My project Idea and major inspiration

My opening scene gets the audience's attention by creating a sense of mystery and interest. It features three to five shots of a group of three to five characters, all watching a TV news about a murder. They are in different locations throughout town. At first, there seems to be no connection between them or the murder. However, the audience meets all the main characters and begins to wonder about them. Even without all the details, they work to piece together the story, becoming active participants instead of dry spectators.

The focus in this opening scene is the reactions of the characters and how we can integrate mood through aspects such as camera shots and angles, which generally offer subtle hints for the viewers. Some characters might be looking worried with a close up shot of their face, others might avoid watching the television screen with a combination of a low and Dutch angle, and still, others might look strange or even too casual regarding the murder. All these scenes, although very small, are important in offering the audience a reason to suspect these characters, making them not notice the villain in the opening. One character in the film is actually the villain behind the crime, but this is not revealed at the moment. So, some slight hints follow the scenes with the television, which might relate to the coldness in the story, such as one of the characters washing their hands for too long could give the audience clues.

Looking back, I believe the scene in which the film opens engages in the enigma code, increasing suspense and tension. However, because it gives pieces of information and clues to the various characters, the whole audience essentially questions all the figures, thus keeping them engaged in the story. I got inspiration for this from movies, such as Zodiac and Se7en, which give information and are suspense based on the given reports, reactions, and the events in the film that create a sense of tension and mystery without giving too much information even in the beginning. Therefore, I hope that by using a similar style of approach to suspense in the beginning, me and Lorenzo will be able to engage the audience with the movie, making them see themselves in the detective character,  keeping them engaged even in a brief opening scene.