Opening sequences are the first part of the film that the audience will see making it the most important and crucial moment in the film. It has to capture the audiences attention and make them stay to watch and enjoy the rest of the film.
A good opening sequences need to successfully set the tone and genre of the film, introduce characters and settings and some even let the audience know some backstory or information that will be important later on in the film.
A film that has all of these in the opening sequence is Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone, it contains all of the points above within 4 minutes and leaves the audience wanting to see what happens next and how the story will play out after the events that occurred in those few minutes.
To show all of the points I screenshot all of the shots that contained everything a opening sequence should have and wrote a brief speech bubble on what they all were:
All of these pictures set the theme, introduce characters and leave enigma after it's finished.
After the final shot of a baby Harry's face the camera zooms towards the scar in the shape of a lightning bolt and flashes into the title screen:
This is covered in lightning and the 'P' is pointed showing that the tone of the film is also quite dark and not all about magic and wizards. I think that all of the small details such as the lightning, the magical lighter and the shadow show that the film is all about magic but also has dark moments and a intriguing and mysterious backstory that is not all colourful and lively.
