We all love a movie that is able to catch our attention right from the first frame. A great opening scene serves as a film’s way of promising that we are in good hands. But it is all the more impressive when a film can assure us of such with just a single opening shot. As an ode to those movies that can grab us right out of the gate, here is a list of eleven great opening shots in film!

To specify the scope of this list, three clarifications are warranted here. First, this is meant specifically for opening shots, not scenes. This means that its consideration is cut off as soon as it cuts (aside from one shot in this that does have a cut in it but is obviously for an insert shot and remains continuity from there, as two shots within this list do). So although we may love the iconic opening scenes of films like Inglorious Basterds or Magnolia, this list is not for them. Second, if it’s an iconic shot within an opening scene, that does not count either since we are looking at THE opening shot. So although the shot of Joe Gillis floating in the pool at the beginning of Sunset Blvd is the classic part of an all-time great opening scene, it just falls short of being the opening shot. Lastly, I will not be including any one-take films as they would naturally be winning because of quantity over quality (long shot openings can count, though).

11. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Dir. Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris

D.P. Tim Suhrstedt

A common reason across the board with what makes many of these shots great is how economically they are able to introduce the story, the setting, or a character immediately: and Little Miss Sunshine is no exception to this. We begin with an extreme close-up of Olive (Abigail Breslin), an aspiring beauty queen, watching a pageant show on television. The close shot focuses on her eyes along with the reflection of the television in her glasses. In such a simple way, the film not only establishes her desires and ambitions but also introduces the idea of the impressionability that media and pageantry have on young girls. The shot is so simple and lasts no longer than twelve seconds, but within economic visual storytelling and composition, it is able to transport us into the mind of Olive, the intensity of her desires, and some of the themes that the film will explore.

10. The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Dir. Derek Cianfrance

D.P. Sean Bobbitt

The incredibly underrated crime thriller/family genre pulls us into the gritty world of Luke (Ryan Gosling) with a long take following him from a traveling circus waiting room where he shuffles his knife to his motorcycle stunt gig. The shot establishes not only the tone of the film but also Luke’s daringness. A long take that goes until it can’t anymore sounds reminiscent of the characterization of Luke, whose character doesn’t know when to stop. The long shot takes risks within the content of the shot as well, between the literal embodiments of the shot having a dangerous stunt performed by the end of it and the behind-the-scenes risk of the Texas switch, switching out the acting character and stunt character within a continuous shot.

8. M (1931)

Dir. Fritz Lang

D.P. Fritz Arno Wagner

When introducing a character, sometimes it’s best not to let us meet the character right away. To emphasize the shadow which a character casts, it is best to show the shadow first; and despite being from the early onset of film, just after sound in film was set in motion, this film epitomized this concept. Though the iconic scene of the literal shadow being cast comes in a little later than the first shot, that does not subtract from the way that the opening shot executes this idea as well. It opens on a group of children playing a game involving a rhyme that mentions the man in black who will come to take them. The shot pans to a balcony where a woman tells them to stop singing the song as they keep singing it over and over. Between the ominous tones of the children singing and the attempts of the locals to shut out these town-wide anxieties, this character is now feared by the audience as some sort of boogeyman bound to strike again soon. Even the way it lingers on the balcony after the woman walked away indicates a wait for something to come. And although, as previously mentioned, the more famed shot happens some minutes after, this opening preps it perfectly and is still impressive on its own whenever considering that all of the filmic languages that culminate in this shot were still being formed at the time.

8. The Lobster (2015)

Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

D.P. Thimios Bakatakis

Rather than introducing a significant character, The Lobster begins with a shot of an unnamed woman driving through the grasslands, seemingly in search of something. After a moment of driving, she pulls over to the side of the road and finds two donkeys on the side of the road. She exits the car with a gun, shoots one of them down, and drives off. Her character, motivations, or backstory are never explained; and once in an interview, Lanthimos explained that he enjoyed starting the film in a way that “set[s] the tone but [doesn’t] explain or go back to it.” Though the film exists without direct explanation, the context of the rest of the film gives it hindsight. In this world, people are turned into animals once they are single for too long and are required to find a partner within their world. Within the context that this animal she killed could have been a past lover or at least someone she knew, the opening shot sets the tone for the absurdity of the film along with its feelings of loneliness to come; especially once you consider the conclusion of the opening shot of the accompanying donkey somberly walking over to the newly departed one right before it cuts to the title imposition.

7. Boogie Nights (1997)

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

D.P. Robert Elswit

Another long take makes the list (and certainly won’t be the last!), but deservingly so. In Anderson’s sophomore film, we are woven seamlessly into this world, filled with ensemble characters performed by talent early in their careers. The three-minute shot moves like water from character to character, between above the ground, establishing shots to medium shots moving through crowds of disco and rollerblading. Besides all of the technical achievements within this, it is still serving the story as it tells us how status quo this night is to our characters and how artificially perfect this world is. It finally cuts when meeting Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), the character who initiates the trajectory for the rest of the story, in a way indicating how he will be the one to eventually break the status quo and false reality of the world this ensemble knows and loves so wrongfully.

6. Mother (2009)

Dir. Bong Joon-ho

D.P. Hong Kyung-pyo

If you happened to watch this opening scene without the rest of the context of the film, you would think its insertion on this list was a joke. This shot of the Mother herself (Hye-ja Kim) dancing aimlessly in a field seems to be nothing more than an attempt by Bong to diffuse the audience before officially entering the story. And while it does succeed in doing such, it does so much more in hindsight once the final frame rolls. 

