Finally, Something Different.

The 1929 surrealist short film Un Chien Andalou, directed by Luis Bunuel, has one of the strangest and yet most visually striking of opening sequences in film.

The main goal of Bunuel’s film is not to tell a believable story or straightforward narrative, rather the intention to shock audiences with its juxtaposition of images, disjunctive editing style and use of mise-en-scene. Through this, Bunuel uses disconnected images and connects them through shock cuts in order to present the resulting visual horror to the audience. A cut from the man with the razor on the balcony to the night sky shows a thin line of cloud moving towards the circular moon, therefore connecting to the infamous eye cutting scene. Another example of disjunctive editing is the famous image of the man with the razor holding open a woman’s eye as if preparing to slice it open, which then cuts to a dead calf’s eye being cut instead.

Anyone that goes back and rewatches it (God forbid) will find that these are two completely different shots, but the overall action remains the same. The shock cut between the night sky and the cutting of the eye also shows two completely different shots, but convey the same action on screen. Bunuel creates symbolism between each two shots, but a viewer would know that regular weather patterns have no real connection to a motivation behind wanting to inflict grievous harm upon a person. Therefore, the goal of surrealism is to create a world that has qualities of but also does not exist in real life.

While the three other films talked about all have openings that occur later in the narrative and thus require explanation as a result, Bunuel’s opening is constructed without an explanation for what is seen on screen, as it functions as a prologue completely unconnected to the rest of the film. In Goodfellas, violence is used to accurately portray mob dealings as close as it can, where in Bunuel’s film it serves no real purpose outside of startling imagery. Fight Club and Trainspotting’s openings are a culmination of events preceding it but told out of order, and violence is implied from the mise-en-scene of a gun in the narrator’s mouth in the former, and running from the authorities in the latter, while Bunuel’s film does not imply any violence.

REFERENCES:

“Luis Bunuel: Un Chien andalou (1928).”  July 19th 2013. YouTube. Web video. Accessed 27^th April 2015.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIKYF07Y4kA>.

Corrigan, Timothy & Patricia White. The Film Experience: An Introduction. Third Edition. New York: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2012. 471, 479, 480. Print.

http://www.heyuguys.com/images/2014/08/Un-chien-andalou.jpg

.... And Another Interpretation of Fight Club's Opening.

We now turn to David Fincher’s 1999 film Fight Club: part three of the invented genre “Films Featuring Miserable and/or Deeply Flawed Protagonists Narrating Their Own Lifestyle Choices as Contrarian to that of Society” (I hope this is not an indication of my own preferences).

An elaborate credits sequence transitions to a shallow focus of what is revealed to be the back of a gun, pressed into the narrator (Edward Norton)’s mouth. The change from shallow to deep focus in order to reveal the narrator at the other end creates a disjointed and startling image. Like Trainspotting, the audience finds themselves in the middle of conflict, and is only supplemented with an explanation from the main character’s voiceover. The first bit of dialogue used is purposely cryptic: “People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden” as this is the narrator’s first reference to his unreliable style. It is by no means a new thing, but similarly to Goodfellas (1990), it is used to incite speculation about how this character came to be in the present situation.

While Goodfellas uses simple camerawork in its opening, Fight Club utilises several quick cuts between shots, much like the changes between scenes in Trainspotting. An air of suspense is constantly maintained because Durden (Brad Pitt)’s dialogue remains asynchronous as his face is off screen, allowing the camera to only show us the narrator’s perception of the situation: cutting to the front, the side and back again. A medium close-up of the narrator pans to the right allowing Durden to move past and into the background where the shallow focus hides his appearance from the audience. We want to know who this assailant is and why he had a gun in the narrator’s mouth, but Fincher chooses to hide this for the time being because the film’s twists and surprises are yet to occur. From both a framing and story perspective, this is also a subtle indication that the two characters are different but linked at the same time.

The use of cuts between different shots of the narrator also allows for greater perception towards their movements and behaviour, as well as close examination of mise-en-scene used. The beginning close-up shows the placement of lighting on both sides of the narrator’s head, allowing the visible sweat to be noticeable. The cut to a close up from a medium close up emphasises the narrator’s head turning to look at his assailant, and the pale blue lighting appearing on only the left side of his head. This presentation of a static and largely motionless main character contrasts sharply with Boyle’s and Scorsese’s films, who are shown from the beginning as heavily active in their own lives or at the very least, not at the mercy of what we believe to be someone pointing a gun in their mouth.

REFERENCES:

Fight Club. Dir. David Fincher. Regency Enterprises, 1999. Film.

Corrigan, Timothy & Patricia White. The Film Experience: An Introduction. Third Edition. New York: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2012. 470, 474, 475, 479.

http://api.ning.com/files/eUrPno3TQ7XYJ6AOpoykz2Sm2aeanh6xyLLwFqB1bd*dvpJ2k5rh36TNt2DRjSE1SiNT*GnD5mtDP1bqHlJvesfbdfzlWG7Q/MoviePosterFightClub.jpg

http://static.rogerebert.com/redactor_assets/pictures/scanners/opening-shots-fight-club/fc5.jpg

https://jamestfray.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/vlcsnap-2011-07-24-21h45m55s652.png

Gangsters, New York & “Moider”: A Look Back at (the opening to) Goodfellas.

Martin Scorsese’s sprawling 1990 crime film adaptation of the novel “Wiseguy” by Nicholas Pileggi begins with perhaps the most understated of the film openings I have chosen to blog about. It is restrained but also horrific in its execution that not only introduces audiences to the character of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), but introduces them to the shockingly realised portrayal of organised crime that both Hill and Scorsese are enamoured with.

