Trailer and Title Sequence Difference

Many people get confused with the difference between a movie trailer, and an opening sequence. Although both of their purposes are to grab the attention of the audience and draw them in to either wanting to see it, or staying focused and entertained, there conventions are very different.

Trailer

A movie trailer's main purpose is to grab the initial attention of the audience. This is supposed to entice them, and encourage them to actually go out and purchase/watch the film. Typical conventions of a trailer are the fact that the 'best bits' are presented to the audience. Without giving away the actual plot and the main scenes, these are shown at a fast pace. A typical trailer will consist of roughly 50-60 shots, and last an average of 2 minutes. This amount of shots shown at a fast pace keeps the audience's interest without giving away much of the movie. Depending on the genre of the movie, the music is usually epic. As the pace of the shots increase, the music accends in both loudness and dynamics. The trailer usually presents the main actors as an incentive for the audience to purchase the movie.

An example of a good trailer would be Predator:


I think this is an effective trailer as all the necessary components/conventions are contained. "Best bits" are included, shown at a fast pace to keep the audience's attention and the music accends at dramatic parts of the trailer. I picked this trailer as an example due to the fact that it encouraged me to go at see the film.

Title Sequence

The purpose of the title/opening sequence is to keep the audience's attention. The trailer has interested them enough to purchase the movie, yet they need to be entertained initially. The title sequence of course contains the titles of many important roles. They typically start off with main actors name and carry on to present the title of the movie, production roles and the director. The title sequence is used to set the atmosphere and give the audience an idea to what the movie is actually about. Many sequences contain certain properties that tie in with the story and are extremely important to the plot. A prime example of this would be 'Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events'.

Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events Title Sequence:

A continuous element seen in this title sequence is the image of an eye. At the end of the film, the eye is an extremely important part of the plot. This is shown subtly during the title sequence. This makes the audience ponder as to what it could mean and sparks their interest and concentration for the rest of the film. The title sequence could almost be described as taking the audience by the hand and 'leading them through' the rest of the movie. It gives the audience an automatic indication as to whether the film is going to be enjoyable or not.