Goodfellas opening sequence

Goodfellas opening sequence 

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Budget: 25 million us dollars

Box office for the movie: 46.8 million USD 

 Main Cast of movie: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, 

Lorraine bracco, Paul sorvino, Frank vincent, Michael Imperioli

Debi Mazar and samuel Jackson  

Analysis of the opening sequence  

The film “Goodfellas” was released in 1990, and directed by American director Martin Scorsese. The narrative follows the main character Henry from his late teens and through his adult life after he becomes a very influential man in the italian mafia. The opening scene is a graphic example of the casual violence that surrounds Henry. The reality depicted in this opening scene has what has made it iconic in the Gangster genre of film and what starts to grip the viewer from the beginning.

The first shot of the film is of a black background with the credits. Minimal wording appears on the screen, The sound, that goes with the word transitions is presumably diegetic traffic noise, and gives the viewer an idea of the setting of a booming american city during the economic prosperity of the american economy. The final sentence that the audience sees on this background is “This film is based on a true story” this is used to get the viewer instantly believing of the story as well as it helps get the audience gripped right from the beginning as they are inclined to believe everything that is happening is real. the characters portrayed within it and shows how life was like back in the 1970s for some americans making it more relatable for some of the audience as the film is very graphic so the target audience will be from 18-45 year old males however the secondary audience maybe be some women.

The first opening shot containing real images is the tracking shot of the car driving down the road in the darkness. The shot instantly promotes a tense and unknown atmosphere consistent with the gangster image and genre . This shot pans left and comes alongside the car, giving the viewers the impression that we are following the car, and that the characters inside the car are perhaps key to the story and that we should be watching the scene. When the audience eventually sees inside the car there is a medium close up of the driver, although we can see two other men in the car. The focus on the driver gives the audience a subtle hint that he could be the main character and the movie could potentially be about him so the audience is starting to question who he is and what he has done the director used enigma codes really well to help portray these questions. The next shot of note in the scene is when the men get out of the car to investigate the noise in the boot. The shot is a low angle of the characters in side profile, for the viewers looking up at them, it shows the characters have an authoritative and controlling air about them, which makes them more believable as gangsters.

There is then the gradual close up to the boot of the car; the camera zooms in to the source of the noise like a person who is reluctantly going to open it. This cuts to a medium shot of all three of the men that gradually zooms in on the two holding weapons, who are obviously getting ready for a fight. The man holding the shovel nods to the character who is out of shot, then the camera pans round to focus in on the un-armed man to reveal the contents of the car. The camera moves slowly again here to convey the unknown feelings of the scene and how the men are feeling towards having to deal with whatever is making the noise in the back of the car their clearly seems to be a sense of reluctance in the air between these men. Also from an audience's point of view this creates anticipation through the build of tension. The scene ends with a still of who we can assume to be the main character, slamming the boot shut in time with a song from a 50s Italian American singer Tony Bennett. This is appropriate as the 50’s is a time in history, often thought of as the peak of the American Mafia’s powers where most of america was scared of these men. 

The editing throughout this scene maintains a slow pace, to ensure the build up of tension. However, the level of tension that the audience may feel as the scene continues through the story is not matched by the characters involved, as they remain straight faced and unbothered by the whole situation throughout. The type of shots used also affect the time between cuts, as the panning shots, tracking shots and shots that slowly zoom in from medium to a close up, prolong the time that the audience has to wait to find out what is making noise in the boot this helps bring even more tension as the audience is having to guess what's in the boot of the car . The editing during the kill follows the same slow pattern to expose the audience to the brutal realism of the world that the characters inhabit. The costume and general style used in this scene is typical of the Gangster genre. All three characters wear suits, and have hair that has been combed back in a style the fifties which was when the movie was set. Other iconic films such as “The Godfather” support this smart wealthy image of Italian mafia gangsters wearing these iconic outfits and style. The lighting and setting, aside from the smart suits and haircuts, supports the secretive nature of the events that are taking place as they are in a place where it seems there is no inhabitants. The lighting is minimal, with only the car headlights to light the murder scene with no streetlights to be seen and not another person to be found. The lighting is deliberately dark because the characters are trying to hide their criminal activities and do not want to be seen which was normal to these men at this point in their lives. However, the use of a torch by the men or any other lighting device would have an inappropriate and unrealistic prop given the circumstances. The weapon props however are realistic and are used to define the brutality and ruthlessness of criminals of that level especially the italian mob which was so feared in america so we see the knives and guns they used as an item of portraying of how scared people were of these men at the time. The carving knife, the shovel and the gun all appear in this scene to show that whatever is in making noise in the boot will soon end up dying a very gruesome and painful death at the hands of these men thus the fear and the shaking in the camera work.