SSC Film Studies

The opening sequence of films

 

The opening sequences of Get Carter and Bullet Boy portray the key messages and values that are represented throughout the whole of the films and this is because the opening sequences are so great that they are able to set the tone for the whole film.

In the opening sequence of Get Carter we start in a very nice and bright London that is in the south and throughout out this train journey as we get closer to the north and eventually the most northerly place possible Newcastle it has went from bright to pitch black. This is to represent the north as being a dark and grim place that no one wants to be in it is represented in a way that even the residents that live their do not want to live their anymore. That is not the only thing about the film that represents the key messages and values of the film in the very opening shots of Get Carter we see a group of men watching porn together while there is one woman their obviously feeling very uncomfortable and she obviously does not want to be there.

She is also dressed in very revealing clothes and the way the woman has been introduced to the audience is a POV shot form Carter staring at her from the legs upwards. This shows that men treat women as pieces of meat and nothing more and that these women are only here to please the men that are around her.

This shot is quite contradicting because there was this apparent swinging 60’s in the 60’s where the women where revolting and that the women where supposed to be more equal to men after that period because the contraceptive pill had come out. But this shot throws everything we know about the swinging 60’s straight out of the window because it is showing they are still pieces of meat and that if anything the contraceptive pill has given men more control because they feel like they have been oppressed so they want their control back.

In Bullet boy right from the of we see the values and key messages set by the opening sequence we see Ricky come out of prison and he is then smoking pot right from the start this is to suggest even when coming out of prison thinking you are a changed man you can never get away from your life of crime.

But this shot is not very shocking because of that the reason this shot is shocking is because Ricky’s younger brother has skipped school to come and see Ricky come out of prison. Not only that but when Ricky is smoking the pot Ricky’s younger is copying him with a piece of grass this is showing that no matter where you go what age you are you are going to be influenced by crime and this shot in the opening sequence is a good representation of that sort of they are in.

When Ricky is in the Countryside leaving prison it is very bright and open showing how nice of a place it is and that out there Ricky’s possibilities are wide open and that he could do anything. But as soon as he decides he wants to go back home and go into the city he becomes enclosed by the flats that are all around him and this makes the city look like a prison enclosing around Ricky trapping him in till he has no chance left the further he gets into the city the darker the sky gets and eventually because of where Ricky is there is no sky to see anymore this is to show and foreshadow that Ricky is trapped in this grim place of no opportunities with no way to get out.

But this opening sequence also shows the values that people have because when they get back into the city Wisdom asks Ricky that if Ricky needs some work just to ask him. The type of work that Wisdom means is illegal and Wisdom actually jokes about Ricky wanting a real job this piece of dialogue shows that Crime runs London where Ricky and Wisdom live and that no matter what you do if you have been involved in crime that you are going to get punished for it by not having the life that he actually wants. This key message is that no matter what you do that crime does not pay and that it will come back to haunt you.