During one of our Media lessons last week we watched a documentary called 'Watching' which was all about how significant the opening sequence in a film is and how important it is that it is done well and effectively. It looked at the title sequence of films such as: The Shinning, Seven and A Touch of Evil. Also the opinions of some people were expressed to us, these included Thomas Sutcliffe, Director Jean Jacques Beineix, Stanley Kauffmann, Kyle Cooper and Orson Welles - All very important people within filming industry.
<-- Seven is a very good example of a successful and effective opening sequence. They do this by drawing the audience in and grasping their audience well - it tells us a lot about the theme of the film and the tone that goes throughout.
From examples like this, I've understood that the beginning of films need to 'Seduce their audinece into long term commitment' (as Thomas Sutcliffe told us) and this has indicated and stressed to me just how important the first 2-3 minutes of a film really is; its when people are at the height of excitment and expectation and its important to forfil that feeling as positively as possible.
"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" This means, that first impressions are everything to an audience. Therefore, a good beginning should capture us and then draw us in to make us feel as though we "Want to see more".
Critic Stanley Kauffmann describes the classic opening as: beginning with an establishing shot, then a close up of a building, then zooming into a window etc.... This works very well because it "teaches us how to know its suroundings" which draws us in and lets us feel as though we are in the characters world. This is an element that I now would definitly consider to use in my Thriller!
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