Have you ever wished your child writes stories that is as good as the movies they are obsessed with? Who says movies are only for entertainment purposes? There are so many different and easy ways we can use the movies children love to teach them both life lessons and writing skills that would help make them amazing writers! Here are three Disney movies with note-worthy opening scenes that students can be inspired by!
1) MULAN
The movie Mulan goes straight to the action right from the beginning with no time wasting on the things like the weather or the main character waking up in the morning yada yada yada. This not only captures the attention of the audience right from the beginning but it also allows the opportunity for more vivid imagery that helps make the audience imagine the scene in great detail.
Example:
Topic --> A terrifying incident
Fire.
Hot raging fire.
Crash! The ceiling fan came crashing down, then swallowed by the monstrous fire. Bang! My heartbeat quickened as I snapped my head to the other side and watch as students bump into each other in their panic attempt to leave before the fire catches up to them.
Shriek! I gasped in petrification at the sound. A loud scream filled the air as a student jumped from the second floor down to escape the heat behind them.
Smoke. Smoke everywhere!
Leave. Leave. Leave. I need to leave.
Yet I could not. Not when…
“Barry, help me…”
2) MOANA
In the movie Moana, the first scene uses the strength of a dialogue to start the scene with the dialogue providing beautiful and emotion-filled imagery that allows the audience to imagine the environment of the story while keeping them on edge to know what happens next. What made it even more interesting was how the story in the dialogue is actually linked to the story of the movie as a whole, instead of it just being a random story.
Example:
Topic --> A haunting experience
“Did you hear about the haunted wardrobe in this house?” Terry started as the main door behind us screeched close. “Legend says that there was a curious boy like us who decided to explore this abandoned house all by himself. Apparently, something pushed him into the creepy old wardrobe upstairs and locked him inside,” Terry continued.
The other boys and I shared nervous glances with each other as we looked up towards the second floor.
Terry motioned for us to come closer so that he could whisper, “when he finally got out, an ugly old lady dressed in all white with blood everywhere on her face was laughing at him eerily then BAM!” Terry smacked the cobwebs-filled wall nearest to him as I jumped up, my heartbeat racing. “The boy was strangled until he passed out!” Terry finished, with his hands wrapped around his neck, acting out the strangulation.
I gulped nervously, regretting my decision of joining this expedition when suddenly…
“Hehehehehehe.”
The eeriest laughter filled the air;
and it came from the room upstairs………
3) FROZEN
Frozen uses writing techniques like foreshadowing and metaphors to link the introduction to the plot of the whole story with the opening scene focusing around ice and the cold and the plot focusing on Elsa’s ice powers. This helps the audience to get right into the environment and setting of the whole story from the beginning with only subtle scene changes and nothing too sparring.
Example:
Topic --> A grave mistake
Dark clouds loomed over our heads as the loud rumble of thunder filled the air. My father and I had just started to load our fishing equipment into the car when the grim sky began to threaten our plans of fishing on a boat my father rented.
“If the weather does not get any better by the time we arrive at the docks, we might have to cancel our plans,” my father warned as he reached his arm out to feel for any raindrops.
I let out a loud scoff. There was no way I was letting anything cancel my plan of fishing out at sea for the first time.
“Over my dead body,” I mumbled as I finished loading up the last of my equipment.
How easy and amazing was that? Now your child will never have to run out of creative introduction inspiration again!