TASK 4 - How A Film Opening Attracts An Audience

Whilst watching the documentary "Watching" I learned a few key features on what makes a successful film opening.

Films need to be able to grab the viewers attention almost instantly to make an affect. The risk of instant arousal is that it sets the priority high so if the rest of the movie isn't as good as it seems, the viewer may be disappointed. 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 there is still some sort of mystery there which would intrigue them. One of the most classic film openings as described by Stanley Kauffmann is one based in New York City.It involves close ups of different New York buildings where the camera goes up a building and into a window. This type of opening is basic yet very effective at the same time.

Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film Seven is so effective because the way it's filmed is different and it's also action packed with a lot of different things going at once. A favourite trick of Film Noir is the trick where the film starts with the end then goes  back to the beginning which is very effective and gets you thinking almost instantly. The opening to the film "The Shining" creates so much suspense because the car is driving up the hill the wrong way and you know it's the wrong way because you see them going in the direction of darkness which is often towards danger. Instantly, the viewer knows that something bad is going to happen so it draws them in and keeps their eyes peeled.