RESEARCH- How can a film opening attract an audience?

Watching

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”

He means that the audience would need to be interested enough from the start of the film in order to keep them still interested to watch all of the film. 

2)      According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of ‘instant arousal’?

The risks of instant arousal is that if the beginning of the film is too interesting then it becomes more hard to make the rest of the film more interesting than the beginning. So you would want to save the best scenes till the end so the audience would be more impressed and their questions will be answered from what they were thinking of in the beginning. 

   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”

So that they wouldn't be too confused, however confused enough to anticipate the outcomes of each situation that is witnessed in a film. This would keep audience intrigued throughout the film waiting for their questions to be answered towards the end. 

     4)      What does critic Stanley Kauffmann describe as the classic opening?  Why does this work?

The film begins with an establishing shot of e.g. new york city east side. Then there was a close up of a building then to a window, through the window past the receptionist desk and through an office to a desk where the main character was. And you've been told by this where the film was taken place and where the occupation of the character was. 

5)      Why is Kyle Cooper’s title sequence to the film Seven so effective?

Because it leaves the audience with questions such as... why are his fingers bandaged and why are the images we see in the opening so graphic etc. This already sets the theme of the film of how things are mysterious with the notes of paper and photographs shown. The audience can already tell that the film is going to be a thriller from the use of font the opening title credit uses replicating the handwriting of the main character. Moreover it introduced the audience to the main obsessions of the main character and foreshadowed what was going to happen.

 

     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 originally wanted the beginning of his film to have no credits and music for the audience to be plunged into his story without giving them time to prepare themselves. However Universal studios didn't understand what effect Orson was trying to produce so therefore added a score and the credits. 

7)      What is meant by “a favourite trick of Film Noir”? What is the trick?

This means when the beginning of a film seems more like the ending. The trick is that the audience feel like they have already found out what has happened in the film but watch on to find out what has happened for it to start that way.

8)      How does the opening to the film The Shining create suspense?

The way the camera shoots the sequence the first time it looks like it is an easy up lift on a helicopter shot but when viewed again for the second time it is a viewing of a scene of omens. Moreover the camera pursues the car like a predator and it makes the audience feel that the people in the car are travelling the wrong way.