What do you expect to see in the opening two minutes of a feature film?

In the opening 2 minutes of a feature film I expect to have developed a feel for what the film is going to be like. The atmosphere and mood must be set for how the majority of the film is going to be, for example in an intense film such as 'the hunger games; catching fire' immediately the scene is set, Catniss (the main character) is on edge, uptight and jumps at the rustling of leaves as her friend steps on them to greet her. This creates tension and helps us understand as viewers that the film may be tense - which it is, we're constantly waiting for something to happen which creates a high level of suspense throughout it. Another example is in a comedic film, 'the stepbrothers', a childish feel is used in the font of the title, fun music is playing in the background and the acting immediately makes us feel at ease, being something we can laugh at. Music and font can often be a give away, silence in the opening of a film relates to seriousness however fun upbeat music suggests a more light hearted feel. In horror films the font shown for the subtitles may be red, bold and look 'scratched' and this, to me, would suggest a more gory horror film.

Aswell as gaining an understanding of what the film is going to be like, its genre and the mood of it, in an opening of a feature film the viewer should be given or portrayed a simple, basic underlying background of either what the character is like or their background story by giving us some kind of genuine truth; for example in the opening of stepbrothers two adult men are shown either with fast food - which gives us the idea they may be immature or lazy not being able to cook, and playing video games, which again delivers the message of immaturity. We also immediately see one of the men lives with his mother, that immediately tells the audience that one of the main characters is an immature grown man who still lives with his mother and is depending on her. In the opening of 'Catching Fire', the truth and background we see is that Catniss is scared and must go away to play for a second time in something called 'The Hunger Games' which is portrayed as dangerous due to the fact Jennifer Lawrence's performance in the role shows Catnis is blatently terrified. All of this background story, no matter how basic, gives us an idea of what the storyline of the film will entail and we will decide from this two minutes whether or not we want to continue watching.

Something else I might expect to see in the opening two minutes of a feature film is to get to know the relationship between two people, whether that may be an acquaintance, friendship, romance, mother/child, family or whether the two people are strangers. This is important because the relationships portrayed can also show us what type of film it may be. If we see a friendship in the first two minutes we may assume that the underlying message of the film will be about supporting each other and getting through a tough situation with important people by your side and if we see a flirtatious relationship we would assume there will be a romantic element to the story.

I believe all of these elements are important in a feature film's opening, it should create questions in the viewers mind such as "what will happen next" or "why is that character upset" and its later in the film is where the majority of the questions would be answered.