Previous AS Students Thriller Openings

We were shown a documentary about film openings in this lesson. Directors and film critics had commented and spoke about thriller openings.
Thomas Sutcliffe said “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.” By this, Thomas meant that the film and audience need to have a relationship in order to enjoy the film. “Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment.” This means the audience should want to watch the entire film. There are many types of temptations and seduction which is to take the audience straight into the action.

On the other hand, according to the director Jean Jacques Beineix the risk of instant arousal is not being to sustain the audience’s attention.
A quote in the documentary was “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 implication in this quote is that there should be enough information to interest the audience, but not so much that the story is predictable or given away. The audience should remain curious.

The classic opening is described by the critic Stanley Kauffmann as establishing shots of New York, zooming into a sky scraper. This works as the audience is notified of where the film is shot and set.
Kyle Cooper’s title sequence to the film Seven is effective because it shows the audience the obsession and fanatical mad nature of the villain.
“A favourite trick of Film Noir” the term trick is meant that the ending is shown at the beginning, for example the film ‘Casino’ the character is killed in the beginning and the audience are impatient and curious to know why the character was killed.
The opening of The Shining creates suspense as the camera is used like a predator hunting the car from a far.