RESEARCH- Extension task: 'Watching' Document

As part of my research I had to watch an episode of Watching, which is a show about cinema- impulses and urges that unite film rather than directors and actors etc.

1. Thomas Sutcliffe 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." By this he means that films need to entertain straight away. They need to be eye-catching and keep the audience hooked from the first glance. This first glance then should keep the audience hooked enough to watch the whole film. The beginning of the film is what we base our judgments and opinions on, therefore it needs 'seduce the audience into long term commitment'.
2. According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, the risks of ‘instant arousal', is that the audience do not wait or rear the anticipation to wait for the point of the film.
3. "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 so there is a hook which is good enough to keep the audience watching the film. It is saying that a good beginning should not reveal too much but at the same time give off enough information so that the audience like the film. Therefore there should be a balance. By watching the beginning of a film, the audience needs to be able to adjust and establish many things before making the decision to watch it further.
4. Critic Stanley Kauffman says a classic opening would have an 'establishing shot of New York city' and then a close up of the building and the camera went up a building to a window and then it went in the window, then it went past the receptionist desk to the private office and there sat Carrie Grant.' This worked because we had been told where the scene was taken place, what the occupation of what the hero was and the organisation of the world. 
5.  Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film ' Seven' is effective because it instantly hooks the audience, tells the story and shows us key elements of the psychotic behaviour of this man. "The psychotic energy of the titles were more influential than the film itself."
6.  'A Touch of Evil' was a Orson Wells film. He wanted to plunge the audience into the story without giving them time to prepare for themselves.  He also wanted to make the audiences to feel as if it is real. He did not plan on putting any credits at the beginning as he just wanted the audience to get into the film straight away. However Universal Studios were far more cautious about it , and added in the credits underneath the opening in the final cut. This was done so the audience could prepare themselves for the film in a way.
7. “a favourite trick of Film Noir" can be defined as the beginning of the film being more like an ending rather than the start of a film. The film is not that clear and is quite confusing to the audience. However as the audience watch it, it starts to make sense.
8. The opening of 'The Shining' creates suspense as it starts of with quite a weird deep suspenseful music, which immediately makes the audience think what has happened. Also it is set in a deserted land sea area, which is not the usual opening scenes to films. Also the camera seems to follow the car as if a predator