Art of the Opening Scene Pt. 3 - 6 More Ways to Start a Movie, From Fincher to Villeneuve
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- Opening Scenes Pt. 3 - we explore 6 more ways to begin a movie, including a newsreel, the crime, a tragedy, the setting, a day in the life, and direct address.
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro - Opening Scene Techniques
00:43 The Newsreel
02:56 The Crime
04:43 The Tragedy
07:09 The Setting
09:22 A Day in the Life
11:44 Direct Address
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Movie opening scenes have a big responsibility to set the tone, establish characters, and essentially convince the audience to go along for the ride. In the previous episodes of this mini-series on the opening scene, we covered techniques like introducing the villain or employing a flashforward. In Art of the Opening Scene Pt. 3, we’ll tackle six more opening scene techniques.
One way to begin a movie is to use a newsreel, or newscast, to present the audience with pure exposition. This is an opening scene technique designed to deliver as much information as possible, especially when dealing with a high-concept premise like Children of Men. In this opening scene, we hear two bits of critical information, setting us up for how they will inform the plot.
The next opening scene technique starts with “the crime.” Often a murder, this event is what kickstarts the plot and turns the audience into witnesses. For Zodiac, David Fincher and screenwriter James Vanderbilt go to great lengths to recreate one of Zodiac’s first killings. This thrusts us into the story and we understand firsthand what Graysmith and the detectives are up against.
You can also begin a movie with a tragedy. Usually, we see this in the death of a family member but no matter the event, the emotional impact will follow the character through the main plot. In Arrival, we see Louise lose her daughter to illness, so when she later encounters the aliens and starts having flashbacks, we start connecting the dots.
The first scene in a script can also establish the setting of the film, which often functions as a character of its own. Think of the ghostly tour of the Nostromo in Ridley Scott’s Alien or how we see the juxtaposition of two worlds (space and Earth) in WALL-E. This is a particularly effective option to begin a movie when the setting is much more than just a location.
You can also opt for opening sequences that follow a “day in the life” of the main character. Perfect for character-driven stories, especially those in which their routine is disrupted by the subsequent plot. For example, in Stranger Than Fiction, we get a precise, mathematical breakdown of Harold’s routine which sets a baseline for all the chaos that gets thrown at him later.
The final technique for an opening scene is direct address, otherwise known as breaking the fourth wall. Having a character speak directly to us collapses the distance between the world of the film and the world of the audience. Suddenly, we are part of the story and the hope is that our engagement is connected instantly.
These are just six options for opening scenes to movies that fit the story they’re trying to tell. With these options under your belt, you’ll be able to begin a movie with the perfect opening scene.
#FilmTheory #VideoEssay #Filmmaking
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♬ SONGS USED:
"Exit Strategy" - Alternate Endings
"Up With Titles" - Up OST
"Fragments of a Prayer" - John Tavener / Children of Men OST
"Blancs Tale, Pt. II" - Nathan Johnson / Knives Out OST
"String Quartet in G Minor" - Knives Out OST
"Hurdy Gurdy Man" - Donovan
"Aftermaths" - Zodiac OST
"Outlandia" - Falls
"On the Nature of Daylight" - Max Richter / Arrival OST
"War Dance" - Rhythm Scott
"Main Title" - Jerry Goldsmith / Alien OST
"Put On Your Sunday Clothes" - Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford and Louis Armstrong
"Space Dance" - WALL-E OST
"Coconut Island" - King Flamingo
"Suddenly I See" - KT Tunstall
"The Way We Get By" - Spoon
"The Dopeness" - Nicholas Britell / The Big Short OST
"Boring Old Banking" - Nicholas Britell / The Big Short OST
"Lewis Ranieri" - Nicholas Britell / The Big Short OST
"Big Timer (Instrumental)" - Marcus Meston
Music by Artlist ► utm.io/umJx
Music by Artgrid ► utm.io/umJy
Music by Soundstripe ► bit.ly/2IXwomF
Music by MusicBed ► bit.ly/2Fnz9Zq
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro - Opening Scene Techniques
00:43 The Newsreel
02:56 The Crime
04:43 The Tragedy
07:09 The Setting
09:22 A Day in the Life
11:44 Direct Address
I love where the opening scene are some parts of the plot taken out if context to hook up the audience,later it catches up to it without us even realizing thats so cool
That sounds cool, but I don't think I've ever seen that. Could you name a movie with that kind of opening scene?
