Some Strategies to Start My Film

Due to the overwhelming amount of directions I can go within this film opening, I tried to develop some strategies to narrow down what I will choose to run with.

First the genre, I had already briefly talked about some of my ideas in my previous posting sharing my initial thoughts on this task.  Without mentioning genre types, I need to brainstorm what genre relates to me the most.

In other words, what genre will be easiest to express myself through?  

This essential question will help me get through my next task of creating a plot.

Creating the Plot involves a lot more than how the story goes down.  As this is just the opening of a film, I really have to only focus on the fine details of an introduction.  However, having a general idea of the concept of the film and what my film is set to explore will aid in introducing the right material in the opening scene of my film.

This blog here analyzes what director and screenplay writer Christopher Nolan decided to introduce during the first two minutes of his film Memento.  To sum up, Nolan introduces the ideas of mementos though the first shot of the film title superimposed onto of a closeup of a developing image.  What catches the eye next is the fact that as the man shakes the polaroid, the photo seems to un-develop.  This starts the idea that this film starts at the end of the story, and finishes at the beginning.  The key thing that gets introduced here is the first mystery, the photograph depicts a dead man with blood all over the ground and the walls around him.  This gets cleared up quickly with the following sequence of scenes where we learn the man who took the photograph is also the murderer.  However, this just leaves the viewer with more questions.  Like what is the connection between the murderer and the murdered?  And why was the murder shown from end to beginning?  These questions are some of the topics that are addressed later on in the film.  But that doesn't matter.  What matters is the fact that this introduction led viewers to want to see more.  That is what a great introduction will do.  This is what I need to do. 

Creating a character that draws people to want to know more is another challenge in itself.  The character that will be featured in the first two minutes of my film will have to be the main character, for most obvious reasons.  This main character could either be the "good guy" or the "bad guy."   It really doesn't matter, as long as the plot and the character can work together to make the viewer want to find out more.

Using the same example as before with Christopher Nolan's Memento, the first person we are introduced to is a murderer.  Or is he?  The scene is not clear on why this murder was done, therefore it leaves a mystery to who the character is, which will be explained throughout the film.  The character might be a crazed maniac who shoots his victims in the head and takes photos to fulfill his sick, twisted pleasures or he might be avenging the death of someone else.  We as viewers do not know, and that is key to creating a character that can develop in a mystery genre.

With all this talk of a mystery genre, this might be the direction I go in.  We'll see...

Before I forget, the setting of my opening will be an important part of how my film opening is presented.  My setting could be anywhere, yet it needs to fit within the genre and with the plot. 
If anything, through typing this whole thing out, I have come to a deeper understanding that everything is interlocked, every component of this film opening has to fit within the other otherwise it will be garbage.

Final thoughts - Whatever I do choose, I must stick with it.  There is no turning back with such a short time frame of six weeks.  It is all or nothing.