Blog post 4- Watching documentary

Watching documentary.

 

 

When Thomas Sutcliffe 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 beginning of a film is sufficient, you should capture the audience's attention instantly so they are likely to continue watching the film.

 

According to director Jean Jacques Beineix, the risks of 'instant arousal' are that the rest of the film has to be as exciting to the audience as the beginning therefore the whole film has to be of good quality not just the opening. If there are questions left open in the opening, the need to be answered by the end for the film to be effective.

"A good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn't know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure it doesn't know too little." This means that the beginning of a film leaves the audience intrigued and making assumptions about what they are about to see, without giving too much away which makes them want to watch the rest of the film.

Stanley Kauffmann the critic describes a classic opening starting with  the camera at an establishing shot, which is then followed by a close up of a building, then to a window, and through the window to the receptionist desk to lead to the private office. This is  successful because it shows us the location, to build the rest of the film on.

 Kyle Cooper's title sequence of the film Seven is so effective because the opening showed what was up and coming in the film, it introduced the main character who appears to be strange and mysterious and the credits were written in a creepy font like the writing of the main character.

Orson Welles wanted his opening to be presented without any credits or music, this was so the audience 'plunged' in with the story and became instantly engaged. However this was not allowed and the studio decided to add credits.

"A favourite trick of the Film Noir" means that a film starts with the ending scene at the beginning  so that the viewers are looking ahead to what's to come which makes it more intriguing.

The opening of the film The Shinning creates suspense because the camera shows a birds eye view of the car and follows it like a predator. Also the car is travelling in a deserted unpleasant looking place which makes us think something bad is going to happen.