'Watching' Documentario.

'Films need to seduce their audience in to long term commitment'. Many films capture their audience in the first moments, the first scene being one with a lot of action. In the documentary 'Watching' it states how so many directors are tempted to go for 'instant arousal' of the audience, rather than a slow built up start to the movie which builds a plot.

Jean Jacques Beineix, a director, states that the excitement should not be given to the audience in the opening. He states that all the action and drama should be built up and the climax should come later, the want and need for some action or drama should be nurtured and left to grow throughout the film. In his opinion, starting a film with such an exciting first scene leaves little choice of where to go; the thrill must be re delivered constantly or the first thrill will be forgotten rather than cherished by the viewer.

'A good beginning makes the audience feel they dont know nearly enough yet, and at the same time not too little'. There must be a judgement of how much is given away in the opening. Too much information makes the audience feel in control, as if they do not need to watch so intently, whereas too little information leaves the audience bored, tired and losing interest.

Stanley Kauffmann- a classic opening. A classic opening consists of and established shot. This would involve three different things.
For an example: shot of whole of london, shot of an office
shot of the window, then shot of the person inside we are focusing on. This serves a purpose of creating a mood, depending on music, as well us showing us a character (probably main), and also the general and a more specific location.

Kyle Cooper's title sequence is effective for various reasons, it introduces the viewer to the psychotic and obsessive nature of the main character in an abstract way, without showing any of the actual film, it tunes viewers to the 'same dissonant pitch'.

Popularly in film noir, the film starts at the end, then the events play back in time up until that point.

In 'the shining' we know our characters are going the wrong way as they drive in to the shadows, there is a sense of foreboding, the camera is like a predator and that we follow bares resemblance. There is a bird's eye view used.