Opening Scene Typer
How did it start?
Openings are the most conventional part of any film. A cold open, a voiceover, a slow aerial drift over a landscape – each belongs to particular genres and particular decades. If the beginning is the part you remember, start here.
Why openings are so conventional
The first two minutes of a film have a job: orient the audience and set expectations. That job has been solved in a small number of ways, and which one a film picks is a product of its era as much as its genre.
Technology shapes the shot
Sweeping aerial openings were expensive helicopter work until drones made them cheap after about 2013. If you remember a long smooth descent over a landscape, that is a strong recency signal.
Titles moved to the end
Elaborate front credits gave way to a single title card, and then to no front title at all. A film you cannot recall a title card for is more likely to be recent than forgettable.
Remember how it ended instead?
Endings are even better documented than openings.
Endings Explained