At the very beginning of the Goodfellas The names appear on the screen with haste along with the sounds of cars and other vehicles, this indicates that the film is set in a busy city with something always happening at fast pace. The first shot is that of a car driving at high speed, indicating that wherever the driver is going it is vital he gets there soon, the shot soon skip to 3 males in the car with the text appearing ‘New York 1970’ setting the scene for the audience. The three men then start talking, which instantly indicates that they are from an Italian American family (this automatically gives the audience a stereotypical view that they are some king of gangsters). The conversation that takes place is what is wrong with the car; the men look anxious as if something ha gone horribly wrong. The men then instantly pull over showing their concern with the car; all three men exit the car showing that they take collective responsibility for the cars problem. The men are lit up by the cars red backlight signifying that they are the evildoers in this film; this is soon backed up by the fact that there is clearly something trying to escape from the boot of the car. The collective attitude of the men is evident again once time comes to open the boot as one man stands with a baseball bat another has his hand in his inside pocket and the other opens the boot, once the boot is open a wounded man struggling for survival is revealed making it clear the men in the car are ‘bad guys’. The man in the boot is then stabbed and shot several times by the two older men whilst the other stands casually as if nothing is happening, showing that this is a natural occurrence among this group of people. The man watching then clearly becomes centre of attention as a close up shot of him appears whilst he describes his earlier ambition in life of becoming a gangster, this ties the opening scene together and sets up the rest of the film. The film name then appears in red showing they are villains, with haste again showing that they have to continue with their fast paced life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8pQJOeTkFs - This is the link to the opening sequence of the film I have analysed.
By Max Brawn
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