Research: What Makes and Effective Opening to a film?

When creating a film there are two areas that work together in order to produce an effective film. There needs to be two approaches Micro and Macro. The macro features focus around genre and the narrative. The micro features are also important in the opening of a film, as they are the technical aspects of the film and can make the viewer want to keep watching. For example mise en scene is also important in terms of the setting.

A good opening to a film would be a hook, this is so that the audience will want to keep watching, as they want to find out what is going to happen. Also in the opening of a film the audience need to be able to identify the genre of the film, so that they are able to know what type of film they are watching.

In the opening of the film you should establish the storyline to make the audience want to keep watching and introduce the main the characters, so they have an understanding of the film.

MICRO

• Lighting - can help to establish the genre of a film and helps to set the time of the day.
• Angles - help to show the power and prestige objects and characters, creates a place for the audience. For example high and low angle.
• Shots - effective and able to give different views on characters, zoom on specific things with purposeful meanings in the scene. E.g. close up, long shot, medium shot.
• Movement - helps to show the audience where the location is.
• Sound and voice over's - different forms of sound to show different effects.

MACRO

• Storyline - gives a good introduction to the storyline and make the audience know what is happening in the plot.
• Characters -  being able to establish the main characters and gain good knowledge of the characters.
• Genre - a good interesting genre to attract the audience and to keep them wanting to watch more.
• Setting and themes -  Introduction to the main themes of the film and relevant and important settings.