5. Touch of Evil (1958)

Dir. Orson Welles

D.P. Russell Metty 

Orson Welles has always been a pioneer in visual storytelling. Touch of Evil, from the first frame, proves to be no exception. The film starts with a simple bomb being set to go off and hidden in a car, followed by the car owner, unbeknownst, driving off with the bomb inside. The shot tracks the car driving throughout the city as the audience waits in suspense on when the bomb will eventually go off. The shot utilizes Hitchcock’s theory of suspense to a T, letting the audience in on the secret that we want our unknowing character to know as well. The dread of the inevitable bomb going off lingers all throughout this long take traversing all throughout the city all the way up until a cut happens alongside the explosion. The lack of cutting throughout the shot helps build the tension of wondering when the shoe will drop, only to make the cut when it finally does all the more impactful.

4. Back to the Future (1985)

Dir. Robert Zemeckis

D.P. Dean Cundey

Working within the same ideology as M’s opener, Back to the Future uses its opening shot to explore the house of Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd). The shot simply consists of the many clocks and artifacts of Doc’s household turned laboratory, and without a word or character in-frame, tells us everything we need to know about his character. It builds his legacy, his ambitions mixed with his lack of sanity without anything but a single shot… with the exception of one insert shot of when his makeshift dog food dispenser plops food down for his properly-named dog: Einstein. The exception is made due to how the introductory shot continues clearly with continuity from the first shot. No matter what, the shot epitomizes how visual storytelling should operate and characterize the medium of film.

3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Dir. Stanley Kubrick

D.P. Geoffrey Unsworth 

Seeing any shot from a Kubrick film in a great shots list should be of no surprise, and the inclusion of this opening shot from the monumental sci-fi Odyssey should be no surprise, either. Whenever you try to think of an iconic opening shot, many would likely cite 2001’s introduction of a camera rising overtop of a lunar eclipse. As the music swells and the title cards reveal themselves, all while the frame embodies its contents into a perfectly composed shot, it is impossible to exclude. Within this moment is captured Kubrick’s perfectionism towards his craft, along with serving as an unforgettable tone setter and introduction to this sublime space.

2. A Separation (2001)

Dir. Asghar Farhadi

D.P. Mahmoud Kalari

There is something special in the way in which A Separation unfolds. Within a medium like film, the conversation between what is objective and subjective can always vary. Of course, we are capturing an objective picture of the world through a camera, but the lens and composition cannot help but hold a subjective point of view that changes the way that the audience sees the subject. However, this film is able to take, while still keeping its visual storytelling, a relatively objective lens with the story at hand where we, as the audience, must decide our stances on the complications of the events to unfold. On top of this impressive feat, the film communicates this responsibility to us immediately when opening on the leading divorcing couple (Payman Maadi and Leila Hatami) arguing to a judge about custody over their daughter. The shot, working as a point of view of the judge, is a two-shot on them, both composed equally within the frame, sitting in chairs and looking directly at the camera as they argue. From this, we are established as an equal onlooker into their story and the events to unfold. We are meant to judge, from an objective-as-possible viewpoint, their future situations from that point on. It is very rare to have a shot not only inform the audience of the story inside of the frame but also tell us our role outside of the frame, yet A Separation accomplishes both in one shot.

1. Children of Men (2006)

Dir. Alfonso Cuarón

D.P. Emmanuel Lubezki 

All of the great qualities that I have said encompassed all of the previous shots to some extent, whether utilizing economic storytelling, establishing tone, introducing the setting, creating a memorable opening, or just being a great long take, are all encompassed within the opening of this sci-fi dystopian film. Children of Men opens on the morning of Theo Faron (Clive Owen) learning about the death of the youngest person on Earth in a world where the population’s ability to reproduce has been gone for years. On top of a jarringly brilliant screenplay lies a shot which elevates its quality all the more. The long take travels across all different pieces of information flawlessly, opening on a devastated-looking group as the broadcast plays off-screen. Passing through the crowd to order a coffee is our protagonist, and we quickly know this in the way he pushes through to the front, not nearly as phased as the rest. Once again, with the same exception towards Back to the Future, this does have an insert shot of the television, but continues back to its long take as Theo leaves the shop.

The handheld camera follows out to reveal the ill landscape of London in 2027, with smog across the ground and news of the tragedy displayed throughout the city. Then as Theo spikes his own coffee, the camera catches up past him and slowly 180s around him, a camera movement that both prepares us for new information and indicates something wrong to come, just in time to witness the coffee shop he was just in explode. As the dust settles and screams ensue, a woman peaks through the fog carrying her own arm, just as the title screen pulls us away from the wreckage. Amongst this shot alone, the protagonist, tone, setting, and production quality are showcased beyond expectation. The shot utilizes multiple instances of visual storytelling, whether Theo’s indifferent movement through the crowd that is broken to stillness at the news or the use of the 180 shift, within a single continuous take. On top of all of this and considering the logistics of shot planning with the timing of the explosive, crowds of extras, and powerful and effective storytelling to offer this shot a base, Children of Men makes a case for itself as one of the best openings to a film in general.

List Courtesy of Eugene Rocco Utley