The 'Watching' documentary

'Watching' is a half hour documentary about film title sequences. They talk about the beginnings of films and how its really, a make or break moment, where you need to give the audience enough but not too much.

The documentary shows mainly film producers, writers and directors talking about openings, some saying that you should start the film with something that will really impact the audience, something that will really want to make them continue watching (as before, trailers were actually the opening of the film, and opposed to now were mostly the best bits, or what are thought to be the best bits are put together to form this exciting and audience luring device). Some believe that if you start strong you really set a standard for the film, and in most cases this is the best part of the film which the audience have already seen through the trailer.

The documentary also focuses on fonts and credits at the beginning of films, which can sometimes, in the opinion of some, can destroy their idea or vision for the opening. 

An opening should be about seducing an audience, but not smothering them. Starting too strong, too open, can really ruin a film, setting the bar so high, it can, most likely, become unreachable. If you plan on doing so, you really need to have a few more tricks up your sleeve to really shock or surprise or keep the audience interested. It is like, as many times, we go to see a film and we think it was great, and a while later, due to high success rate they do a second, or even a third film, and this can sometimes ruin the films reputation. A first film, will more often than not, be the best, and specially if it has a high success rate, making a second would just be like throwing away all of that. In conclusion, you should not be to quick to seduce an audience, nor leave them waiting, or they will bore quickly and get into their minds that you are not worth-it or you are not what they are looking for.

Here are the questions we worked on while watching the documentary (documentary and answers will be uploaded soon):