“Experts” claim that a person decides whether they like you or not within the first twenty minutes of meeting. I think that this is an extremely liberal estimate. The process of weeding really only takes three minutes. You have three measly minutes to decide the span of an entire friendship. Will it be BFF’s or the door for you? If all of this is decided in three minutes, then it’s no wonder introductions are so critical.

In advertising, product design, and design in general we’re in the business of making friends. It’s our job to build rapport with the audience and then go in for the kill. A good example of this is well designed packaging which at times can miraculous leap off the shelf and into your shopping cart. In this world of snap judgements and product equality sometimes the only thing that sets two things apart is presentation. This article is going to focus mainly around our cousins in the movie business and characteristics of successful introductions.

Applauded as some as the greatest twenty minutes in film history, Saving Private Ryan’s D-day beach bombardment intro scene is gripping, tense, and thrilling. It hits the two major objectives of grabbing your attention and setting the tone for the rest of the film. In some ways it did it’s job too well, with the rest of the film attempting to live up to the opening sequence.

Signal your intent. If you’ve ever attended a good play or movie you’ll note that within the first five minutes the film has done one of the following; made you cry, scared you, or caused you to laugh out loud. This is to establish the tone - this will be a funny film, a sad film, a scary film. In theater sometimes there is a plant in the audience to laugh at the first joke to ease the tension in the room and let the audience know that it’s okay to show emotion.

The introduction must hit like a sledgehammer. It can be any one of the emotional sledgehammers - comedic, dramatic, thrilling. Whichever it is you have five minutes to grab attention and run with it. The perception of a film is forged in the introduction and will make or break the rest of the story all of the way until the end. If you’re writing a comedy and in the first five minutes you made me laugh my ass off, the jokes throughout the film will only seem sweeter. If you attempted and failed miserably then you’re in for a long haul back to the top of my attention span.

The key to hitting with a sledgehammer is to cause interest. The introduction establishes the (hopefully) interesting question that the film asks. The rest of the movie is used to answer that question. In Batman Begins the first five minutes ask, “Who is Batman” the rest of the film provides the answer.

Character story arcs get individual introductions as well. The first time you see Darth Vader he chokes a rebel which makes you ask “who is this guy?”. Then you really meet Darth Vader in the scene in the Death Star when he chokes the insolent officer. This introduction is not only captivating but it also establishes that this guy is a complete bad ass, he loves choking people, and he answers to no one. For the rest of the film you fear and loath the guy in the silly black pajamas. When you meet his master, Emperor Palpatine, there doesn’t need to be an intro because he’s badass by association.

In closing, introductions are not to be taken for granted. Remember you only have a few minutes if not seconds to establish your point. Take care and may the force be with you!