatively, the opening sequence may simply be the present time, to establish the protagonists.

The style of a film is very individual to the director. Even though two films may belong to the same genre, the styles of the two may be very different and are likely to vary from director to director. For example, the title sequence to one film may involve freeze-frames or still photography to establish the protagonists, whereas another title sequence may have a voiceover to establish the narrative.