The Princess Cut franchise has birthed two directors:  Paul Munger and Sheilah Munger. My curiosity got the best of me. I needed to learn which one of them was the top director in the family.

To make that determination, I decided to review a few critical actions a director must take to make their film successful at the box office.

This is the second of several blog entries exploring which Munger makes the best director. If you want to follow along, you can find the films at Watchman Pictures and Amazon Prime. And for those who have VUDU, at the time of this writing, the first film in the series is free with ads.

For today’s entry, let’s start in the beginning. To craft a successful cinematic story, the director must accomplish certain tasks, or they won’t build and keep their audience. The first task is creating an attention-getting opener.

Capture the Audience

The audience has spent good money to show up for the film. They expect the director to give them confidence in their buying decision within the first few minutes of the movie. Hollywood directors often give an immediate pay-off to the audience.

Some reveal the uber-bad guy and the threat he brings, while others create a bond between the main character and the audience. This is often done with a touching or cool moment, shared crisis, or funny experience.

When the unique connection is made, the audience wants to see the story through to the end. They want to know what happens and how the main character experiences it. They’ll even consider how the main character’s choices might fit their personal life.

Presenting the Film’s Genre

In the opening, directors must demonstrate the story’s genre, tone, and pace. Genres all have certain tropes that signal what you’re watching. To prove this true, all I have to do is suggest a western, and you instantly have a sense of what you’re about to see—which includes horses.

For instance, sci-fi might include lasers, aliens, space ships, or time travel. A romantic comedy might include some form of hilarity, awkward circumstance, or hopeful adoration. A horror film might open with a startling moment, blood-slashing action, or creepy circumstances in an eerie setting.

Creating the Film’s Tone

The mood or the tone of the film must be in keeping with the genre. A piece of sweet, bubbly music won’t work in the opening of a horror film. Nor would an intense score with low rumbling bass satisfy the audience watching a child’s film.

The tone and the mood of the film are often set by music and visuals. There must be harmony or stark contrast to establish an emotional tonal quality at the story’s onset. This can be happy or sad or land anywhere in between. The key is ensuring it fits so naturally together that the audience feels it but doesn’t acknowledge it.

Setting the Film’s Pace

The pacing of the show is critical to its success. You don’t want a fast-action pace for a romantic drama—it won’t make sense to the audience. Nor do you want a long, thought-provoking pace for a cutting-edge adventure film. You must find the proper balance based on the genre your story fits.

Pace can also shift speed at specific times within the story to demonstrate relevance or alternating life patterns. A roller-coaster ride of a film becomes boring if things don’t slow down enough to reset the audience before the next thrill ride of the story.

Princess Cut 1 Opening

In Princess Cut 1, Paul opens with an intensely dramatic night scene of a man burying a wedding ring. This tells the audience that the film is a drama. But he then contrasts with a dreamy-eyed upbeat girl staring at wedding rings in a jewelry store. This suggests the story fits a romantic genre.

The audience wonders if this man and girl will get married or might collide in an emotional scene that dramatically alters their lives. The bottom line, Paul withholds the overt expression of the genre.

Princess Cut 2 Opening

Paul opens Princess Cut 2 with a harmonious mix of setting, music, and movement. The audience immediately knows who the main character is, and her life seems to be ideal. But to better grab the audience’s attention, Paul has the main character react to pain in a way that drives concern.

The main character seems to overcome it in time to move into a romantic moment. At this point, the audience thinks the film’s genre is romance, but that’s when the story shifts. Paul raises the drama levels with an emergency at the free clinic.

The audience starts to wonder what ties the emergency and the main character together. Again, Paul holds back from making a clear genre statement.

Princess Cut 3 Opening

Sheilah opens her story with the pace, tone, and setting that speaks to a romantic comedy, but she counters it with dramatic content—setting up a romantic drama. After a quick splash of title cards, she moves back to the drama, void of any possibility of romance.

At this point, the audience knows the story is a drama and who the main character is. The audience shares a concern for the main character’s circumstances, but we haven’t yet bonded with her enough to cheer her on to a better future.

Who Wins for Best Opening?

This is a tough call. Paul purposely withheld the establishment of the genre on purpose. This means he knows how to do it but chooses to keep the audience guessing. Maybe his flair for surprise overrides the audience’s need to confirm the genre they are watching.

What Paul may not know is how his choice makes the audience feel about how open they will be to his story’s message. Audience members who are unsure of what they’re watching tend to close their minds to new ideas. This kills the director’s cinematic argument.

If I were directing the film, I’d start with the jewelry store and not introduce the man until the second half of act 1. This would solidify the genre and help open the minds of the audience to the message I’d want to share. The man’s introduction would then become a tool for me to recapture the audience’s attention later in act 1.

Sheilah stays consistent with her leading character. The audience knows who she is and hopefully bonds with her through the opening crisis. Sheilah chose a crisis to start the film to symbolize the ashes of her life reflected in the PC3 title: Beauty from Ashes.

If I were directing the film, I’d take less risk than Sheilah. I’d have the opening of the film reflect a positive kindness shown by the lead to endear her to the audience. Then I’d follow it up with a series of crisis moments that place her life in a proverbial pile of ashes.

As for the winner, I’ve got to say they both win for taking chances as a director. In the long run, they will be better directors, having taken the chance on their openings. And, if their core audience loved the choices made, they’ve positioned the audience for their next film.

But do their choices lead to a stronger or weaker film? Read the next follow-up blog to find out.

Copyright © 2022 by CJ Powers