Filmmaking / Directing : Fantastic openings to a film by Kenneth Michael Daniels

Kenneth Michael Daniels

Fantastic openings to a film

Which films do you think make the best use of their early goings, and what makes them better than average?

Gattaca's opening credits are a masterclass in making the best use of that often underleveraged screen time. That it is a directorial debut is nothing short of amazing, and few remember, if they ever knew, that Danny DeVito produced. What a joy of a film it is, in every regard.

Maurice Vaughan

The Blade II opening is incredible, Kenneth Michael Daniels! I thought the opening was going one way, but it went in a completely different direction. I watched Strange Darling the other day. It's a new movie, so I won't spoil the opening, but it's one of the most intense, gripping, unique openings I've seen.

Dan MaxXx

Boogie Nights. PTA separated himself from average filmmakers at age 26

Kenneth Michael Daniels

Dan MaxXx

He's quite good... just ask him. LOL I enjoy his work very much. He got me to like a Tom Cruise performance, and that's saying something. From what I have read, Burt Reynolds isn't a big fan of his, but working with/for him and seeing the finished product are obviously unrelated.

I'm wondering about the Boogie Nights opening, are you saying the opening scene is good, or his approach to the opening credits. That was the thrust of my original post, that the throw-away images so often used to merely show setting, if that, was used in GATTACA to excellent impact by being artistic and interesting, but referred to the nature of the high concept at the heart of the story.

Norman Welthagen

Speaking of Danny DeVito. I think the opening sequence of Twins is also brilliant!

Chase Cysco

right now i would say ( Blow Out ) it always switches up for me !! thats why i love pictures because it all depends on my mood atm (:

Sam Sokolow

Great topic, Kenneth Michael Daniels! I can't help but think Orson Wells' opening shot in A TOUCH OF EVIL takes the cake. It's a complete masterpiece in one shot and grabs you from the first frame with life or death stakes. On a whole different level, Alec Baldwin's one scene to start Glengary Glenn Ross is unforgettable IMO. So many amazing choices to consider!

Matthew Olson

I really like the opening to Goodfellas basically because it’s so shocking. Scorsese gives a taste of what’s to come.

I also love the intro to A Clockwork Orange because it shows this Alex’s world.

E Langley

It's an oldie, but the first ten minutes of Powell and Pressburgers' 1946 masterwork "A Matter of Life and Death" (aka "Stairway to Heaven") are the most compelling I've ever seen.

Mike Boas

An opening that comes to mind is The Prestige. Michael Caine does a magic trick that defines the title, but also is a metaphor for the entire movie and the plot twist all at once.

Kenneth Michael Daniels

Mike Boas It's quite a coincidence that of all the films you could have mentioned that you chose that one as I wrote a post about it maybe a day before this post, having only just seen it for the first time, which is crazy to me as I like his work and had meant to get to it for forever. I don't like all of his films, but I respect the heck out of how skilled he's become. Very accomplished. A real pro who doesn't just make slick looking movies but films with substance.

Daniel Silvas

The first 10 minutes of "UP" tears me up every time.

Vincent Turner

Star Wars hands down

Rebecca James

The first seconds of Gladiator and of course Promethius! - Thanks Ridley!

Rutger Oosterhoff

"Children of Men".

All before minute 15:

Our protagonist Theo is witness and part of a clear theme, a clear GRIMM tone, clear, all around, world wide missery, clear stakes; which leads to an 'explosion' of violence. The world has collapsed. Only England soldiers on.

But England doesn't really want all the immigrants. It's all a facade. They are heavily repressed and locked up in a getto with no possibility of a better life. There is literally and figurally no escape for the immigrants, and in a bigger perspective, for England... for humaniity!

We see Theo's save haven, a best friend's recluse country home, where they connect, nostalgy, talking memories about their past, when there was still hope for humanity.

The next sequence of scenes we see that an anti-government organization wants Theo to smuggle a young woman out of goverment territory, and bring her to a save haven.

‐--------

Later it becomes clear why -- with a few other pregnant women, she's humanity's only hope.for survival.

We already suspect, or should I see feel, early in the movie, that the motives of the government aren't kosher.

But later in the movie we see that the hypocrisy of the government and the pharmaceutical industry run much deeper; fueled by greed for money know no boundries.. A natural cure doesn't make money. Solution: kill the natural cure, and gamble humanity with the notion that the pharmaceutical industry comes with a sulution!!

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