First and Last Impressions of a Film
It's vital in film to have an initial scene that will grab the attention of your viewers. The first impression given to your viewers can make or break the film.
The final frames can be just as important. This will be the last thing that viewers will see, and we want to give them a lasting impression. This video gives great examples of the first and final seconds of highly successful movies.
The films are as follows:
(Credit to NoFilmSchool)
The Tree of Life: 00:00
The Master: 00:09
Brokeback Mountain: 00:15
No Country for Old Men: 00:23
Her: 00:27
Blue Valentine: 00:30
Birdman: 00:34
Black Swan: 00:41
Gone Girl: 00:47
Kill Bill Vol. 2: 00:53
Punch-Drunk Love: 00:59
Silver Linings Playbook: 01:06
Taxi Driver: 01:11
Shutter Island: 01:20
Children of Men: 01:27
We Need to Talk About Kevin: 01:33
Funny Games (2007): 01:41
Fight Club: 01:47
12 Years a Slave: 01:54
There Will be Blood: 01:59
The Godfather Part II: 02:05
Shame: 02:10
Never Let Me Go: 02:17
The Road: 02:21
Hunger: 02:27
Raging Bull: 02:31
Cabaret: 02:36
Before Sunrise: 02:42
Nebraska: 02:47
Frank: 02:54
Cast Away: 03:01
Somewhere: 03:06
Melancholia: 03:11
Morvern Callar: 03:18
Take this Waltz: 03:21
Buried: 03:25
Lord of War: 03:32
Cape Fear: 03:38
12 Monkeys: 03:45
The World According to Garp: 03:50
Saving Private Ryan: 03:57
Poetry: 04:02
Solaris (1972): 04:05
Dr. Strangelove: 04:11
The Astronaut Farmer: 04:16
The Piano: 04:21
Inception: 04:26
Boyhood: 04:31
Whiplash: 04:37
Cloud Atlas: 04:43
Under the Skin: 04:47
2001: A Space Odyssey: 04:51
Gravity: 04:57
The Searchers: 05:03
The Usual Suspects: 05:23
What really stood out to me was that many of the films on this list had final frames that mirrored the first ones. Gone Girl and The Tree of Life are great examples. Films such as Black Swan, 12 Years A Slave, and Whiplash has last shots that mimic the first, but the slight differences do a great job of visiually represting the development of the characters throughout the film.
