Setting the Scene

It is important to convey to your viewer as soon as possible the setting for your film. Viewers will quickly lose interest in a film if they do not understand the setting or what is happening. Generally the wider the opening shot the more information is conveyed to the viewer about your film.

A film that opens with a wide shot of a large city and them cuts to the main characters on a lounge room straight away allows the viewer to make assumptions about their lifestyle. Opening straight to the room scene tells the viewer very little about the characters - it could be a room on a boat or in the outback for all the viewer knows.

If you were making a film on how to cook a sausage then even a kitchen would be too general for an opening shot. In this case it would be more effective to open with a close up shot of sausages sizzling in a frypan.

In the two shots below, opening with the lone swimmer tells the viewer that the film is something about swimming but not exactly what. Opening a film with the second shot tells the viewer straight away that the film is about a swimming race. Some filmmakers purposely keep the viewer guessing and this can be very effective if done right. A short film though really needs to get to the point as soon as possible.