Watching documentary questions+answers

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”

- He means that if you don't tempt the audeince with the opening then the rest of the movie to the audience will be less interesting.
-If they see one of the "key characters" have something unfortunate happen to them, it will hook the audience through the rest if the movie.

2) According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of ‘instant arousal’?

- If the opening isn't spectacular, then the rest of the movie will lose it's luster as well as popularity.

3)  Explain why “a good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn’t nearly know enough yet, and that at the same time make sure that it doesn’t know too little”

-It needs to give them the feeling of curiosity and suspence, so that they will want to watch the rest of the film to find out the mystery left by the opening, seeing clues as time goes on.

4) What does critic Stanley Kauffman describe as the classic opening? Why does this work?

- To show the audience an establishing shot (one of the location of a main scene) so the audeince can familiarise themselves with it, and along with music/soundtack and other detail, possibly relate to it.

5)  Why is Kyle Cooper’s title sequence to the film Seven so effective?

- Because it shows what is actually happening, the psychopath, does write things down in his notebooks, cut things almost cerimoniously, giving a proper taste of the film, foreshadowing.

6) What did Orson Welles want to achieve with his opening to a film A Touch of Evil? What did Universal Studios do to it? Why?

- An "all in one" take, so that a large proportion of the scene in it's earlier takes.

7)What is meant by “a favourite trick of Film Noir”? What is the trick?

- To record the film in non-chronological order, the end will be at the beggining and vice-versa

8) How does the opening to the film The Shining create suspense?

- How the camera follows the car, the music arises the feeling of suspicion in the audience as well as the volume control