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."
Sutcliffe means that you should announce as much as possible in the beginning
of the film in order to capture the audience's attention instantly and
therefore will become loyal viewers.
However, Director Jean Jacques Beineix thinks there are some
downsides of 'instant arousal'. The main downside is that the film opening
releases immediate gratification to a large number of people, where instead you
should make them accept wait and to nurture their desire, to make it grow and
then the satisfaction come. Also by having a strong start of the film, there
will be questions that will follow in order to understand the film. The risk
that the film makers will never answer the questions that follow is the
downside of starting with a strong opening.
"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 quote refers to film opening and how they should portray
their movie. The beginning should establish the tone/genre of the movie, along
with many other things. Also as the audience is making a very early adjustment
for what the movie is going to contain, either serious tone or funny tone, it
has to be very clear. Furthermore, the opening should make the viewer not know
anything but want to discover more.
Critic Stanley Kauffmann describes the class opening is with
the film opening with an establishing shot, which then follows with a close up
of a building. The camera then goes up a building to a window and then goes
through the window, past the receptionist desk to the private office. It is a
successful opening because it establishes location, what the occupation of the
hero is and the organisation of the world and its place.
Kyle Cooper's title sequence of the film Seven is so
effective because it feels like part of the movie as it tunes the viewers into
the film instantly. It also establishes the pitch/genre of the movie
immediately therefore viewers will decide whether or not they will like the
movie. The title sequence also told a story and introduced you to the obsessive
nature of the main character which helps further the viewers interest of the
character.
The film A Touch Of Evil that was directed by Orson Welles
wanted to change the way a film opening started. Welles wanted hope to achieve
a different opening with his film by presenting the opening to be seen without
any credits displayed and without any background music. He wanted to achieve
this by plunging the viewers into his story without giving them time to prepare
themselves. However, the Universal Studios didn't allow the opening to be seen
without any credits and they also put a score under it.
"A favourite trick of the Film Noir" means that a
film starts with the ending so that the viewers are looking ahead to what's to
come. Some films start like this to make the film more interesting.
The opening of the film The Shinning creates suspense because
the camera peruses the car like a predator, from up high and from behind the
car. Also the car is travelling towards the tall, dark, bold mountains. This
makes the viewers instantly know that something bad is going to happen which
makes the atmosphere of the movie tense and anxious.
No comments:
Post a Comment