@@philwid9338 I've seen that A LOT!! for example, mission impossible III, Zola, The last king of scotland, the suicide squad
@@LuisSierra42 Thanks, I will check those out. Coincidentally, recently I've been thinking about re-watching all the Mission Impossible movies, 'cause I'm not sure whether I've seen them all. Now you gave me a good excuse to do that. 😀👍
Great technique!
3 idiots,dead pool,the tomorrow war
Yes!!!! I love opening scenes even though I hardly ever remember them by the end of the film
There are some opening scenes that will forever be seared into my memory like the dark knight
@@LuisSierra42 ohhh yea. One of the best character introductions of all time for sure
You remember the good ones :)
@@StudioBinder every directors try to make good one in their films .
In my opinion "A True Filmmaking" cannot be expressed in words , but you always somehow manage to do it IMPECCABLY.
I have to say we're LUCKY to have you
STUDIOBINDER.
-Praises from INDIA 🇮🇳🙏
We're lucky to have you guys!
Yes! This is the best filmmaking channel on TH-cam. I love Monday nights.
helping to make you look forward to mondays :)
The "One still shot" opening. We fade-in to a shot of a setting, a face, or a page on a book. It slowly zooms in as the main credits roll by, and a music cue sets the tone. There's little movement, if it's a location, maybe a bird flies by or rain falls or the light changes. If it's on a face, maybe the characters stares dramatically, or a tear is falling down her check while she applies make-up, or he points a gun to his head. If it's a book, we're allowed to read some of the text before an invisible hand flips the pages, we read and look at the photos or illustrations as the pages flip and the music crescendos. This shot sets a mood for the rest of the story, and the intriguing imagery will be revisited later in the film once more of the plot has been revealed.
I think Interstellar is a good example of that!
The "James Bond" opening. A highly stylized credit sequence with abstract imagery alluding to the plot and main characters, symbols appear, dark silhouettes are animated running across the screen while the text of the credits transforms into a location and colors flash in synchronization with a theme song.
This is not opening scene,this is opening credit ,I think
I would distinguish opening credits to the opening scenes, but Bond films usually have great openers!
@@StudioBinder Yea Bond always(?) begins with an opening action sequence, which while not always important to the main plot, immediately puts the audience into Bond's world and gets them engaged. Then often the credits follow that. Then the plot begins, and it has the luxury of starting slow because the opening scene had already engaged the audience with (often) a big feature stunt / set / action sequence. Think Casino Royale's parkour scene, or Skyfall's train scene, Spectre's day of the dead parade, or Goldeneye's dam scene. Bond is consistent about making their opening scene perhaps the most memorable in the whole movie.
Love the opening of "That Obscure Object of Desire". At first, you're confused, but by the end of the film, you understand the characters' behavior.
Die hard with a Vengeance is one of my most favorite opening scenes ever.
Love how simple yet effective it is.
On the topic of opening with setting, I have always admired the photographic quality of Manhattan and how it contrasts with the comical sound of the writer trying himself to decide the opening of his next book.
Manhattan is beautiful ❤
You guys are my filmmaking school. Thank you so much!
Class in session!
Studio binder is god gift of film maker
Just doing our part :)
You may consider making this: Film opening scenes that have Songs in the background.
There's an Indian 2-part Film series by the name: *Baahubali* and Baahubali 2's opening has one of the best opening sequences for a film from India! It summarises part one's story through a freeze-frame kind of technique with an awesome song amplifying it's effect!
Don't embarrass us ( South - Asians) bro. We discuss about great movies here. No need to embarrass yourself by suggesting Bahubali 2 to someone 😂
@@sluggishhollow2030 hahaha wow
Thanks for the suggestion!
@@sluggishhollow2030 i chose this, just as my example, you may give yours :)
@@StudioBinder Instead of bahubali plz make a video on gangs of wassypur that's a really great indian film bahubali is just overhyped
Zodiac opening is god-tier, from the festivity fireworks from the 4th of july until the crime happens, is pure perfection. So chilling.
perfection
Children of Men is in my opinion one of the greatest productions ever put to screen, it may not have great dialogue, but the cinematography, photography, pacing, imagery and symbolism are magnificent as is the internal world building
Opening scenes are definitely the most fun for writers and audiences!
A great challenge for filmmakers!
in the search of a chapter !! i found the entire film school.
love your content....
With such a high caliber in regard to teaching film; it’s nice to see StudioBinder including films from the MCU. Their writing continuity is unparalleled and attention to detail in set design for hiding Easter eggs is unmatched. Not to mention their visual effects department
lets not go overboard.
Lots to learn from the films!
