How To Begin A Movie

This video is sponsored by Skillshare.

In this video essay, I ask what makes a great beginning for a movie and how we can make one ourselves.

A massive thank you to my +$5 patrons:
PJ Crabb
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Cyber Jedi
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Ryan Dunleavy
Kevin Heyl
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[bricecate]

I love it when a film shows you everything you need to know about the character without telling you anything. The joker intro was just about perfect.

[devlinash]

According to my research from school, you need a begining, middle, and end.

[DracoDovakiin]

Monty Python:

Not to mention that they start it out by playing "the wrong bloody film."

[jacopocongiu]

"As far as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster"

[cabrondemente]

Willy Wonka: Here's a sequence of how a chocolate is packaged.

Lord of War: Hold my Beretta.

[solar]

I also really like the opening of UP it didnt really have much dialogue but man it hits hard.

[ieradossantos]

The opening of the Dark Knight is something special indeed, I love it

[averydae]

I remember watching dark knight as a kid and being like, “where’s f**ken Batman!??”, for the first 15 minutes of the film

[RA-lmid]

*The opening of Logan is like the film maker grabbing a sledge hammer and smashing it in your face, saying “Get ready. You’re in for one hell of a ride.”*
- The closer look 2018

[Shadowfire]

*A bunch of crazy shit going on and then a freeze frame*
"That's me. Wondering how I got here?"

That's obviously the best way to open a movie.

[Merijn]

Up, man. That opening is up there with the greatest opening montages of all time.

[rinkulink]

Regarding the opening sequence of The Matrix, to me, it's even more interesting considering how the Wachowski siblings used it as a gamble. The studio initially granted them a budget of only ten million dollars for the whole movie, although they needed sixty-three million. So what they did was to use the whole ten million they got, just to shoot that sequence with Trinity and make it so good as to convince the studio to grant them the budget they eventually got. So basically the Wachowskis used the opening sequence for its purpose to showcase the kind of movie it's going to be on its own, because they needed to and it worked perfectly.

[Win]

The shining used the helvetica font as the opening creds

HELVETICA

[MrSoundofmusic]

The Dark Knight was an experience of it's own. That movie was WAY beyond many of the movies of today.

[sparkle]

But don't forget: You need to master the rules before you can break them.

[guneytopal]

LOTR opens with dialogue that basically explains the story. And it is easily one of the best openings.

[appealtoreason]

Halloween (1978) had an amazing opening. It threw you immediately into the POV of the killer, then revealing that you were in the shoes of a 6 year old child the entire time is utterly chilling on the first watch, and really establishes the dark nature of not only the film but the main antagonist as well.

[hugovdberg]

I like it when there's a narrator in a movie, LOTR proves that it doenst have to be boring as long as the words are spoken well.. or maybe im boring idk

[Ghues]

The Dark Knight's opening is still my all-time favourite, it was incredible to experience on the big screen.

[elliotbrim]

I think another great example of an opening not mentioned is Baby Driver. It grips you from the first moment and conveys so much without a word.