'Watching' Documentry

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"? Here Sutcliffe tells how how important it is to have the audience hooked from the beginning. By long-term commitment he means that if you win the audience over with a title sequence from the start, the possibility of them staying interested and on the edge of their seats is higher. As mentioned in the documentary people often treat the title sequence as a trailer of what is to come so it is important that it's as appealing as possible, "If you don't get a hard-on from the first page, you should put it down."

2) According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of 'instant arousal? The risk of instant arousal is that it might hype the film up too much and leave the audience somewhat disappointed or bored throughout the rest. It is better to arouse the audience slowly, almost teasing them so they do not get bored.

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 it doesn't know too little" This talks about how the title sequence should not give away too much about the film itself, but at the same time not too little so the audience how a slight idea of what is to come. This is important as audiences hate to be put in positions where they have to ask questions, this makes the film less enjoyable.

4) What does critic Stanley Kauffmann describe as the classic opening? Why does this work? The classic opening is when the audience is given a taste of what is going to come. This can be done through many ways such as maybe focusing what is in a background on a object of significance, or using a establishing shot to give the audience an idea where the film will take place. Even things like font type can give us information about the film, for example a colourful messy handwritten font will give us an idea of a child being in a film.

5) Why is Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film Seven so effective? This title sequence is very effective as it is personalised in a way to let us in the world of the killer. We are thrown in into the sick world of a serial killer and his daily routines such as writing in his journal and cutting the skin off his fingers. This is nicely presented through a variety of shots and is nicely rapped up with the dark music in the background, giving the audience an idea that this film won't be very pleasant.

6) What did Orson Welles want to achieve with his opening of the film 'A Touch of Evil'? What did Universal Studios do to it? Why? Welles wanted to make an opening sequence where there is no credits or title music. Universal Studios did not let him do this as it defeated the purpose of a title sequence and they didn't believe it would work.

7) What is meant by "a favourite trick of Film Noir"? What is the trick? This when the opening is made to feel as it is the ending, and the rewinding to tell us the whole story. This is done in the opening sequence of Fight Club, where Tyler has a gun in his mouth for reasons not explained to the audience. It then goes on to going back in time and telling the full story,

8) How does the opening of the film 'The Shining' create suspense? In this sequence the camera is used in a way that it feels like the car is being followed by some kind of predator. This builds up tension as the audience is basically told that something bad will happen.