Deconstruction - city of God

Another film opening that uses camera work, editing and sound effectively to establish the setting, characters and enigma is ‘City Of God’. A Brazilian crime drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund. It has an unusual and memorable start to the film which helps to establish the enigma and make the audience want to watch the film.

The characters of the film are established later on in the opening scene as the first thing that we see is an extreme close up of a knife being sharpened this creates a sense of danger also the sound of the knife being sharpened is amplified so it is louder adding to the sense of danger it creates as an opening shot. Between each shot of the knife being sharpened of a different side it fades between them so the audience can not see anything else in the shot to add to the enigma as the audience doesn’t know how the events will unfold. The opening scene uses a lot of close ups during the first few minutes as then the audience can only concentrate on small parts such as the knife, the chicken and the vegetables being chopped showing that they are preparing a meal. Even though at this point the audience doesn’t know who the characters are or where they are. Then we see shots of a live chicken followed by the dead chicken so it looks like it is starring at the dead chicken using close ups so he audience can see the live chickens face creating humour as it escape and runs away.

At this point more long shots are being used so that the audience can see more of the buildings and area around where this is taking place, establishing the setting as a poor, urban area. As there are no natural surroundings around it, with dark streets that have graffiti on them, we also know it is a dangerous place as there have been various shots of people with guns and knifes Tracking shots are now being used as the chicken is running away from the people with guns. The audience now understands the setting better but still has no idea who the main characters of the story are yet as the shots have been focused on the chicken whilst the film credits are playing.

It then cuts away to two people walking and talking down a street in a two shot this is important as these are the first characters the film has properly focused on. It then cuts back to the action of the chase where the main character becomes involved in getting the chicken. As the character gets closer to the chicken the camera starts to circle the characters establishing his importance using a dolly. As the camera is circling the character the audience is taken back in time as it fades to a younger boy standing in exactly the same position showing that the circling motion reflects a clock going back. Also there is a non diegetic sound of a ticking clock used to emphasis the change in time. This part of the opening scene establishes character as the audience is following the story of this character back in time.

Fast editing is also used to show how the pace increases which is also reflected in the music played in the background. At the start the music is happy with a Latin feel to it as they are preparing the food like there is something to celebrate, showing the mood to be happy. The happy music stops when it shows a close up of blood in a bowl suggesting danger changing the mood. Voices and movement of people running are amplified also the sounds of the chicken can be heard in the background. The music then starts again when it cuts back to the chicken running.

These two films are similar in the way that they establish enigma by not telling the audience a lot about what is happening and leaving questions to be answered. Also using some of the same kind of shots, close ups to focus the audiences attention on something in the credits that is not that important such as the CCTV screens and a chicken. Although these films are also very different with different ways of establishing character as in ‘Snatch’ the main character was established straight away, where as in ‘City of God’ we do not see any characters for the first few minutes. In ‘Snatch’ it establishes the main character so that enigma can be created, where as ‘City of God’ doesn’t establish the main character but this is also to create enigma.

Deconstruction from the introduction of ‘Snatch’

Snatch is a film written and directed by Guy Ritchie. It uses many clever camera angles and editing techniques to make the opening sequence and tittles flow, making it interesting for the audience. It also uses these techniques to establish the setting and the characters of the film in the opening sequence, as well as establishing an enigma to hook the audience into the plot of the story.

The characters of the film are established through camera work as there are close ups of every main character so the audience knows who they are. Also one of the first shots introduces us to the main character, Turkish, who will narrate the film to the audience. The voice over from Turkish also help the audience to understand him and like his character. The cuts during the opening sequence are slow so the audience can see the characters and understand them. This contrasts with the later opening titles which uses fast paced cuts to make it seem more exciting. We also get a sense of danger from the opening scene as money, guns and characters smoking all are stereotypes of the dangerous gangster image.

Also the music in the opening scene reflects the characters as when they are talking in the very beginning there is no music so the audience can focus on what the characters are saying. However later on during the sequence when they are in disguise as Jews stereotypical Jewish music is played to go with the characters cover. This suddenly changes when they take their disguises off and reveal guns. The music changes to a fast paced high energy song which reflects the change in the characters and helps draw the audience into the storyline.

The setting of the film is established through the opening sequence by using shots that show very little background so that the audience can make their own conclusions. Although we know we are in a city because there are urban buildings and surroundings in the film. We also know that it is set in Britain and probably London as the accents that the characters suggest this. Also some things that the characters say such as ‘I don’t have a very British name’ shows us that we are in Britain.

A sense of enigma is also created from the beginning through that narrator telling the audience things that make people want to know more and ask what happened? And why? So that they will want to watch the rest of the film. Enigma is also created through the action in the opening sequence as the audience will want to know more about the characters stealing the diamonds as the music is exciting and fast and the editing is also fast which reflects the fast action of the sequence and makes the audience want to know more.