Goodfella's Opening (1990)

Goodfella's

Mise en scene;

Lighting – Its night in the opening therefore it is considered a time of day to be much more dangerous and scary. It’s a time period that’s considered to be for adults, a different world. Also crimes tend to happen at night in comparison to broad daylight where anybody could see you easily.

Props – One of the props is again a gun, which has connotations of violence and danger. If somebody has a gun on them they are either defending themselves or they have an ulterior motive and as we can gather from the opening they use the gun to murder a man. Another prop is the car, which has connotations of power and wealth, this suggests that these characters rely on a car, especially since they kidnap a man and commit a murder in the boot of the car.

Gesture and Movement – The man who stabs the other man doesn’t hold back or hesitate, he ruthlessly and violently stabs the victim repeatedly without remorse to which one of the other characters then takes a gun and repeatedly shoots him, just to make sure he is definitely dead. This amount of violence in a casual way shows them to be dangerous and ruthless killers who we identify as the villains.

Camera Shot/Movement;

We get a long shot of the three men standing outside the car. The use of a long shot allows us to see that they are off the main roads in the middle of nowhere which means that whoever is in the boot (the victim) has a lesser chance of being saved since there’s nobody around to help.

Furthermore we see a medium shot when the victim is being repeatedly stabbed. The effect of this being used allows us to see both the gesture and the violence being used by the murderer. Also how the victim is trapped in the boot helplessly victimised and being murdered violently. Creating an enigma, as we want to know what kind of people they are since we cannot relate to the level of ruthless killing occurring here.

We get a pan of all three men, the first holding a spade, the second holding a knife and the third with the key to unlock the boot. This separates the three characters and we get a sense of who is the leader and in charge, prepared and organised holding the spade. We also see that the one with the knife is instantly the murderer the most dangerous and the scariest. And the final one seems harmless in comparison as he just stands there.

Editing;

We get a straight cut of the victim in the boot of the car to the man with the knife. The use of this forms an immediate link where we see the distinction between the victim and murderer. We know that the killing will take place. Also the effect of this is leaving the audience wondering how the man got into the boot in the first place therefore creating an enigma.

Sound;

No use of non-diegetic sound until the end of the opening where it begins to go back in time to a happier environment. The diegetic sounds used are the banging of the victim in the boot, and the stabbing of the knife. Actually hearing a squelching noise reflects the true violence of this act of murder and its merciless killing. It would make an audience recoil in shock and horror because of its gory element.