What is perhaps most striking about this opening scene is its selective use of score and music. Scorsese deliberately chooses to open the film without orchestral music, or even play the famous Rags to Riches earlier; a wise move that would otherwise disrupt the quiet and tense atmosphere of the scene in question. The absence of music until the very end of the scene creates greater realism, and speculation about where the scene will be going. The music appears over a zoom-in and freeze on Hill, for the reason that the words “rags to riches” themselves encapsulate the entire motivations behind Hill turning towards a life of organised crime; that he, like many other Americans who believe in the “American Dream”, wants to achieve success in their lifetime. Scorsese uses this to directly contrast Hill’s own dreams as a gangster, and encapsulates the film as a deconstruction of the commonly used story.

Scorsese’s purposeful use of sound is chosen to combine realism with tension. The scene relies exclusively on diegetic sound and dialogue, using the steady noise of Hill’s Pontiac on the road to the crickets heard outside in the dark. Despite these sounds creating the illusion of normalcy, we are still led to understand that something out of the ordinary is happening. Tommy’s (Joe Pesci) knife as he is stabbing Billy Batts in the back of the car elicit shock and extreme unease. The following gunshots are loud and deafening compared with the background noise, and Scorsese places an insert of Hill flinching to show us there is at least a small segment of humanity in him. This subtly draws attention to the fact that Hill does not attack Batts’s body like Robert DeNiro and Pesci’s characters do.

When a film features a scene set after daylight hours, obvious forms of lighting may break the viewer’s suspension of disbelief. Scorsese uses this setting to his advantage by devising alternative forms of lighting within the setting. Specifically, these come only from the lights of Hill’s car. By using the back lights of the Pontiac to cast a glare upon the three main characters outside, this creates an unsettling aura that bathes them in red. Symbolically, it illustrates right away that they are not the good guys. Where this film is similar to Trainspotting is that both begin in a rearranged order; scenes that actually occur about midway through the story occur first in the film to both engross and cause audiences to speculate (this sentence has been rearranged as well by the way).

REFERENCES:

Goodfellas. Dir. Martin Scorsese. Warner Bros., 1990. Film.

Corrigan, Timothy & Patricia White. The Film Experience: An Introduction. Third Edition. New York: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2012. 471, 473, 474, 482. Print.

https://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/44/MPW-22061
http://www.weirdworm.com/media/img/stories/9-of-the-coolest-movie-intros/goodfellas.jpg

Trainspotting and Film Form (or, choose narration, choose disjunction, choose a memorable opening sequence).

Danny Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting has one of the most memorable opening sequences of that decade, and why it is so is because of its lack of subtlety. Right from the first frame we are thrown into the lives of Renton (Ewan McGregor) and Spud (Ewen Bremner) being chased by two security guards down Edinburgh’s Princes Street. McGregor’s own voiceover narration contrasts with the mise-en-scene through the juxtaposition of morals and lifestyle. The line “Choose life, choose a job, choose a career” is deliberate irony as the voiceover accompanies the images of Renton hurriedly looking behind at the pursuing guards, and dropping items that he presumably stole as he runs. In a dingy Edinburgh flat, Renton further violates his words by smoking a cigarette to the line: “Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance”. Renton’s words are a deliberate mocking of the expectations that people growing up are expected to achieve, and Boyle uses this to provide a cynical commentary and insight into Renton’s life, that his addiction to heroin explains that he doesn't care for building a life like every other person.

Boyle’s use of both disjunctive and continuity editing importantly show the passage of time between Renton and his friends’ lives. Particularly, Boyle repeatedly jump cuts between Renton taking a football on the head and falling over with his collapse on the flat’s floorboards. The result is similar to a fantasy-like state, and a sense of timelessness between the two scenes which adds to Renton’s complacency with drug use. In terms of continuity editing, the quick cuts between Renton and Spud’s chase are examples. They are indicative of urgency; Boyle’s use of repetition shows medium close ups as they are fleeing whilst cutting to their feet, showing the stolen items falling onto the footpath. This is done twice, and Boyle uses it in quick succession to establish consistency between the cuts in the opening sequence and establish for the audience the scene without using longer takes that may disrupt the pacing otherwise.

Boyle’s camera techniques drastically change in conjunction with the rapid editing; the following camera on Renton changes to a POV shot right before he runs into a car, to put the audience in perspective before his accident. Long shots allow more to be taken in from the frame, as when a medium shot of Renton smoking cuts to a wider shot of the dilapidated and empty flat’s interior, showing us the miserable state of his existence as a junkie. Another showing Spud continuing down the street signals the end of the chase as well as the medium close up shots. At the football game, Boyle uses a low angle shot and placement of Renton and his friends shoulder to shoulder in frame to manipulate the audience into speculating what is about to happen. This is answered by cutting to a long shot of a player from the other team taking a penalty kick and hitting Renton on the head, which while unfortunate is a further example of Renton’s status as an exception to the norm. One who has chosen to be, that is.


REFERENCES
Trainspotting. Dir. Danny Boyle. Film4 Productions, 1996. Film.

http://scriptshadow.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/trainspotting-poster-johnny-lee-ewan-mcgregor-drugs.jpg
Corrigan, Timothy & Patricia White. The Film Experience: An Introduction. Third Edition. New York: Bedford/St Martin's, 2012. 471, 474, 481. Print.

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/3100000/First-scene-trainspotting-3172411-767-413.jpg

https://cinemabeats.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/trainspotting03.jpg
"Danny Boyle About "Trainspotting" (2003) Part 1/2". February 1st, 2010. YouTube. Web Video. 21st April 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rZ14ojx34k>