Film Openings

9th January 2009

In today's lesson, we looked at a documentary explaining film openings. We also watched examples of some students work in the college.

By watching this documentary and according to Jean Jacques Beineix he stated that starting an opening of a film as too major or strongly- may destroy the rest of the film. This is called instant arousal.

A good beginning cannot reveal too much and in a thriller case should possibly confuse the viewer or make them mentally raise questions.

One example of a good film opening is 'Seven' by Kyle Cooper. It find this good because there is no dialouge included, just a small pan and then quick close ups. This sudden close up from the slow pan can possibly represent the pace of the situation and can suggest that so many things are to happen that the viewer is unaware of. So the opening almost hints that there will be surprises soon after.

Some openings want to give the idea away- an example of who tried this was 'A Touch of Evil' BY Orson Welles.

Openings can also create suspense. An example of this is from 'The Shining'. In this film, there is a camera which is moving along as it drives up empty hills/mountains. The music helps create suspense but also the fact that the camera is fixed on such small car and uses extreme long shots there is an indication of danger or some sort of problem.

The main features which will make a good film opening is:
- Surprise the audience
- Give quite little information/hints as to what is going to happen
-Use music instead of dialouge