@@StudioBinder they receive yet another VFX nod at the Oscars for Shang-Chi 🙌👌
@@increase9896 name another franchise that has made more than 20+ films and continues to release them as well as a streaming service .. and has a TH-cam following dedicated to their breakdowns, industry insider tips and leaks ... I’ll wait and one of the only studios to win oscars for ‘super hero’ films
@@increase9896 oh ... and did more than a billion at the box office 🤷♂️ Cameron’s a legend and still got beat by newbies ...
My favorite opening scene is from a movie 'Nobody wanted to die' ('Niekas nenorejo mirti', Lithuania 1965) -- quite minimalistic, without text, but perfectly introduces the story.
0:43 Ooh, that describes the opening montage for Shin Ultraman! Almost every shot in the opening is accompanied by news text, like "The giant lifeform appears!" or "The enforcement unit Katokutai has been formed".
Guy Ritchie's King Arthur and its fast paced montage was worth mentioning IMHO
That's a great one too!
Thanks so much for your series on openings. I forgot how incredibly important the choice is how to open your story. Now I know different kinds by name, which makes it easier to make that crucial decision in my own feature.
I just LOVE YOU StudioBinder, keep up the great work!
Will keep them coming!
So grateful to have found this channel!
We are too :)
The first thing that I do is like the video and then watch it.
I know it's gonna be great
That's the way 👌
Awesome!
You guys at Studiobinder are the greatest!!!
Happy to help!
Absolutely love this videos
Was really waiting for this exact video
Hope it was worth the wait!
@@StudioBinder yes thank you for the video I personally appreciate your efforts and thank you for replying
Talking about striking Opening scenes in The Crime motif, I cannot but think about the spectacular opening of David Lynch Twin Peaks, with the discovery of Laura Palmer's body wrapped in plastic by the river... To this day still shocking!!
And, of course, Ridley Scott's opening for Alien... fantastic work of setting the tone and place with camera!!
All great examples 👌
I would love to see more openings for animated movies. How to Train Your Dragon has an excellent expositional opening, while Lion King has one of the most iconic openings of all time. I would love if those were addressed at some point.
This channel is gold
Superb job SB team thank you very much
Please make a video about the fonts to use for the text displayed in movies.
Like in the movie avengers they use text to display the information about the place and the time.
Basically a video on typography used in movies.
Another amazing video essay 👏
Enjoy!
You guys are the best! You gave me the inspiration to create my own channel so I can go back behind the camera 🏆
Happy filming!
Amazing analysis 🏆
Deadpool opening scene is so epic. We finally got to see the comic accurate Deadpool from Fox Studios
That's a banger!
You always ought to include links to other videos in any series!
Thanks for the suggestion! here's part 1 th-cam.com/video/Jw_ysaoVlt4/w-d-xo.html and two th-cam.com/video/r2vtbcfmFDY/w-d-xo.html
awesome video as always
Cheers!
yess please do moree i love these
As long as there's a demand, we make it!
love your videos
Love making them!
U never disappoints !!!!
Glad you liked it!
cinema is so wonderful
Midsommar opening🌟🌟🌟
Terribly good
I still have PTASD, Paul Thomas Anderson Stress Disorder, from the wtf overwhelming opening to Magnolia.
😂
This is awesome.
That's the goal!
amazing
These videos are really nice and helpful 💯 but I always wonder what about closing a scene. Can you make a video about different ways movie // videos end
Superb video
Glad you liked it!
Awesome & Thanks :)
Thanks for watching!
I need list to watch later
Enjoy!
The opening to all 5 "Ice Age" films can be summarized in this equation: Enter The Hero + The Setting + Plot Catalyst + MacGuffin = Scrat's journey in getting his nut.
😂 very precise
The pre-credit opening scenes of Raising Arizona, mix narration to audience with the plot.
👌👍 Good catch!
The "scanning the room for artifacts" that tell a back story or set up a character. The camera moves, floats slowly from a framed photo, to a newspaper cutout, to a set of keys, to a book, to a desk, to another photo of the character with a loved one....and so on. By the time the shot stops, you've gotten a lot of information, and the movie can begin.
Rear Window. A great opening.
That's pure cinema
Sahara does this
awesome
Now this makes me want to experiment some opening ideas:
1. Where it's randomly puzzling but makes the audeince so curious to understand what the opening means
(Like a guy at office suddenly meet Trex with a kid that looks alike him asking for help)
2. Start with Future but the ending is from the past
(Basically like succesful business woman flashback to when she's young but then rewinds back to when she's baby and then ends with quote saying that mom's delivering baby is beautiful)
3. Only showing items that tells the characters
(Some posters of a K drama with the merchs with tv about the idols to tell the girl is pursuing one of the men)
4. Documentary style (like Natgeo/ Discovery Channel narration but in some formal people's words and interviews about world hunger.....but when intorduce the main character, he is a food delivery)
5. A bunch of collages (multiple panels on one scene showing like comic book style about what all character do at same time)
6. Start with timelapse (like showing how a village starts from a forest since the film is about that village)
7. Start with 1 to 5 minutes of same boring setting without anything to happen first (like audiences have to stare on an empty playground without music track & narration).......this one is basically like seeing on painting/ being calm before the story starts
ILY!!!
