Ok so I’ve been thinking about beginnings in movies. Not too much, but I have. Here’s what I’ve thought about.
The opening music changes everything. A good score can even get people into the credits. An example might be The Good the Bad and the Ugly” (thanks Craig). In that film, we see monocolor stills from the movie, and cheesy animations of people getting blown up by cannons. But the score is so intense, I thought it was awesome. Star Wars is the same way. Imagine the explication in A New Hope scrolling off into space to Beth playing harpsichord. The beginning to Star Wars is especially interesting. The old movies had that epic in media res opening, where the story starts in the middle and ends before the end. I suppose Return of the Jedi gives us plenty of closure, even down to glowing Yoda. But it was cool while it lasted.
There’s a big difference between a movie that starts with a long credit reel and one that saves all the credits for the end. Too much or too little opening credit can be disturbing. Usually, I like to settle in to my surroundings during a brief but informative opening credit sequence. If I have to wait forever to see the movie, I’ll admit getting a little bit grumpy. But when it starts right up, like they do sometimes with those pre-credit bits, I am almost always caught off guard.
Gonna go finish getting ready to present today, see you all later