Evaluation Task: How well did our opening set up the rest of the story

How well did our opening set up the rest of the story?

The most important aspect of an opening is how successfully it sets up the rest of the story and how well it grips the audience in doing so. Our main aim was to make an opening two minutes that looked professional and enticed the audience to carry on watching with undivided attention.

One of our most successful tactics that we hoped would make the audience carry on watching is the use of enigma codes that dragged the audience into our plot and made them question what was going on so they felt that they had to continue watching until they found out the answer. Audiences hate unanswered questions and if the enigma is strong enough, then they'll sit through an entire film just to get the answer to their question. This tactic worked incredibly well for us as we began the film with the ending of our narrative, so the audience are introduced instantly to the drama of the situation, and rather than being baffled by the relevance of certain characters, are immediately wanting to know how they got into the dramatic situation that they are in. Although we were worried that our audience may become confused because of our multiple enigma codes and jumping of storylines, we quickly agreed with Alfred Hitchcock who said that 'an audience would rather be confused than bored'. The enigma codes that we created included: Who is the murderer? What has happened to the girl on the train? How did the characters end up in this situation?

We also used a mixture of fast paced action and intense graphics to create a gripping storyline. The section of our victim boy trying to escape gave the audience some of the drama that they would be interested in seeing. Furthermore, the dramatic use of thrilling screams and chilling music added to the action by giving it something to be coincided with. By making our film like this we made sure that the film was enjoyable for a wide audience, and no matter what style they prefer - chilling or thrilling - they should be dragged in by our opening two minutes.