Analysing Opening Scenes and Characters - Introduction

A common purpose of film opening sequences is to introduce the central protagonists to the audience - usually the main character, but sometimes the villain, depending on the genre of the film - and to indicate to the audience that character's traits. These aspects of the character's personality are established early on as they will play an important part later in the narrative.

I have chosen to look at two films to get a better idea of the ways characters are introduced:

'The Wolf of Wall Street'

'Collateral'