What makes a

good film

opening ?

By Monique Fearon

• When a film grabs your attention from the opening frame, knocks you out of your seat or even grinds you into it, you tend to remember it fondly, even if the rest of it fails to measure up

• The opening should tell us the genre of the film & the setting or location• The opening may tell us one of the storylines of the movie to keep the viewers watching and to

give the audience a taster of the narrative.• The opening should include many different techniques, from catchy music to fast paced editing.

• The most important element to a good opening is the element of suspense

The film I chose to study was Love and Basketball I feel it has a clever yet intriguing opening. There is a use of clever shots and it leaves you wanting to know what happens next.

All basketball games are divided into four quarters and cleverly the film is divided into four quarters to resemble a basketball game, so at the start you are introduced to a clip

that say First quarter.

You have an extreme long shots to show where the film is set.

Another long shot showing a van being unpacked which makes it clear to the audience that a character is moving.

I think this is a clever extreme long shot because the angle of the camera is placed to give the impression that the three boys are being watched, which, initially they are but the viewer is not aware of this until the character approaches them ….

I think it is clever the way the character comes out from behind the grass walking up hill .

Studying Mis-en-scene in this case costume, I feel that the character being dressed in a tom boyish way is relevant to the scene as it shows the other characters reaction to her. When it comes to creating a good film having mis-en-scene is relevant to the film is vital.

ACTION REACTION!!!!!

When the character takes off her hat it becomes apparent that she is a girl and we have a good action reaction shot of another characters reaction.

ACTION REACTION!!!!!

We constantly have shots of the basket as the ball goes in the hoop.

• Whilst the characters are playing the catchy tune ‘candy girl’ is in the background

At the end of the opening sequence we have a close up of a character hurt on the grass