The beginning of the film

The beginning and end of a text, a theatrical performance and a film are of particular importance in the context of the overall work. In contrast to a picture such as a painting, both text and film have a clearly defined beginning and an end (regardless of whether the narrative end of the story is open or closed). This is due on the one hand to shared cultural techniques (reading direction) and on the other hand to the technical nature of books (cover, first page, second page …) and films (sequence of images on a reel or in a digital format).

The beginning of a literary text, a play or a film is called an exposition Exposition (from the Latin: exponere, which literally means “to deal with” and in the figurative sense “to explain” and “to represent”). The purpose of exposition is to introduce people and situations and to develop themes, which will be explored later on in the narrative. . Preinterpretations and hidden references to the possible development of the action or the conflict are often given in the form of symbols, or introduced or built up as motifs. In order to recognise the more or less hidden clues in the Mise-en-Scène, you have to look very carefully.. In most cases, it is only through repeated viewing that one recognises the importance of aspects such as colour design, the soundtrack or certain props for their importance as the action develops in the film.

The first few minutes of a film are particularly important in terms of psychological perception, as the audience's attention is (still) particularly high during this time. Thus, a relatively large amount of information is given in the first few minutes about the location, time and characters. The beginnings of films or plays, as well as novels, are therefore among the densest parts of an entire work.

The following important questions should be asked about the opening of a film:

In the film analysis tool, comments are possible on three levels:

1. Text level
On the text level, you can give your annotation a title. This also appears in the list of your work next to the respective preview image in the right-hand screen area (B). In addition, under "Comment" you can write down your thoughts.
2. Image level
On the image level, you can take pictures from the beginning of the film and use tools (lines, arrows, shapes, color pickers, cutting tools, text cards, etc.) to comment visually.
3. Markers (systematic approach)
In this area there are visual markers for different reference systems (film language, performance, genre). A marker is a visualization of a cinematic design element or a category. Each marker or the underlying technical term is explained with a glossary entry. Selected markers also appear in the list of your work (B).

You can share your comments and edits to the beginning of the film with others via a link (D) and export or print out (D) for permanent storage in PDF format.

(A) = Video player with single image and sequence annotation functions, full screen function
(B) = List of the created entries (annotations) with timecode, reference image, title and markers
(C) = Area for creating / editing annotations on text, image and marker level
(D) = Title of the video, share, print / export (PDF)

In the annotation area (B) you can delete an entry by swiping it from right to left. Swiping left to right allows you to add a non-image-bound entry. These entries can be used for structuring your work list, using headings, etc. A blue label on the right-hand side of an entry indicates that work was carried out on the image level in this entry.

The tool is kindly made available by the Academy for Media Education, Media Research and Multimedia (AMMMa AG).