Analysis of film openings - Green Street

The opening of the film green street doesn't tell the audience hardly anything about the main storyline of the film, which is violence. The opening scene of film is based at Harvard University and at an airport, however the reasons for why the beginning of the film is set here is revealed later in the film. From watching the opening, a lot of people may thing that the main genre of the film is political or educational, as there is no connotations of violence at all.

From watching the opening of the film, we don't get much of an insight as to what the characters in the film are like, however we see that the man character, Matt, seems like a very quiet, held back character with not much of a personality, however later on in the film, this juxtaposes as he becomes a totally different person; very violent and not very quiet. The other man in the opening sequence is shown to be a bit of a con-man, and he seems like somebody who you shouldn't trust. It is revealed at the end of the film why he is shown like this. The other main characters are shown after the opening titles.

The atmosphere in the scene is shown to be very tense, as if the two men involved do not like each other. This is done by the use of camera angles to show the hatred on Matt's face, and the lack of music, to add even more tension between the two men.

The themes that are shown from the opening sequence in the film are not really associated with the rest of the film. The themes that you see in the opening are things like education, as its set in a University, possibly wealth, as there is a large sum of money used at the beginning, travel, as the opening scene is also located at an airport and possibly drugs as that is the reason why Matt has to leave, which is also stated during the opening scene.

There are several settings in the opening sequence to this film. Firstly, there is Harvard University, connoting education, and making the audience think that Harvard is a main location in the film. This works well as Harvard doesn't have much association with the main plot, therefore a lot of happens later in the film is unexpected for the audience. Another location used is airports. This allows the audience to see what is about to happen, and allows them to expect certain things later on in the film. The last scene used in the opening clip is London. This shows the audience that Matt has travelled from USA to London, but doesn't give anything away about the storyline, which is why it is so effective.

A soft toned tune is played throughout the clip. This is showing the audience that Matt is very relaxed about what he about do to, however the tune doesn't relate to the storyline like some films, therefore doesn't give anything away, but whilst he is walking through a corridor at the airport in London, a voice over is used. This is done to tell the audience the very basic story about what happened to him at Harvard, and it mentions about the future also, but doesn't tell the audience anything about what is going to happen later on in the film.

The titles in the film are all placed in the right order, however the institutions name isn't revealed anywhere in there, something that should've been done. A basic font is used, which is to go alongside the simple music and relaxed emotions of the main character at that moment in time. They are also not placed in the middle of the screen, always in the corners. This is done so that the audience can see the action in the centre of the screen, as all the action in this opening is in the centre of the screen, and allows them to see who is starring in the film also. The film titles overall I think although are very simple, they work very effectively to co-ordinate with the emotions.