Start of a Film - What Happens?

At the beginning of any film, a few key things are established to the audience. These don't necessarily have to go in a certain order but the first thing that always appears at the beginning of the movie is:

• the name of the production/distribution company - usually shown right before the title of the movie
• the title - dominates most of the screen and establishes genre through font, colour etc
• music/sound that establishes the mood - usually accompanies the title and leads on to the beginning scene e.g. spooky music for the beginning of a horror film
• names of main actors, actresses, and producer - normally appear one at a time and alongside the actor/actress

After the production company has been established, a few more things are made known to the audience such as:

• the key characters - by the character(s) having the most camera time or dialogue 
• the setting/location - shown by the different camera shots, mainly wide shots to show the audience the setting; could also be identified through accents 
• the storyline of the movie - made obvious by the main characters actions, location, dialogue and music