Wednesday 26 January 2011

Watching Documentary on film openings

 The film needs to instantly get the audiences attention at the start of the film with probably a dramatic opening.  There are many ways to hook the audience,  either with lots of action or to slowly 'seduce' your audience. Also this could be compared to going on a date ,where you gradually wine and dine your partner, bringing your date many unsuspectingly surprises along the way.

Director, Beineix, is convinced that the greatest opening would be to start slowly, satisfying your audience as the film goes along and then you give them the drama that they are expecting later on rather than having all the action and drama at the start. The risk of 'Instant arousal' is not a good way to open a film because doing so will make your audience expect something much grand later on in the film but you that would not happen because you have surprised them already at the start. 



 The audience plays an important role when making a film.  When making the opening of the film, you must insure that you shouldn't give away too much information at the start or otherwise it will be too predictable and unoriginal. Another reason is if all the action and drama is introduced at the beginning, when you try to create a scene full of climax would fail because it would be overpowered by the thrilling opening.  On the other hand,  at the same if little information is provided your audience will lose interest and walk away. If hints are not easily detectable your audience would be left in confusion and might views things in ways they are not meant to be.

 Stanley Kauffman describes a classic opening as a city scape, probably Manhattan or London to establish the setting to know where we are, the location. Then the audience would follow the camera as it zooms into a window, of a building which goes up all the way to a window and we reach to the level of a window,  goes inside and probably see a room and meet the first character, for example, a receptionist sitting at the desk then later on the main character 
appears. Why this is effective is because  establishes normality but at the same time we are curios to know what is happening, where is the person and so and so.


Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film 'Seven' is so effective because it tunes the audience in and for them to be part of the transitional time.  It was able to make the audience alert and it works primarily because it is like its part of the movie. Its psychotic  energy  also introduces the obsessive and psychotic behaviour of the films main character.

 The trick of 'Black Noir is placing the end of the movie at the start which enables us to go back in time.  This grips us as we see the events build up throughout the movie. 
 Many techniques contribute the suspenseful  opening in the film 'The Shining.' The camera angle is birdseyeview which adopts the role of an eagle, hunting its prey (the car.)  A Birdseye view of a car is driving to an isolated area in the countryside.  The music builds up suspense and it hitches as the car drives along. The car seems to be going towards the mountains which is dark, this signals that something unusual is about to happen.

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