Extension Task- The "Watching" Documentary

o      I have watched a clip from a recent TV documentary on film openings entitled “Watching” Documentary. The clip was thirty minutes long and I have answered some questions about it which are seen below.

1) I think that by the comment “Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment. While there are many types of seduction, the temptation for instant arousal is almost irresistible” stated by Thomas Sutcliffe, is trying to infer that the trailer needs to convince the audience to come back and watch the actual film. The phrase “long term commitment” is used to mean watching the whole film and the word “seduction” in other words means persuading the audience to watch the film. Therefore Sutcliffe is saying that the trailer needs to persuade the audience into coming back to watch the actual film. However, the next sentence is used to mean that the trailer cannot give too much information away about the film, the phrase “instant arousal” in this term is used to mean giving the best bits of the film away and it is “almost irresistible” to do so as the companies are eager to show off the best bits of the film in the trailer, however they must hold back and “seduce” their audience slowly by showing them only a taste of what is to come in the actual film.


2) According to Director Jean-Jacques Beineix, there are many risks of “instant arousal” for example what the audience want the company must deliver. Beineix compares this to delivering a pizza, when someone has ordered a pizza they want it as soon as possible, however they must wait for the pizza to arrive; the waiting may make them enjoy it more when it actually arrives. This is the same with film like Beineix states, one must tempt the audience with the trailer but make them wait for the best bits when they come back to watch the whole film. The audience want to be immediately gratified however with deferred gratification and accepting that they’ve got to wait, will make the audience appreciate and enjoy the film more when they come back to watch the actual film. One must allow the audiences interest to grow

3) I think that the comment “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” means that they must feel like they don’t know enough yet about the film, therefore they will want to stay and finishing watching. If the film gives too much away at the beginning then the audience will not be nearly as gratified when the best bits come as they would be if they were innocent to what is going to happen. However the audience cannot feel like they “too little” about the film’s main content as the beginning needs to arouse their curiosity so their questions can be answered later on it the film. If the audience doesn’t know enough at the beginning this may lead to them becoming confused and perhaps bored. I believe that one needs to find an even balance between not showing too much and not showing too little. This may be a tricky task for the film companies however it is vital that this is done accurately because else the audience may not get the best experience out of the film that they should.

4) The critic Stanley Kauffmann describes what he believes to be the classic opening of a film which will allow the audience to know the basics of the film within the first sequence. Kauffmann states that the classic opening would start with an establishing shot which would usually be of a cityscape with lots of buildings, for example in New York city. The establishing shot allows the audience to know where the film is set, which helps them to take in the location and helps set the scene of a busy diligent city. Kauffmann then says that the camera will usually zoom into a close up of a window of a building and enter into the building. The camera will then pan past the receptionist’s desk to an office and inside will be sitting the main character. This type of opening sequence is seen to work well as it shows everything that it needs to for the audience to be introduced sufficiently and to understand the type of film. This can be seen as a standardized way to start off a film, everything has its place which leads into the story line with ease.

5) I have watched the opening to Kyle Cooper’s title sequence to the film “Seven” and i think that it is very effective in a number of different ways. Firstly, the title sequence doesn’t give too much away about the film; however it is used to set the mood. In this case the film is a thriller; therefore the tone must be set in an adequate manner in order to portray the desired effect on the audience. As the title music begins to play and the first shots are shown the audience are woken up. The title sequence feels like part of the movie itself as we are introduced to the main character at the same time. The shots we are shown are mostly close ups of the main characters hands as we observe him carefully completing a number of different tasks which shows us the obsessive nature of this character. The mysterious non-digectic music also adds to the eeriness of the sequence and is perhaps used as foreshadowing of the sinister events that may occur later on in the film. In the title sequence the credits sometimes flicker over the shots and occasionally the screen fades to black and we see a black background with a few names on it (see image below). I think that the fades to black are used because the colour black connotes a number of different feelings, for example black can show death and fear and adds to the mystery of the film. The credits being portrayed in this way give a psychotic energy to the film. Therefore this title sequence is very effective as showing the credits in a different way other than a title page is an excellent way to start the film off and create the desired mood and tone that the film should give off. The standard formal title page for showing the credits soon died out as there are many more ways to show the credits at the beginning of the film other than a plain black list of all the people involved in creating the film names.

6) Within the opening to “A Touch of Evil” Orson Welles wanted to achieve something that no other film has done yet. He wanted to start the film off using no credits and no title music as he wanted to immediately plunge the audience into the film which they would not be expecting. When the audience go to the cinema they expect to see the credits and to hear title music played over the opening sequence which is generally seen as the ‘norm’ as it prepares the audience for the film to start. However, if the film was to start straight away with no warnings such as the title music or credits then this might shock the audience as it is not the ordinary thing done. Doing this may arouse the audiences interest in the film further as they might believe that if the film was not started in the ‘normal’ way then this might be a unique film that does not follow the standard rules of the conventions of films. In other words, it almost breaks the rules of the way society would expect the film to be like. This infers that the film may break more rules which will make the audience more interested and eager to see what will happen next. I believe that this would have been an interesting unique way to start a film, however Welles wanted to do this but the production company which was Universal Studios decided against this. They thought that doing this would be a bad idea and will confuse the audience. Welles detested this as he really wanted the film to begin in this way but unfortunately Universal studios won the battle and the films originality was lost and the film begun to the ‘normal’ way with the credits shown and the title music played. Welles ambition has since inspired other producers to think outside of the box as not every film has to start in the standardised way which society has come to expect. I have now understood that sometimes originality is best as this can draw the audience in more and some different can be more exciting.

7) The phrase “a favourite trick of Film Noir” means when the beginning of the film is of an ending. This can be seen in the beginning of the film “Casino 1995” as the first sequence is of a departure. The trick is used to establish that the film is of a new beginning, if the film starts with an ending then the film will be able to go where ever it wants because this is a fresh start and a new beginning.

8) I have watched the opening of the film “The Shining” and i noticed that it creates suspense in a number of different ways. Firstly, the establishing shot is a pan of the “picturesque” landscape, this seems beautiful and innocent at first but then the camera angle changes to an aerial shot above the trees and we can see a small road in which a vehicle is driving upon. “The screen is full of omens”, in other words this may be foreshadowing the sinister content of the film that may occur later on. As the car drives along the winding narrow road the camera tracks the car or in other words “the camera pursues the car like a predator.” This may infer to the audience that the people in the car are maybe driving in the wrong direction or into a bad situation. The music adds to the tension as it consists of long droning notes which have a dull tone to them which is setting up the baleful tone of the film. I have only mentioned a few of the key conventions used in this sequence in order to create suspense but overall i think that the suspense is created very well as anyone watching this would agree that it has a mysterious tone about it.