The 'Watching' Documentry and questions

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"
By Thomas Surcliffe saying 'Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment...." he meant that when a film is created, its objective is to make sure that it catches the audiences attention very well so that not only do they only do they continue to watch it, but they also remember the movie.

2). According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of 'instant arousal'?
The risk of this is that it ay make the movie sem a bit boring if it quickly reaches its climaz because then it wont be gradually building up tention and making the audience want to watch more, if the is "instant arousal" the audience will no longer have something to look forward to.

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"

The reason why the audience should know a little is so that they feel more involved with the movie and part of it an the reason why they shouldnt know too much is because if too much of the movie is given away then the movie becomes boring for them.


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

The film begins by giving us a overview of the location (establishing shot) it then takes us through a journey which it gives the audience a more detailed look of the building using a close up and then zooms inside the main location, introducing us to the main character, this works because by involving the audience in the location of the movie, they will feel more welcomed.

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

The reason as to why its so effective is because it goes straight to the point whichgrabs the audiences attention because they instantly feel more welcomed into the movie and feel as if the characters almost have nothing to hide from them.

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 the opening scene of the movie to be seen without opening credits because he wanted to quickly involve the audience into the movie, however universal studios wanted to be a little bit more careful and so they added the crdits.

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

This is when the opening scene of the film involves a scene from the ending of the film, the trick is to almost confuse the audience because they dont understand what is going on and so they will continue to watch it, so when it actually does happen towards the end of the movie, everything becomes a lot more clearer for them making them a part of the movie.

8) How does the opening to the film The Shining create suspense?
This is done by making the car seem dangerous and like a hunter, it remains fixed on the small object and tells us its going in the wrong direction.