Before a word is spoken… before a face is shown… the audience has already decided how they feel. That’s the power of how a scene starts.

It’s the kind of editing decision that separates average editors from truly great ones. It’s not something simplistic like when to start the shot. It’s a set of pre-meditated decisions about how to control time, space, and emotion from the very first frame of the sequence.

Because the truth is:

The start of a scene is not just a beginning. It’s a spell we cast on the audience.

And if we cast it right, they fall under our control without even knowing it.

The start of a scene is the springboard into the narrative and has to be designed with precision and attention to detail. As your grandmother always told you… you only get one chance to make a first impression.

And so in this Edit Essay I’m going to lay out exactly how you need to think when designing a scene opening, what’s at stake, and also give you a couple of examples of dramatic scene openings for you to use right now.

Strap in, this one’s gonna be fun.

The Emotional Tuning Fork: Setting the Tone from the First Frame

Think of the start of a scene as an emotional tuning fork. You strike it—and whatever tone you hit reverberates through the viewer.

Is it dread?

Urgency?

Peace?

Wonder?

Mystery?

Boredom?

That tone matters more than you think. Because it doesn’t just introduce the scene—it moves them into the specific emotional environment that we want them to be in. And that changes everything about how they interpret the scene’s content.

The first facts and the order in which they’re introduced in a newspaper article or in a lawyer’s sum-up to the jury create the context of the narrative they are telling.

Think about the exact analysis you did on someone that you met for the first time recently. Those first few things they said told you a lot about them. Happy, sad, nervous, confident, whatever.

What Does the Audience Need to Feel in the First 10 Seconds?

Forget exposition. Forget coverage. Let’s put those to the side for a moment.

Our job in the first 10 seconds is emotional architecture.

When I’m cutting the start of any scene I’m running through a checklist of things about the audience’s perception:

 • Do they need to feel calm or unsettled?

 • Do they need clarity or confusion?

 • Should they feel safe, or should they be on edge?

Once I’ve answered that question, I can choose the tools to build it. And I’m not talking about the software. The software is the easy part, it’s the Googleable part. I’m talking about the storytelling tools.

Reveal or Withhold? How to Build Curiosity in a Scene Opening

A common mistake is to think the audience always needs orientation.

They don’t.

Sometimes the best thing we can do… is disorient them. 

 • Start in an extreme close-up and reveal the location.

 • Hide the geography.

 • Delay the context.

It builds curiosity. It makes them intrigued. But if we need to establish tension or stakes quickly, we can do the opposite:

 • Wide shot action starts.

 • Fast paced

 • Clear setting and timeline.

We’re not just looking to open the scene—we’re looking to engineer how it unfolds right down into their nervous system. For more on how to build tension through editing choices, check out my essay on creating jeopardy in the cut.

Two Core Scene Opening Templates: Urgent vs. Poetic

There are many ways to start a scene, and of course it depends on what’s going on at that point in the film. But let’s look at two fundamental scene-opening models:

1. The Urgent Start

Think: Deadlines. Consequences. Action. We need to get the audience into gear immediately. This is a compression of information. A stacking of stakes.

Real World Example:

The first dialogue lines from our character may be something like this…

“It’s 7:59am and I’m not even out of bed. If I don’t make this call in the next 90 seconds, everything I’ve worked for collapses.”

So, what’s happening here in this short sentence?

 • We get the time.

 • We get the place

 • We get jeopardy.

 • We get the consequence.

And it happens in one breath.

Now, this has set the tone for the scene by what dialogue we’ve decided to open with. We can then choose a pacing and shot selection style that reflects that:

Visuals: tight framing, faster cuts, shaky observational camerawork.

Music: percussive, minimal, tension-building and probably in a minor key.

The first ten seconds has been crafted with dialogue, picture and music to create a very specific emotional mood for the audience. All of them are reinforcing each other.

That is us conceiving and building a narrative springboard by retrospectively deciding on the emotional destination first and working backwards with the dialogue, picture and music. Goal first, work backwards with the footage.

