Godfather (Film Opening)

Here I will talk about the openings of 3 different films, of similar genres to the film we as a group are planning on making for our AS coursework film, discussing techniques used in each which are significant whether it be due to them being stereotypical, counter typical or simply appealing and interesting to the viewers. Understanding  these techniques and the reasoning behind these will be key for the successes of our final piece.

The opening of The Godfather consists of an Italian-American man, typical of this genre of film, speaking to the Godfather (Don Corleone) about how his daughter had been taken advantage of by some American boys who had left her badly beaten. The reasoning for this man being in Don Corleone’s company soon becomes apparent when he asks him for justice, something of which he feels the police were unable to give him leaving him with Corleone as his only option left. This film, like so many others of the crime thriller genre, features an opening monologue which is definitely something of which we will have to take note of in the production of our real media product.

Goodfellas (Film Opening)

The opening for the film Goodfellas firstly features a subtitle, enabling the viewer to see that the film is based on true events and a real story, which would interest the viewer immensely as they will realise that things they are about to see have and could happen in the world that they live in, giving a sense of reality to the film. Next, the subtitle writes “New York, 1970” giving the viewer a sense of setting for the film, with this particular city and era of time being popular in these kinds of crime thriller films giving the viewer an understanding of things to come in the film. After this, it cuts to a shot of 3 well dressed ‘gangster’ males driving an expensive car along a road, a very stereotypical view of this genre of film and the characters associated with them. Then we hear the sound of banging coming from the boot of their car, another stereotype of ‘gangsters’ before they pull over, open the boot (revealing a badly injured male cover in blood and gunshot wounds) and finish off the individual with further shots coming from the gangsters guns to eventually kill the male. After this, we hear a monologue of one of the characters speaking the words “As far as I can remember I wanted to be a gangster” accompanied with the non diegetic sounds of brass instruments of which are also usually associated with this genre, especially in the context of the particular era that this film is shot in.

Rock N Rolla (Film Opening)

The opening of the Film RockNRolla consists firstly of the song "I'm a Man” by “Black Strobe” as a non-diegetic backing song, over which the voice of Archie (a character in the film) is dubbed over with the infamous opening monologue: "People ask the question... what's a RocknRolla? And I tell 'em - it's not about drums, drugs, and hospital drips, oh no. There's more there than that, my friend. We all like a bit of the good life - some the money, some the drugs, other the sex game, the glamour, or the fame. But a RocknRolla, oh, he's different. Why? Because a real RocknRolla wants the f***ing lot”. During this dubbed monologue, another character of the film, Johnny Quidd, is shown flossing a gun and partaking in drug, drink and sexual activity, these activities are very stereotypical this particular genre and the characters you expect to come across in them. 

Then follows a cut to the character Archie who gives a speech introducing the film to its audience and giving them a sense of what is to come in the film by talking about things such as real estate and the powerful figures in the crime world displayed in the film.

Me & Our Project

Hi.

My name is Matt, and i am a media student.

My favourite films are mainly of the crime/thriller genre such as Rock N Rolla,  Goodfellas, Scarface etc.

Over the coming months, as part of unit G321 of media studies, we will be filming and editing our own film opening sequence. I will use this blog as my portfolio and a way of updating our progress in this project with pictures, videos and text.

Luckily all of my group for this project are intersted in the same type of genre of film which we have therefore decided to use as our film opening sequence; crime thriller

At this stage we are hoping to include the usual aspects of a film opening to a film of this genre, an interesting and strong opening monologue, light violence etc. but with our own take on the genre.