How to Train Your Dragon is a (musical) masterpiece.
It has one of the best, if not the best, opening scene in all of cinema. And it holds the key to creating the perfect lead magnet.
But first. Let me explain what’s so good about the opening scene. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check it out here.)
The opening scene of any film has multiple tasks to accomplish.
It needs to:
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Hook the audience
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Establish the world
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Introduce the characters
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Create the Inciting Incident (the thing that sets the story into motion)
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Set up the final act reveal (some sort of foreshadowing towards the end of the film)
How to Train Your Dragon’s opening scene checks all of the boxes.
But that’s not the impressive part. It does all of this in the first 7 minutes. There’s so much going on in those 7 minutes. Yet it all works and blends nicely together.
BUT. A big but this time because the film deserves it.
That, yet again, isn’t the most impressive thing either. At least not to me.
The real work of art is what the music is doing during this opening scene.
You see. In film music we have a thing called a Leitmotif.
It’s a short musical idea (called a phrase) associated with a particular person, place, or idea that’s repeated throughout the film to represent said particular person, place, or idea.
Think of how whenever you hear the Imperial March you think of Darth Vader. That’s a leitmotif.
Hiccup, the dragons, the people of Berk, the kids, and Astrid all have their own leitmotif. Their own short piece of music.
The purpose of such a leitmotif is to bring unity to a film and to evoke more emotion from the listener.
Imagine if a certain piece of music always played whenever a certain character comes into view. Whether you realize it or not. Your subconscious will create an association between that character and that musical idea.
Whenever something happens to our character. Bad. Good. Amazing. Terrible. Those emotions will be “saved” into the association with that musical piece.
If you were to hear that same piece of music later on in the film. You’ll automatically relive most of those same emotions.
The music in a film essentially has the purpose of telling the same story happening on-screen to your subconscious.
Now what does this have to do with anything so far?
Well in most films a) those leitmotifs either aren’t properly developed or b) they take ages to develop all the motives. And even if they develop the motives, they aren’t always used as well as they could be.
This is exactly what How to Train Your Dragon does perfectly.
Within the first 5 minutes of the film. You’ve heard every single musical idea used throughout the whole film except for one.
You hear the leitmotif of the people of Berk first when Hiccup talks about his city. Next, you hear the leitmotif of Stoic. Then the group of kids, then Astrid. Hiccup’s theme is next and lastly, we hear the dragon’s theme.
And everything blends smoothly together.
The viewer, both his conscious and subconscious, knows what to expect for the rest of the film.
Whenever a piece of music is played. Your mind knows the correct association. Not a single emotion is wasted.
As for the one musical idea that’s missing. That’s Toothless’ theme.
The reason for this is because Toothless doesn’t “belong” there. He’s an outsider.
He’s part of the unknown world.
It’s up to Hiccup to go on his Hero’s journey and step out of the known world and into the known. (this is peak storytelling by the way, not Twitter wannabe storytelling)
Toothless’ theme is only later heard for the first theme when Hiccup goes out to look for him.
The “outsider” feeling is enhanced as well by the use of “strange” instruments that we haven’t heard before so far. Bagpipes.
But I hear you asking. What does this have to do with creating the perfect lead magnet?
This mail is already long enough and I haven’t said a single thing about lead magnets so far. Fair enough.
Here’s the thing.
The opening scene introduces all the musical ideas that the film will later build upon from the very start. All but Toothless’ theme.
This is how you should create your lead magnet.
Introduce everything there is to know about your offer. Teach people all of the topics you’re covering in your coaching offer/paid product/whatever.
Don’t hold anything back.
But the secret lies in 2 things.
First. The topics, frameworks, methods,… you teach in your lead magnet will be used as building blocks in your offer.
This is how you educate your audience to the point of wanting, even needing your offer if they want to move to the next level.
You educate people for free and sell the solution to the problems that arise because of your free education.
Second. Just like Toothless’ theme wasn’t introduced in the opening scene. You’re not going to include the “how” in your lead magnet. The implementation itself.
You should share the “why” in your content and the “what” in your lead magnet.
This is when people have a choice. They can either spend a long time figuring out the exact “how” by themselves for free.
Or they can pay you to teach them the “how”, the implementation.
Now I could go on. But I won’t. It turned out to be a long mail already. Long for a daily mail at least.
This is a perfect example of me following my curiosity, creating a unique perspective, connecting 2 different domains, and sharing it with you.
So if you would do me a favor. Let me know what you thought of this mail.
It takes a minute or two to write for you and it saves me ages of experimentation. I’d appreciate it if you write in to share your thoughts.
Was it too long? Did you like the topic? Was it understandable?
I’d be glad to hear from you.