A film's opening is made to directly cater to the expectations of a film's target audience. The opening is what sparks the audience's interest in a film, and can help take the film to success given that the opening fulfills the expectations in a realistic manner. To further understand how film's openings tailor to a target audience, I researched the openings of Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, and Home Alone.
Mean Girls:
- This opening caters to the target audience by offering immediate reliability. By opening in a high school and referring it to a system with rules and a hierarchy, it becomes relatable and easy-to-connect for teens. The humor in the opening is conversational and is consistent with how the audience speaks.
Legally Blonde:
- Legally Blonde has a bright and upbeat tone which immediately tells the audience that it is a fun comedy. The protagonist is introduced from a feminine lens and it aligns with the expectations that the audience already has from past comedy films. It taps into themes of things like social identity and love which are interests that younger audiences may have, which connect well with the audience.
Home Alone:
- This production starts by showing controlled chaos in a loud home. This sits perfectly with the family dynamics of families with young or multiple children. The perspective of the movie is very child-centered, and it is an emotion that many younger children relate to (being the center of attention). The child is portrayed as frustrated and sympathetic and this is what wins and hooks the audience to the film.
Film openings in the comedy genre are mirrors of familiar environments of the target audience. They establish a tone immediately, and use relatable characters as entry points for the audience into this world.
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