The first moments of your script or novel matter. They set up what is to follow and hook the audience. Or they don’t.
The best film openings establish tone, settings, and character. They establish context for what will follow or establish expectations that will be thwarted later on. They do more than simply open the film. They start the story and grab the audience.
In the last blog, we outlined eight ways to open your story. This blog continues that list.
Here are 8 more ways to open your story:
9. Establishing Tone
Genre films often start by establishing the tone and type of film that is to come. The tone helps cue the audience about what they can anticipate. This may mean starting off with a grand musical number or a spooky opening. It may happen by showing the main character in a comical way or romantic one.
Tonal beginnings are best when mixing tones. For example, setting up a cliché horror start only to introduce a comedic element. Or to have that grand musical number followed by a realistic scene. Think Scream and La La Land. The shift from one genre to another surprises the audience and affects the overall mood of the film. It is a great way to hook and audience too. Some films that use tone to start include: Bambi, Magnolia, Pulp Fiction, Her.
10. Flashbacks or Prologue Openings
These are classic openings. A voiceover that introduces the story and highlights the points that matter. It’s the narrative opening of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The montage prologue of Disney’s Up. The crawl in every Star Wars movie.
The voiceover sets up the backstory. It jumps back in time to provide origins and context so the audience isn’t lost when the action begins. These can be effective, though equally as often are condemned as lazy writing. Just be sure not to use the prologue as an info-dump or because you are too lazy to find a way to impart the same information in a more engaging way. Think the Emoji movie. Or don’t, because it isn’t kind of me to even suggest such a thing.
11. Flash forwards
The flash forward gives a glimpse at what will come later in the film. These types of openings can be confusing if not done well. You also run the risk of losing the tension since you are revealing the resolution of the scene or story before it begins. Done well, the tension will increase. Done poorly, you lose your audience. Approach this technique carefully. Flash forwards work best when seeing the ending increases the questions of how did they end up there? When the ending is so startling that the audience can’t imagine how the characters end up there. This opening works when the flash forward is more compelling than where the story needs to begin to make sense. There are times when this technique was used to good effect. These include Citizen Kane, Momento, Fight Club, Arrival (though this one could be flashback instead of forward, it’s not clear in the film), Goodfellas, Sunset Boulevard.
12. Dreams, Daydreams and Inner Lives
Okay, bear with me. I am not advocating starting your story with a dream, which is a risky way to begin. But there are times when diving into your protagonist’s or villain’s mind can work as a hook. Using images from within the character’s mind, ones that are not based in the real world, will grab the audience’s attention because it allows them to see how the character sees their life, dreams, struggles, and wishes. It can be an actual dream, but doesn’t have to be. It is often more powerful when it’s not. When it’s an imagine conversation, a daydream, internal thoughts. Movies that start this way include: Silver Linings Playbook, Little Miss Sunshine, Apocalypse Now.
13. Metaphors
Metaphors use on-screen visuals to give meaning to the opening. They use a sequence that sets up the context without addressing it directly. Think Parasite. The opening hints at what is to come in a oblique way. Metaphor pops up in a variety of films, including I, Robot, Spirited Away, and Inside Out.
14. Bookends
Bookends provide a symmetry to a film by allowing the director to begin and end the film with a similar visual, dialogue, or action. This is a satisfying way to come full circle and provide closure. It works particularly well in stories that meander and may be difficult to follow, such as Inception and Gone Girl. Those stories that take the audience on a journey through a convoluted trail of clues or experiences. This technique is similar to one comedians use when telling narrative jokes. They often start with a concept they return to in the end, after taking many segues along the way. Bookending allows them to tie up the entire routine in a connected and cohesive way, providing structure to their routine. It can serve the same purpose in film and story.
15. Red Herrings
The red herring is a great way to distract the audience. It is the equivalent of the magician’s prestige to hide the real trick. A red herring pulls the audience onto a false path in the story, leading their attention away from the truth. The best example of this technique in film is Usual Suspects. Opening your story with a red herring is basically starting with a trick. It deceives the audience into believing one thing when another is the truth of the story, which is what the rest of the film reveals.
16. The Confusing Start
Opening with an odd image can make your audience want to know what is happening. The confusing start can make you want to know more. It can be hypnotic and elicit strong emotions. It demands attention without context. Obviously, this technique can fail as often as it works. The key is to make sure the images make sense in the end or upon rewatching. They can only confuse in the first watching. Otherwise, they carry deep meaning, whether acting as visual metaphor or prologue. Think the opening code in The Matrix (which technically is not the opening scene, but establishes a confusing image to begin, followed by an action sequence establishing Trinity’s character while refusing to answer any questions about who Trinity is, the agents are, or how they have these powers. The opening scene offers questions. They follow this into the scenes with Neo in his apartment and following the white rabbit). Confusing images also open F Is for Fake and La Dolce Vita. They are found in the Swedish subtitles of Monty Python and the Holy Grail that confuses the audience and makes them laugh. It’s the opening credits in Deadpool that alerts the audience they will be seeing a comedy with attitude.
There is no one way or best way to open a film or a story, but there is a best way to open your story. Choose the one that fits the story and tone you want to establish. Pick the one that provides a strong foundation for what will follow. It may be a combination of the openings on this list or something else entirely. Just know that how you begin matters and proceed carefully.