Watching

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”

What he means is the audience must be kept intrigued and this can not be done in only one way however various techniques are used. These can be techniques such as camera movement or even type of music. Furthermore the films need to attract the audience into watching the entire duration of the film.

2- According to director jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of ‘instant arousal’?
There are risks as it creates no purpose for the audience to carry on watching the film it almost instantly puts an end to the entire build up of a film. This makes the audience unsatisfied as they will feel they have already seen the best part.

3- Explain why “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”.

This is because you want the audience to be engaged. This can only be done by creating an effective scenario which will make the audience want to know what happens next. On the other if you give away to much the audience will already feel as though they know the plot and would not want to carry on watching it.


4- What does critic Stanley Kauffmann describe as the classic opening? Why does this work?

An  establishing shot followed by a close up of a building, following  a camera moving along a building to a window.  It  then goes through the window into the room. This is a great way of presenting a film as it shows the viewers the location and theme of the film with in the opening this is how it's works.

5-  Why Is Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film seven so effective?

It is very effective because the credits are in a font whereby it is hand written. This is effective as it ties in with the actual movie and linking the two together. To add to this the audience have this sense that the font is that way for a reason and that reason is because the handwriting is related to what happens in the movie.

6- What did Orson Welles want to achieve with his opening to the film ‘a touch of evil’? What did universal studios do to it? Why?

He wanted to make a silent sequence whereby there was no music, no credits or titles. Though Universal completely ignored his idea by adding there logo and music. He may have wanted to do this to create suspicion.

7- What is meant by “a favourite trick of film noir”? What is the trick?

When the opening reflects the ending. The trick is to inflict the same emotion on the audience, it is very effective as it fulfils their expectations.

8- How does the opening to the film ‘the shining’ create suspense?
The pace of the opening creates tension which is shown with the car that appears very small. The view however creates the most suspense as it makes you think 'why that angle'. The question which eludes the audience is what happens next?

Alan