Opening Shots Project
April 8, 2008 9:39 PM   Subscribe

The Opening Shots Project on Jim Emerson's scanners blog is a collection of reader-contributed dissections of, you guessed it, opening shots of movies.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner (11 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
No discussion of great opening scenes is complete without Reservoir Dogs.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:52 PM on April 8, 2008


Tsk, we're talking opening shots, not opening scenes. Two I'd like to see on the list are Charade and Catch-22, but I'm having fun perusing what's currently available. Thanks for the link!
posted by carsonb at 12:02 AM on April 9, 2008


Thanks, this is great.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:34 AM on April 9, 2008


Neat. I hope someone looks at The Player. I mean, an eight minute opening shot that talks about long opening shots in other movies?
posted by Paragon at 2:10 AM on April 9, 2008


Kudos for including relative obscurities like Juggernaut (the best 'the red wire... no, the blue!' film evah)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:44 AM on April 9, 2008


I immediately recognized the lead image from The Searchers.

What do I win?
posted by Mike D at 6:08 AM on April 9, 2008


I recall some director saying that you always open with a long, complicated, choreographed tracking shot so that when you are up for your next project the producers can pop in a DVD, watch for a minute, and say, "OK, he can handle it. Hire him."
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:41 AM on April 9, 2008


I'm much more a fan of closing shots, with my two faves being The Third Man and L'Avventura. For a long time I've wanted a largish (5ft) image from the closer of L'Avventura for my wall but can't figure a way to do it that looks professional.

Nice to see Tolkin's The Rapture on this list. That opener always grabbed me and I think it's a really under-appreciated film.
posted by dobbs at 6:47 AM on April 9, 2008


Unless it is hidden somewhere They missed Psycho. Hitchcock's opening shot down on the sweltering city, like a bird swooping onto the windowsill of the hotel where Marion and her boyfriend are having a little afternoon delight. We are such peeping Toms- revisits themes explored in Rear Window.
posted by Gungho at 7:09 AM on April 9, 2008


Citizen Kane?

Hello?

Helloooo?
posted by Dizzy at 7:25 AM on April 9, 2008


After reading the AV Club's article today about Primer, I was reminded how much I liked the opening of that movie. You know that you're watching a science-fiction move and as it starts, you see a row of barely illuminated windows and hear this howling noise and wonder if it's a spaceship or at least some futuristic lab. Then they turn the lights on and you realize that it's a garage door attached to a ranch house in the suburbs. It really sets up the way that the movie creates a creepy alien world out of mundane suburban Dallas.
posted by octothorpe at 4:25 AM on April 10, 2008


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