RESEARCH - Film opening

How can a film opening attract an audience?

In every film opening film makers have to face a risk which is the judgmental audience. They need to make sure that the start of the movie is establishing many things, but also hiding important details so that the movie wouldn’t become easily predictable. The audience should know a lot but at the same time should not understand everything.

 

The most effective opening scenes are not the classical ones where you have many close ups before you meet the character. It’s the mysterious and confusing ones that attract the audience the most. For example; a film that starts straight away with the action, without any opening scenes to get the audience prepared, also the ones who have the sequence of shots which relates to the main character in the story. Openings should create questions which would make the audience stay committed to the movie until they get all the answers.

Also, the soundtrack and the scene places are very important, they have to be interesting and set the tone of the whole movie. In addition, camera angles play a big role in this as it can create the suspense and tension which is needed to attract audience, make them forget the reality and experience the film.