Openings to films:

Blogging lesson (9th January 09)
In our first lesson back today we analyzed and picked apart the openings of films specifically looking at thrillers, we watched a BBC documentary called ‘Watching’ that analyzed film openings and also as a class we took notes on the opening of films and also watched a few of last years thriller coursework’s to see how we could go about making ours and gave us ideas to get started on.
From the documentary I learned a lot about what the openings of films should do to us as an audience and how is makes us carry on watching. At the beginning of the documentary 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” This quote is saying that as a film maker you have to grab the audiences attention by luring them in slowly and carefully with the opening without giving too much or too little away that may bore them, also the opening has to make a viewer want to watch on so it should arise questions to the viewer making them want to watch on and find out the answers. Openings of films should not give everything away at once they should “nurture the desire” of the viewer so as to make them watch on.
The opening of a film should give bit by bit in the opening making them wait and wonder what’s going to happen next, creating and imaginary interaction between viewer and character making the viewer want to find out more and get their questions answered. The opening initially is to establish the setting and scene that is set, to capture viewers attention, instruct us of the mood and tone and leads us into the story telling us about the story line, the characters and the tone set for the movie.
In the documentary critic Stanley Kauffmann described a classic opening to a movie:
It should give you enough questions and information to make you want to carry on watching to find out answers, it should ask yourself questions, not much dialogue in the opening so that mood can just be created by the music, setting and action rather than just focusing on what characters have to say through dialogue. Lastly he says that the opening of a film should be subtle but effective on the viewer to again make them want to carry on viewing.
The documentary carried on to show the opening of Kyle Coopers film Seven which was very effective as an opening because it created an atmosphere and mood for the film through just the edited clips of a close up of the mans hands and also the film was cleverly created through the credits as they flicked up and down creating a surreal, psychopathic mood and gave this off to the audience without anything being said and just focused on a close up of a mans fingers sewing which is simplistic but effective.
Orson Welles created a film called ‘A touch of Evil’ where he wanted to not put any credits at the opening of his film but just to focus on the content of storyline and characters rather than making the viewers read the credits and loose focus from the film. Universal studios then took the film in to their own hands and decided to add credits at the bottom of the screen that killed the effect of the film and blunted the storyline that was originally meant to be effective but was taken away by the credits.
“A favourite trick of film noir” is used in movies because it is believed to work well in films against viewers. Noir is meaning black, filmed at night and also means that the director is putting the ending of a film at the beginning of the film to look ahead to what’s coming up with one of the critics saying “ destination as much of a departure point”.
The opening of the shining cleverly creates suspense by not using any dialogue and just followed a lone car in the middle of a deserted forestland like a predator. It created a sense of ‘wrong’ just by camera shots where “Every image leads you in”. The opening used high angled, crane shots and panned the car with Kyle Cooper saying it “Tuned viewers into a dissonant pitch”.
After the documentary we brainstormed as a class about openings of films and what worked and didn’t work. We discussed the methods that are used to draw audiences into the opening of a film and the most important factors of an opening:
• Gradual build up to keep the viewer interested
• Excitement/ action
• Introduction of characters and a brief incite into the story line/s
• Name of the film, titles and credits
• Music/ sound
• Establishing shots (set the scene)
• Setting the tone, time, place, mood, atmosphere, characters and settings
• A dramatic opening to excite the viewer and carry on their viewing
• It must raise questions and interests
• It MUST NOT tell the story as it would give the viewer the story in the first 3 minutes and then it would bore them, so not carry on watching.
• Logo and music first off all draws and leads you in
• The opening must create speculation, curiosity, pleasure and promise
• It must set up and destroy assumptions

“A good beginning will signpost its destination” meaning that a good beginning will give directions to where the film is heading leading you carefully through the story and what to expect next. This quote is telling us that it has to give us little information, not too much but guidance into the next part of the story.
Elements that worked well in the films seen today including editing, shots, distances, music, mise en scene:
• Editing that conveys pace
• Overlaid/ overlapped editing
• Effects on images EG: negative, red tint
• Extreme close ups, establishing shots, panning, close ups, medium shots all work well in the opening as we have seen from other film openings
• Music that creates a mood and atmosphere just by listening is a good soundtrack but it works very well when the beat of the music fits with the edited cuts of the sequence.
• Mise En Scene must be a good choice like churches, streets, graveyards, buildings, estates work well as they have a sense of professionalism about them, more thought out and work well with the thriller genre but using college corridors doesn’t work so well as it adds a sense of slap bang and messiness to the production.

What role do you think planning played in the films seen?
A great amount of planning is needed when making a film and is the planning is thorough and thought out then it is reflected in the film itself whereas if not much planning is involved with the film then it shows in the film as it looks rushed and carefree.
Elements that I hope to avoid in my film:
• A sense of tackiness
• Mobile phone shots and knives because these are always used in films and get boring for the viewer if overly used
• Overly thought out or not thought out enough
• Too many camera angles
• Too much overlap etc