You can learn every single piece of editing software in the world inside out but none of it will help you create that on the timeline. This is the art of editing and it’s these creative decisions that make us valuable as visual storytellers.

Let’s try something different.

2. The Poetic Start

This is the opposite of urgency. It’s not about information. It’s about contemplation.

Here, we open with symbolism, metaphor, or quiet reflection. We create space. We activate a different part of the brain than the fight-or-flight of an Urgent Start.

Real World Example:

This time the first dialogue lines could be something like this:

“I never knew how beautiful getting up at 5am was. It’s magical. It’s like I have the whole world to myself.”

That’s a completely different emotional frequency. The previous one builds an action mindset in the audience's consciousness. This one creates contemplation and requires a different set of shots and music selections to build and layer the mood.

Visuals: longer takes, natural light, slow movement, static shots.

Music: ambient, subtle, atmospheric, possibly romantic in tone and in a major key.

These are two dramatic templates to start a scene in a documentary, drama, Youtube film, online trailer, reality or entertainment show. They’re used everywhere in high-end editing.

But scenes don’t happen in isolation, and so there’s another key factor that we have to work out beforehand.

Scene Starts Are Never Neutral: Why Contrast Drives Engagement

One of the best questions we can ask ourselves when designing the rollercoaster that is a long-form film is this…

What Was the Scene Before?

This rule is non-negotiable:

You must always ask what emotional state the audience is in at the end of the previous scene.

Why? Because if we don’t change it, our rhythm and therefore our exciting rollercoaster flatlines. Think of it as a kind of reverse-dominoes theory. We’re not trying to match the mood, tone and pacing of the previous scene, we’re trying to do the opposite.

Too much of the same tone and their brain switches off. They need to feel that something new is happening—even before they know what it is.

Real World Examples

High-octane ending of previous scene ending?

Slower start.

Quiet and reflective previous scene ending?

Sharp, kinetic start.

This is how you reset the nervous system of our viewers. It’s not about being clever. It’s about being in control.

When There’s No Previous Scene to Build From

This is especially relevant for YouTube doc creators and online promo filmmakers.

If there’s no prior scene—no rhythm to contrast— then the start of your scene sets the emotional contract.

Therefore, there’s no safety net. Every second counts.

We need to:

 • Establish emotional tone.

 • Set visual pacing.

 • Begin thematic framing.

 • Control what is and isn’t revealed.

In other words: the start is the story.

Case Study: Emotional Scene Openings in Corporate Films

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking “this is just a corporate video, it doesn’t matter.”

It matters even more.

In a short 90-second brand film, the first 5 seconds are doing 80% of the emotional heavy lifting. That emotional tuning fork is rattling off in the mind of the viewer even louder.

If the start is vague, weak, or visually dull— The audience has already tuned out.

Even a B2B promo video can begin with mystery, poetry, or emotional resonance.

We’re not just opening a scene, we’re tuning the frequency of belief. Don’t forget— the purpose of this promo film is to sell a story, and therefore a product, made by our client.

Practical Tool: The 10-Second Test for Scene Openings

Here’s a creative analysis tool you can use today:

 1. Play only the first 10 seconds of your scene/sequence.

 2. Play it again and mute the audio.

 3. Ask yourself:

 • What emotion is being triggered?

 • Would I keep watching?

 • Is the tone clear? Or ambiguous?

• What does it need to be, and am I hitting it perfectly?

This isolates the emotional DNA of the opening and forces you to refine it.

It’s brutal, it’s honest, it works.

Final Thought: Great Editors Don’t Just Start Scenes—They Cast Spells

In the end, the start of a scene is not about information, coverage, or even story. Those are secondary mechanics.

It’s about emotional design and control.

Control of emotion.

Control of tension.

Control of how we want the audience to breathe.

We’re not just showing them what happens. We’re telling them how to feel about it. The first frame is the moment the spell begins so cast it with precision.

Don’t waste any more scene starts—go and practise this now.

Stay safe, stay cool, stay cutting

Paddy