Conventions of An Opening Sequence in Goodfellas

 For this piece of coursework we have been asked to illustrate 9 of the conventions of an opening sequence which we can see in our chosen opening. I chose Goodfellas as it is a film that I have already seen so I can talk about what themes to expect and am able to know if they have used a non linear start or not, I also chose it because it uses many of the opening conventions typically seen.

The first convention I chose was that it uses super imposed graphics to tell us who the production company, director, actors, producers and writers are. In this screenshot taken at (0:03) we can denote that the first credit shown is for Warner Bros.this communicates to the audience that it is the production and it is typical for films to put the name of the production company first.

This opening sequence is great at creating enigma as it makes the audience ask who these 3 men are? Where are they driving to? Why is there a man in the trunk of their car and why did they just kill him? Enigmas have been used in this film to keep the audience interested and make them watch the rest of the film so that these questions can be answered. This particular screenshot taken at (1:30) shows the 3 characters. 

 This opening sequence uses a non-linear style as we can denote that in this screenshot taken at (1:35) is a character who appears later in the film alive and well so it creates expectation for the audience as to who this man is and what does he do that makes him the target of these 3 men. This works well with the enigmas created as it makes the audience ask further questions and makes them continue watching as they want to see what happens in the film that inevitably leads to this scene. 

In this screenshot taken at (1:49) the characters are established as we can hear the non diegetic voice over of this characters say "as far back as i can remember I've always wanted to be a gangster" connoting to the audience that these 3 men are gangsters answering one of the questions created but only partially. The representation this gives of the characters is quite a negative one as we now know they are gangsters and we could denote them stabbing and shooting a helpless man pleading for mercy giving them quite a violent and heartless representation. Although it creates quite a clear representation for his 2 acquaintances it does not give a clear representation of the main character as we don't see him hurt the man in the trunk whereas the other 2 characters did and we can denote quite a guilty look on his face which connotes that he may be different from them and might be good at heart. As well as that it is him narrating the film and it is from his perspective so he is the character that the audience will be rooting for. Him telling the audience that he's always wanted to be agangtser connotes to the audience that the genre of film is crime, the clothes worn which are suits further connote that this film isn't about petty crime and that it is high end crime.

As well as this film using super imposed graphics to establish the credits it also uses it to establish the setting which we see at (0:42) as it tell us the era and the location of the film. Using the graphics in this it doesn't establish the a representation the setting and lets the audience use their own stereotyped idea of New York in the 1970's when it was a city in decline and as crime soared.

As a convention in most opening sequences of a film there is minimal dialogue and this film followed that suit and there are only a few lines of dialogue which do not add to the story as we can see in this shot taken at (0:47) which shows that none of the characters are talking. The representation this gives about the characters is that they are not friends and are more business partners otherwise they would be more interactive with each other.

In this screenshot taken at (1:39) we can denote one of the characters aggressively and repeatedly stab the man in the boot with no remorse so this connotes to the audience that a theme in this film is going to be violence and gives the representation that this character is very violent and aggressive.

To further develop this idea of violence the film uses a smash mouth opening  at (1:37) which throws the audience right into the action and sets the tone of the film and is aided by the loud upbeat music which comes afterwards.

The upbeat style of the song at (2:04) engages the audience and establishes the setting further as it has a jazzy sound to it which is typically associated with New York and the lyrics "from rags to riches" connotes that this is a film about someone who went from nothing to being a successful gangster.