'Watching' Documentary

'Watching' Documentary

1) What does Thomas Sutcliffe mean when he says "Films need to seduce their audience into a long term commitment. While there are many types of seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible" ?

By this he means that the title sequences should be so eye grabbing to the audience, it almost mesmerizes them into wanting to watch the film from the beginning right to the end due to a factor which appears to be just like seduction.

2) According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of 'instant arousal'?

He says that 'instant arousal' can almost give the audience everything straight away which is not ideal. They want the audience to be in suspense and on their toes throughout the whole film otherwise they could be left in disappointment if all the best parts were given away in the initial stages of the film.

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 is doesn't know too little"?
The film makers want the audience to have a good insight about what they are about to watch from the title sequence and the beginning of the film. However, they only want them to experience a flavor of it and not be given everything. When the audience see something they like, they will be more than willing to watch the rest of the film.

4) What does critic Stanley Kauffmann describe as the classic

opening? Why does this work?

He describes the classic opening to be a scene that establishes the location and introduces the characters slowly. He says these are attained with various shots such as the establishing shot, close up shots and tracking. These are all for the sole purpose pf introducing the audience to the plot of the film and get them familiar with the personality of the characters.

5) Why is Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film Seven so effective?

His title sequence is so effective due to its ambiguity that grips the audience into wanting to know what it is about. It has various camera shots of hands, writing, gloves but no faces which makes it very mysterious. These flashing images accompanied by distorted eerie music that is very inconsistent and adds a sinister touch to it as though it is something related to death. The typography is also handwritten which possibly foreshadows the antagonists features of the movie. All these factors keep the audience in suspense as they want to know what it is about.   

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 engage his audience into the plot of the film by having credits and no music. According to him the silence of it made it seem more unnerving. However, Universal chose to add music to the title sequence as they believed that would engage the audience much more than a screen with no sounds.

7) What is meant by "a favourite trick of Film Noir"? What is the trick?

This trick is to maneuver the ending of the film to the beginning and this allows the audience to know the ending of the film. This trick is ideal for films that have a bad ending - such as the death of a significant character. The idea of this is that the audience already know what is about to take place, but they cannot do anything about it. It gives them this sense of hopelessness as they know what is to come but they cannot stop it from happening.

8) How does the opening to the film 'The Shining' create suspense?

It begins with moving panning camera movements following a car. Mainstream ideas with cars and bad things is that there may be a car accident involved. The following movements indicates that the car is very significant and may be the cause for the plot of the film.