Perfume - The Story of a Murder Opening Hook

- In eighteenth century France, there lived a man who was one of the most abominable people, in a era which knew no lack of gifted and abominable people.



When you read this line, what questions immediately come to your mind about this man? A psycho? nasty piece of work? How would you feel if you met him walking down the street? alone?



This is the opening sentence of Perfume - The Story of a Murderer by author Patrick Suskind.

The novel is a masterpiece of 20th century literature, and yes the Chief Protagonist is a murderer who kills women to capture their scent. What the author did was use a technique called Opening Hook. It is a literary technique used by the author to capture the attention of the reader. He or she wants us to read their book. To do that, they must bring us into their world. The opening hook is there to provoke, to shock.

Exactly the same technique is used by filmmakers. They need to capture your interest from the beginning. and keep it throughout. There are many different hooks throughout a film but the opening hook is always the most profound.

Task:

Have a look at the opening scene of the movie with the sound off. What messages are the images giving? Then watch it again with the sound on. Incredible, isn't it? All the messages that you came up with were confirmed by the spoken word.