Analysis of film openings

Detailed analysis of crime film openings

We don’t see much variety in camera shots used in the first 5 minutes of The Untouchables. The film starts with the camera panning across the shadow of the movie title. The movie title then takes the middle of the screen which creates a mid shot and then the camera zooms out. The scene changes and we find ourselves looking down in an aerial shot. This sets the location of a busy room. There are uses of close ups on the main character of the scene as he is talking. This then change to a low angle shot to the people he is talking to. In this scene the camera is quite static.

The lighting is mostly natural and comes from a well lit room although artificial lighting maybe used to lighten up the characters faces. The lighting doesn’t change much. The only source of light is coming from the windows.

The music in the titles is very tense with an upbeat tune which contains a lot of bass this builds up suspense. When the scene the changes the music ceases. There is little to no ambient sounds. The only sounds we can hear are of the character talking to the people and the occasional laughter.

The mise-en-scene of the footage shoes a well lit room at day time populated with a handful of characters. From the way the actors are dressed we can see the date the film tries to portray the extras are clothed in light coloured suits which were popular during the 1930’s. The technique which the main character in the scene is using to be groomed also helps us with setting the date. The use of props are dominant in this scene, there are many things happening at once. There are people scribbling in note pads there are the barbers shaving tools the manicures equipment as well as the shoe polisher’s tools.

The editing of film show the credits fade in and out there are times when the camera zooms and out. With the opening of the scene of the main room there is a small paragraph which shows the date and gives valuable information about the current life style and the happenings of the current time.

The style of this movie introduction shows a very dated style which the film tried to achieve. Also in the techniques of shaving and the light coloured suits and short hair styles all point towards the early/mid 1900’s.