Analysis of opening sequences

Scarface

How does this opening sequence establish the key generic codes and conventions?

The opening sequence starts with non-digetic soundtrack and the track is mysterious we us audience feel not comfortable and we judging that something bad will happen a disruption. As well as the red font could have a connotation of violence, death and crime and the information given to us the statistics which sets up audience for the film.

Does this sequence meet your expectations of a typical opening sequence from this genre? Explain why or why not?

In my opinion yes it does meet my expectations of a crime drama genre because it has the conventions of a typical crime drama film it has the soundtrack also the red font we usually see that in every crime drama or gangster genre film and most of the time they tell us the information we need to know to try guess what the film is going to be about.

What clues are given about the narrative?

The clues are given about the narrative by this sequence are very straight forward because they tells us about crime and gives the statistics and it shows people from other country coming to America and the red font has connotations of violence, crime and even death. In addition to this when the main character is being introduced the setting we are in is police station after seeing this we know or we try to guess what the film is going to be about even main characters dialogue used tells us ‘I was in the gang one time’ after this we know the film is going to be about crime.

If there are characters at this point, do they follow the typical features of characters from this genre or not?

It does because the way the character was presented is cocky very confident also on had a scar on his face he was swearing a lot and his in trouble with the police in the first scene we are introduced to him which tells us he is the bad guy and also his facial expression very aggressive and violent and we us audience left with an impression that you can expect anything from this character.

Write about how people and places are represented in this sequence? Do they follow or subvert genre conventions? Explain.

The people in the opening sequence are not really represented as expected by the genre because they facial expression showed happy to coming to a new country they show them in the good way, caring and etc. However when the main character comes in is like the director tried to show to opposite people personalities because he was represented evil in other words protagonist bad to society because we first see him with the police and his dialogue is very offending and he swears a lot and his actions are aggressive.

How is music used? How does this reflect the genre?

As soon the opening sequence started non-digetic sound was used which was a soundtrack firstly it started like mysterious and us audience we don’t know what to expect from the narrative but suddenly when they show people in the sequence the music changes into like exciting and showing people coming to America for a new life and opportunities.

How are titles used? How does this reflect the genre?

The title used for this film was ‘Scarface’ and when it appears on screen is in red font which made me think that is does relate to the genre as you don’t get a scar on your face just like that which goes back to violence.