Sunday, 21 September 2014

What is expected from the opening two minutes of a movie?

For me, when you are watching the first two minutes of a feature length film you would expect it to include a variety of different techniques. These are done both to inform and intrigue the audience.  Here are some ideas of what would be expected in this period:

Credits

In almost every film you see, in the first two minutes of a film, the names of the director, producer and people involved or acting in the film will discreetly flash on screen. Now these names may appear in the corner or the centre of the screen, I've even seen examples where the credits will appear behind people or be involved in the actual film (interacting with characters etc); the point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't matter where or when they appear, they will always be shown sometime during the film, often in the opening two minutes. An obvious example where the title credits are rolled is The Usual Suspects, where the opening two minutes literally only show the credits in front of a dark blue river.

Introducing Setting

In the opening two minutes of a movie it is common for the setting to be introduced.  This may be done by them using the camera to scope the landscape, giving the audience a brief idea at the terrain that the actors are performing in or the name of the characters' location could physically appear on the screen, like in movies such as Fargo.

Introducing Characters

Finally, potentially the most obvious thing you can see, but not the most common, in the opening two minutes of the film is the introduction of characters.  In many films, but definitely not all, the main or secondary characters will be introduced to the story.

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