1) What does Thomas Sucliffe mean when he says "Films need to seduce their audience into a long term commitment. While there are many types of seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible".
Sucliffe means that when creating a film, it is tempting to begin the film with a shocking, intense, scene, because it will grab the audience's attention from the start and ensure that they pay attention to understand the film.
2) According to director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of "instant arousal"?
Jean Jacques Beineix believes that "instant arousal" has the risks of not living up to expectations. Since the beginning would be so thrilling, the audience will expect more and better as the film goes on. However if the start was the most exciting part of the film, the audience will get tired during the remaining time and by the end the excitement will have passed, leaving them with feelings of disappointment.
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".
The beginning should be this way to make the audience eager to understand, but not to make them feel completely clueless to the film since they should be hooked from the start. It also allows the film to reveal things little by little and gives a sense of satisfaction to the audience when their ideas begin to make sense as the film goes on.
4) What does critic Stanley Kauffmann describe as the classic opening? Why does this work?
For Stanley Kauffman, the classic opening would begin with an establishing shot, a close up of a building, the window of the building, in to the window, past the receptionist desk, to the private office, and leads to the main character. This classic opening works because it informs the audience of where the film is taking place, the job of the main character, and overall the organisation of the world. For the audience, the progress of the opening is normal and expected.
5) Why is Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film Seven so effective?
The title sequence to the film Seven is so effective because it begins the story already, introduces main points of the film, and it foreshadows many of the upcoming events. The visual and sound aspects of the text on screen also sets the tone for the film and makes the audience's interest grow as they seek to understand what they are watching.
6) What did Orson Wellies want to achieve with his opening to the film A Touch Of Evil? What did Universal Studios do to it? Why?
Orson Wellies wanted the opening sequence of A Touch Of Evil to be seen without credits and title music in order to bring the audience into the story with no preparation time whatsoever. Universal Studios added a score and credits to the opening sequence which caused the wanted effect of Orson Wellies to be lost. Universal Studios did this because they wanted to be safe and draw the audience's attention in a much more classical manner than what Orson Wellies wanted. Having no title music and no credits would have meant taking a big risk to not addressing the audience correctly and therefore having negative effects.
7) What is meant by "a favourite trick of Film Noir"? What is the trick?
The trick is to begin the opening sequence with the end of the film. This makes the audience curious about how the film could lead to this point and makes them feel like they are reaching a destination as well as leaving a departure point. By doing so, they are looking ahead to the film in order to understand, and they will be more captivated.
8) How does the opening to the film The Shining create suspense?
The opening of The Shining creates suspense as all shots remain fixed on the same car from a large distance and follows it, giving the audience the impression of a predator stalking the car. The low pitched score also give a hostile tone. All of these points added give a sense of wrong direction to the audience.
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