1. What does Thomas Sutcliffe mean when he 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’. Thomas Sutcliffe means that films need to attract our attention straight away by making an exciting or enticing opening to get us wanting the whole film. I think that the temptation is the trailer because once you have seen it; you have been hooked and now want to go watch it in the cinema. Also the opening leads people to have some sort of clue to what is in store for them throughout the film.
2. According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of ‘instant arousal’? He believes that you mustn’t just give into arousal but nurture it and control it and then you will get the satisfaction. Jean also believes that if the opening starts out so strong, then you have to make it bigger and if it isn’t bigger, then the audience hasn’t been satisfied and will not want to watch the movie anymore.
3. Explain why “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” It is a good beginning because the audience do not want to go see a film for over an hour if they know everything they need to know in the first 5-10 minutes. You have to be able to foreshadow, so you let slip some things that are going on but the audience know that there is so much more planned ahead which then gets the audience enthralled.
4. What does critic Stanley Kauffmann describe as the classic opening? Why does this work? Stanley describes a classic opening which is a shot from the east of New York. Which is then followed by a shot of a building and the camera would then go up the length of the building to a window, which the camera would then go into the window and past the receptionist desk, then to the private office. This opening lets the audience get used to the setting and the role of the hero. This is simple but very effective.
5. Why is Kyle Cooper’s title sequence to the film Seven so effective? Kyle Cooper’s title sequence to his film Seven is so effective because the audience are introduced to a pitch and tone which is irreconcilable to them and it also foreshadows the events of the movie. what's more is that the editing of the font of the casts lists fit in with the genre of the film, which is also supported by the soundtrack because it helps to build the tension.
6. What did Orson Welles want to achieve with his opening to the film A Touch of Evil? What did Universal Studios do to it? Why? Orson wanted to start his film with the audience going straight into the film, this didn’t give them enough time to get a jest of the film. He had no title music and no credits at the beginning. Universal Studios put the credits in the opening shot of the film and a score because they were unsure of the outcome it would have. However this lost the effect that Orson wanted to create.
7. What is meant by “a favourite trick of Film Noir ”? What is the trick? The trick is that they would start the film by showing the audience what they think is a piece of the ending, so that they are able to look ahead at what might happen. This creates a sort of purpose and responsibility for the audience.
8. How does the opening to the film ‘The Shining’ create suspense? The opening to ‘The Shining’ creates suspense by the shots and angles of the camera are shown. It starts with a high angle shot looking at a helicopter below and this then leads us to think that the shot is full of omens. Next shot is of a car which has the camera following behind which we insinuate means something bad could happen and the soundtrack supports this theory by having the music play which builds up tension and suspense. Overall this was a very effective opening to the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment