6th Janauary 2009..candy

On the 6th, we watched a dcoumentary on film openings and their effectiveness in capturing a audiences attention. Presented by Thomas Sutcliffe, the documentary gave great insight into succesful conventions that film dire
ctors may use when filming an opening sequence. According to Jean Jacques Benieix a good film opening should leave the audience woundering what will happen next. An example of a succesful film opening, is when the film starts with the end of the film breifly, then back to the begining to show the audience how it all started. We saw this particular type of opening in a film with Robert De niro in which after walking to his car- he became a human fireball! Then the film started offically showing us how the stort progressed to that stage. I learnt that a succesfull opening should arouse many questions that the film will then have to answer. It should also give hints in the begining certainly fore-shadowing future events that may occur.
According to Stanley Kauffmann there are many different ways a director could use an opening sequence to arouse question. He uses the classic opening of an establishing shot- useally filmed by a long shot or low angle. These kind of openings show the audience where the sequence will take place. It is generally accepted that openings sequences will have first and fore-most and exterior shot (showing location on a bigger scale) followed by an interior shot (whether it's within an intimate location or elsewhere).