{"product_id":"cinematic-overtures-how-to-read-opening-scenes-9780231182256","title":"Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes","description":"\u003cp\u003eA great movie's first few minutes provide the key to the rest of the film. Like the opening paragraphs of a novel, they draw the viewer in, setting up the thematic concerns and stylistic approach that will be developed over the course of the narrative. A strong opening sequence leads the viewer to trust the filmmakers. Other times, opening shots are intentionally misleading as they invite alert, active participation with the film. In \u003ci\u003eCinematic Overtures, \u003c\/i\u003e Annette Insdorf discusses the opening sequence so that viewers turn first impressions into deeper understanding of cinematic technique. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom Joe Gillis's voice-over in \u003ci\u003eSunset Boulevard\u003c\/i\u003e as he lies dead in a swimming pool to the hallucinatory opening of \u003ci\u003eApocalypse Now\u003c\/i\u003e, from the stream-of-consciousness montage as found in \u003ci\u003eHiroshima, mon amour \u003c\/i\u003eto the slowly unfolding beginning of \u003ci\u003eSchindler's List\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCinematic Overtures\u003c\/i\u003e analyzes opening shots from a range of Hollywood as well as international films. Insdorf pays close attention to how the viewer makes sense of these scenes and the cinematic world they are about to enter. Including dozens of frame enlargements that illustrate the strategies of opening scenes, Insdorf also examines how films explore and sometimes critique the power of the camera's gaze. Along with analyses of opening scenes, the book offers a series of revelatory and surprising readings of individual films by some of the leading directors of the past seventy-five years. Erudite but accessible, \u003ci\u003eCinematic Overtures\u003c\/i\u003e will lead film scholars and ardent movie fans alike to greater attentiveness to those fleeting opening moments.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnnette Insdorf is a professor in the Film Program of Columbia University's School of the Arts and host of the Reel Pieces series at Manhattan's 92nd Street Y. Her books include \u003ci\u003eFrancois Truffaut\u003c\/i\u003e (1979), \u003ci\u003eIndelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust\u003c\/i\u003e (1983), \u003ci\u003eDouble Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski\u003c\/i\u003e (1999), \u003ci\u003ePhilip Kaufman\u003c\/i\u003e (2012), and \u003ci\u003eIntimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has\u003c\/i\u003e (2017).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318588543250,"sku":"9780231182256","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2574325e-cfa6-4e7c-bb6a-921046687d2a.jpg?v=1727558340","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/cinematic-overtures-how-to-read-opening-scenes-9780231182256","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}