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.
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.
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