Blog Post4-How can a film opening attract an audience?

How can a film opening attract an audience?-Based on the documentary 'Watching'

1.What does Thomas Sutcliffe mean when he says the following? "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"

-He means that the opening should be edited and filmed in a way, which will catch the audience's attention and make them interested in seeing the whole movie

2.According to director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of 'instant arousal'?

    -The risk of 'instant arousal' are showing the main parts of the movie, which means the audience will assume that the rest of the movie will be even better. However meeting those expectations will be challenging, therefore they will be unsatisfied and will have nothing to look forward to. 

   

   3.Explain why “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”

-The audience should be able to understand and know enough, in order the narrative to make sense to them and catch their attention. The beginning should only make the viewer want to watch the movie, not reveal key parts.

4.What does critic Stanley Kauffman describe as the classic opening? Why?

-An establishing shot of a city

-A shot/close up of a big building

  

-Zooming into a window of the building/close up 

-A wide shot of the entrance of the building

-The camera focusing on one specific door, where the main character is located

 

-A shot of the camera going through the door  with the main character in the room, which introduces  them to she viewer and  illustrates the settings.

5. Why is Kyle Cooper’s title sequence to the film seven so effective?

-Seven's title sequence is effective because it was set in a way in which made the viewer think that they are watching a part of the movie. Yet, it is mysterious and discrete which hooks the audiences's attention. For instance, Cooper only uses close ups of what the main character is doing, and never reveals a full image, nor his face, which makes people question themselves how he looks, which triggers further interest.

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?

-He wanted his opening to be free of any music and titles. Instead, he wanted to go straight into the movie because he thought that the audience were not going to prepare themselves.

However, Universal Studios didn't agree, so they added a title sequence, so his intentions didn't go as planned. 

7. What is meant by “a favourite trick of film Noir”? What is the trick?

It's showing the ending of the film at the start, and then going back in time to show the audience how the characters got into that situation. 

8.How does the opening to the film ‘The Shining’ create suspense?

-The opening of the film creates suspense by using a high angle that looks like a predator following the car, ready to attack it.  The lighting shows that the car is driving the wrong way, which leads the audience to think that something wrong is going on. It slowly gets darker as the car gets closer to its destination. The scary music helps to set the mysterious settings.