View image: The opening curtain. View image: A 1936 comic book. View image: A child reads the comic book. From Mark Roberts, Calgary, Alberta, Canada: I am such a fan of movie opening moments (sounds strange I know, but a…
View image: Dieters at the beginning of the shot. View image: Dieters at the end of the shot. From Scott Gowans, Web Manager, WOSU Public Media, Columbus, OH: I had been reviewing films for four or so years before I…
The Myers house: October 31, 1963 Young lovebirds. Through the side window, the teenagers make out on the couch. Boyfriend grabs a clown mask. From Robert C. Cumbow: (An excerpt from my book, "Order in the Universe: The Films of…
View image Eva in The New World. View image View image From Christopher Long, Reviewer and Features Editor, DVDTown.com: In terms of narrative structure, the opening shot of Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger than Paradise" is a perfect "mini-movie." The film opens…
Enlarge image: Your eye just naturally alights on the figure to the right of the support... Enlarge image: ...who moves slowly along the shore in the opposite direction of the camera. (Here, the person is dead center in the frame.)…
Enlarge image: Slapping flesh and heavy breathing. From Kim Morgan, Sunset Gun: When reading the request for greatest opening shots, the first film that popped into my head was immediate and almost too easy — “Kiss Me Deadly.��? And then…
Enlarge image: Sweeeeeeeet slow-mooooootion. From Mike Leto, Bethpage, NY: I agree with you about how opening shots are one of the most important parts in a film. If the opening shot is good then the movie takes hold of me…
It's really not that difficult. I'll be publishing your Opening Shots submissions all this week. And I'll provide the answers to both my Opening Shots Pop Quizzes (and further appreciations of the shots themselves) on Friday or over the weekend.…
From Nadia Aboufariss: "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" begins with a shot of a huge, wooded mountain side, shrouded in the mist. We can just barely make out the figures who are slowly descending the slope, little bigger than specks…
Enlarge image: Clink! Enlarge image: Gurgle. From Dave McCoy, Editor, MSN Movies: The Coen Brothers love to use objects as symbols for characters, especially before we actually meet them. Think of the tumbling tumbleweed that starts "The Big Lebowski" --…
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