'Watching' Documentary

What he is trying to say here is that you can have an action packed interesting dramatic start to a movie which grabs the audience interest straight away or you can have a slow boring start.
"Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment" was said by Thomas Sutcliffe.

I personally like openings with a slow past, calming down the cinema audiences, and letting their mind ease into the film, looking at small pieces of the mise en scene and doesn't give away the plot too early in the film. These films usually cosist of the best ideas for a plot,, and most likely the ending is not obvious.

According to Jean Jacques Beinix, he says that the risk of instant arousal is that when the film starts with an action packed or dramatic start to get the audience satisfied, after that the audience would be expecting something more dramatic after the opening but the director of the film might not have any ideas for it. Jean Jacques Beinix says that films should start slowly then show the actions later on as this would keep the audience engaged with the film.

Explain why "a good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn't know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure that it doesn't know too little"

Whilst watching an opening of the movie, you make a self judgement of how much information is given away. Too much information might give away the plot, give the audience nothing to look forward to through out the film as it is clearly predictable. If there is too little information people in the audience may not understand the film and confused when things do happen.

What does critic Stanley Kauffman describe as the classic opening?

He says that the film starts with an establishing shot on New York City,  then it goes close up on a building, after that it goes close up on a window of a building, then it goes inside the window it goes close up to the room, then inside the room we see the person in that room. Classic openings establish normality, it shows a normal day life, then the rest of the movie it shows abnormality. 

Why is Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film Seven so effective?

Kyle Cooper's title sequence in the film 'Seven' is so effective ecause it gets you going straight away in the opening of the film. The opening title sequence shows the obsessive psychotic nature of the film's main character, with the effects such as scribbly writing fonts which looks psychotic, and sends across to the audience a scary atmosphere.

What is meant by "a favourite trick of Film Noir"? What is the trick?

The film starts with the end of a movie, then it goes back in time. We see the build up of what's going to happen.

How does the opening to the film 'The Shining' create suspense?

In the opening of The Shining, the car is going to a very bad place, to a lonely isolated mountainous area, the music adds suspense. The camera is like a predator following the car like animals would on their prey. This gives us a very connected feeling with the camera and what exactly is happening in the opening.