In class we watched a very inspirational documentary that gave us an insight into how to create an effect film opening, we were then asked to answer a variety of questions. The Questions were...
1 What does Thomas Sutcliffe mean when he says " Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment. while there are many types of seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible"? Thomas Sutcliffe explains that instant entertainment is needed to catch the audiences attention, he believes that film makers do this in the first five minutes of their films as a technique to ensure that they're effective. By starting off a film with a very dramatic scene , not only does it keep the audience engaged, it leaves them wanting more.
2 According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of " instant arousal"?
Sometimes instant arousal can lead to a lack of interest within a film, Jacques explained that film makers should gradually arouse their audiences , starting off a film with 'instant arousal' often can lead to a disappointing ending.
3 " a good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn't know nearly enough yet , and at the same time make sure that it doesn't know too little"?
By ensuring that the audience are not aware of the entire plot in the opening of a film, film makers make their audience question situations. If the whole entire plot is played out in the beginning audiences will not see the point of watching the entire film if they already know the whole story. The whole point of thriller movies is to make the audience anxious and to make them question situations, if their questions are already answered then that defeats the object.
4 What does critic Stanley Kauffman describe as the classic opening?
'The classic opening' begins with an establish shot, this makes the audience aware of the locational aspect of the plot. There is then a close up shot of a building, then a tracking shot going up to a window, the shots then go through a cycle of characters and rooms. All of these shots are introducing us to characters and locations.
5 What is Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film Seven so effective?
What made Seven's title sequence so effective was the different camera shots of props, it was almost like a waiting game. What is going to happen next? Why was the character shedding his skin? What are these photos of?. The title sequence did exactly what an effective sequence should do it made me question what was to come but at the same time it gave me an insight into characters and locations.
6 What did Orson Welles want to achieve with his opening to the film A Touch of Evil? What did Universal Studios do to it? Why?
Orson Welles wanted to achieve a evil side to his opening to the film to create tension, without the use of credits to lure him straight into the story. Universal Studios put the credits and title music losing the effect Welles wanted to achieve in his opening.
7 What is meant by "a favorite trick of Film Noir"? What is the trick?
The trick is to place the ending of a film in the opening, then throughout the film you are taken on a journey to discover how that ending took place, this is very similar to the way in that my group will be making our thriller opening. As our opening starts off with someone bleeding and staggering out of a building and then the rest of the opening is a flashback as to how he got to this point.