💖
My favourite is in Punch Drunk Love when durning calmn morning the car in crashed and harmonium is leaved on the street. Amazaing scene.
Sweet 💯
Film opening can also be used to deceive audience, like in BIRDMAN, the movie starts with a meteor falling into the earth's surface, it tricked me to thinking that this movie can have a superhero or super powers, cuz most superhero movies like megamind and superman starts in a similar way, a extraterrestrial being or object falling to the earth, it also helped in enhancing the ambiguity of the film's climax
Good point!
please do a video on coming of age stories :))) content amazing as always!
Amazon has a low budget coming page movie that is surprisingly good.. Dating Amber
Thanks for the suggestion!
You should make more videos on building a story
I love this channel
You should see our character arc/4 endings series! Here's one of them on Back to the Future th-cam.com/video/0txdzPfC-Ow/w-d-xo.html
For me the opening scene is the most important. It determines if people will watch your film
Yes I love it awesome
Cheers!
what would you consider the "wes anderson" exposition dump intro.
also, used in "AMELIE" etc
Waiting for next video series of opening scene ........ 🌟🌟💯💯💯
More on the way!
The opening scene in Dune was awesome
I'd like to suggest to the team of StudioBinder that please try your hands on INDIAN FILMS!
It's not just "Bollywood" and musical numbers that we have to offer, rather much more! We literally have more than 10 independent language-specific film industries, and due to OTT Boom, we are looking at more "Pan-Indian" films coming these days...
And anyway to explain films and filmmaking techniques, language isn't a barrier :)
Thanks for the suggestion!
As I commented in a previous video I think Lord of War is the best opening with direct adress
The opening scene in Overlord (2018) is f*cking amazing
I have an important question: can I apply all these film techniques (except those related to music) when creating comics? Looks like a lot of them are good for this
of course! there are ways to panel comic frames to create a sort of "rhythm" to the reader... Big large panel, holds longer bigger scale, smaller panels make subtle intimate scenes;
also framing in comic and film works the same, what you put into "camera" is what you want the audience to see
I think so!
🔥🔥🔥
*please cover Bad Opening Scenes* and opening scenes of Series
you should cover whatever it's called when they show the ending first, like in pan's labyrinth (if you didn't already).
I'm not sure if you've already done this but what about the way music fits different scenes
You should do something like this but with how to end a movie
Starting with crimE in baby driver was good
Great opener!
are there any films that start with a symbolic opening with symbolism for a key theme or conflict etc in the movie. Or one that starts a motif?
Interstellar starts with the bookshelf, which symbolizes the connection Murph and Cooper create
The Batman is a great recent example of the crime technique.
guys, the white block with description info is too large, too attentive. it distracts from the movie cut
anyway thank you for your job
How about a video on the screenplay of horror movies?
I have ideas for an opening and an end, but the middle is where I'm struggling for a couple ideas.
What about the opening scene of The Insidious??
Could I mix some of them
In the Style of Short Story: First paragraph is the entire story
Interesting, do you have a favorite film example of that type?
@@StudioBinder mine
@@StudioBinder Edgar Allen Poe used this in his short stories
PLS GIVE OPTION TO DOWNLOAD
Goodfellas has the best opening
all time classic!
(V.O.) (O.C.) (O.S.) Please we need a detailed video on this issue.
What about Opening with the climax scene and then showing how it reached there. Like in Fight club.
That counts!
I would love a breakdown of the matrix
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
🙏
BvS Ultimate edition is the best example of tragic opening IMO
Pulp fiction the scene with the robbery!!!
Great scene 💯
Break down the opening of Trainspotting.
With the help of my virtual lecturer,studio binder I'm able to stand out from my colleagues
Happy to help!
❤️
❤❤❤
What type of opening scene is the opening of Star Wars? 🤔
A Star Wars opening
I think Tragedy can be considered as a subset of Crime.
I think it depends on what the focus is on, the tragedy or the crime
2nd !
Right on time!
Do Alejandro Gonzales innarittu directing style explain video
PIECES OF A WOMAN opening sequence is also a great example in technique Tragedy and loss....
Which u missed
👌