Snatch has always been one of my all time favourites, along with some other films directed by Guy Ritchie, the Opening scene to Snatch has to one of the most action filled introductions i have seen in any other film of its type.
What i enjoyed firstly was the use of the presentation of the scene. It was presented as CTV camera fed televisions, the screens were in black and white, meaning colour was not drawing the viewers attention else where, the director has purposely set so that the viewer concentrates on what he wants you to watch. There are a number of televisions, as the actors, walk from one side of a room to another, it is shown on the screens, whereby if the actors move to the left of the television, they are shown on another Tv to the left of the previous, the music with this order is slowly pased, and has some humour to it, the dialogue is very narrow, it is not very specific, this keeps the audience on their toes, as they are unware of what to expect; another feature which helps with the factor of weariness are the odd clothes the gentlemen are wearing. Another aspect of the TV's which i thoroughly enjoyed is when the actors are shown in an elevator, it goes up from one screen to the next as it compares the TV switch over to the elevator going up to the destination level.
When the shots are going through the televisions, the credits are also edited in with the flow of the scene, i am hoping to acomplish this sort of title sequence in my opening scene. When the gentlemen reach what is percieved as there target destination in the building, the camera view is changed from a television format and is now shown as any other camera would film a scene. The camera shots used in the following part of the scene are very close up, including close up's and medium shots, the pace of the shots change dramatically to a very quick pace, as does the pace of music, this is in order to keep the rythme of the scene. The camera shots are no longer than 1/2 seconds, as it switches to one actor to the next as they are taking control of the office. There are a couple of spinning transition edits, the director wanted an aspect of chaos in the scene, as the office workers are being held at gun point or being pushed to the floor, when it is shown that the men in disguises have found what they are looking for, the shots start to freeze on each member of the 'gang' so to speak, with edited titles giving them there film names.
What i liked about the idea of freezing the shot and adding an edit to reveal the characters name, is that everytime a character was introduced, when the shot froze to move onto the next, the location also changed. The name of the character was always shown in the centre of the screen aswell, this possibly to highlight the importance of the character shown. Before the shot is froze the actor is doing something in the shot, whether it was sat at a table playing cards or getting money from a safe, those split seconds allow the audience to interpret what type of people they are.
The next film which i looked at, was another directed by Guy Ritchie, Rock N Rolla
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiODSEBRrHU
Rock N Rolla is a film set in London, a real-estate scam puts millions of pounds up for grabs, attracting some of the city's scrappiest tough guys and its more established underworld types, all of whom are looking to get rich quick. While the city's seasoned criminals vie for the cash, an unexpected player -- a drugged out rock 'n' roller presumed to be dead but very much alive -- has a multi-million dollar prize fall into his hands.
What i enjoyed in the film as a whole not just the opening scene was the twists implemented in the film, the aspect of twists in a film have become very popular in the opening scene which i plan to film.
The music used in the opening scene is set at the pace of edits and extra noises added in, as the titles and sub titles are shown. The opening titles are shown on a very broad and bleak background, the edits are what you can call the ligh of the darkness, this is in order to grab th audience, therefore their attention is not else where.
Another aspect i was fond of was the use of a narrator, talking over the scene, this is an aspect which i hope to implement in my media production. When the scene has finished with edits, you are introduced to the Narrator talking over as you see Johnny Quid in a dim room, with only little lighting. Again the use of little light, gives the character the aspect of being the centre of attention, he i what the director is wanting the audience to focus on. The music then starts again and the camera shots/edits are at a quick pace, as it the music which is played again.
When the scene moves from reality as it were and then to animations of the characters/actors that will be involved in the films, i quite liked the idea of this and how there different shots, whereby you had a close up then a zoomout to then have a close up again, had the sense of the audience having to pay attention, keeping on their toes.
Overall the opening scene to this Film has played a major part in decisions i have made to how i want my films opening scene to be like.
The next film which played an equal part on the basis of my decision making was Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, also directed by Guy Ritchie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSodvRnD3Qc
The opening scene to this film is not like the other two in the way it is presented, in snatch you were shown the scene on Tv's to begin with, Rock N Rolla, was presented in an animated style, where as Lock Stock' was presented by the camera, straight into the action. The camera first zoom's in through a gathering of people around a stall, and then turns to a close up of Jason Stratham who is trying to sell goods, while Jason Stratham is advertising his goods, a black background appears every so often with white titles in the centre, the use of this editing alows the audience to keep on the level of the scene as they can hear Jason, and they are able to concentrate on what the director is showing them.
The next part of the scene which i was amazed with the use of narration over the scene which is now being played in slow motion, the idea behind this is so that the audience are still aware of the activities being shown and being able to listen to a short overview and description of the characters. In my opening scene i'm planning to pull of narration in a sense similar to this, the narrator will be used to tell the story as it were, when flashbacks in my opening scene are shown.
The opening scene to this film was straight forward and simple there was a small amount of editing however it still had a great impact within the short space of time. What i liked about the camera shot side of the scene was when Jason Stratham was shown, the camera was almost a POV shot for the audience, it made them feel as if they were part of the crowd who were being sold items. To help the effect of this POV shot, the camera is never still, it is either moving around other bodies of the crowd or is slighty tilting.
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