A perfect example of all this would be the film Carlito's Way; directed by Brian De Palma, the story tells of a big-time criminal released from prison who vows to go straight and retire with his estranged partner on a paradise island, but is continuously unwillingly dragged back into criminal activities by friends and associates.
Below are a series of screengrabs which summarise the whole opening.
Here we are introduced to how the titles and credits appear (all credits are done in this same style). As you can see, the visual presentation is quite unoriginal but the form in which they appear, as if being typed up, (using typewriter sound effects) goes well in the style of police procedural. One could say it is a representation of a report on the case being typed up by an officer.
This is the very first shot we see, and I think it sets the (dark) tone quite well: the grey colour, the obviousness that he is in custody (location, costume, handcuffs), his hopeless/defeated position and the high-angle which gives that sense of vulnerability informs the audience straight away that this isn't a cheerful tale. We used the conventions (used in nearly all crime-associated films in which a character is arrested) of including a police location as well as a prison outfit and handcuffs as they make it plain obvious to the audience that the character has been arrested, which the viewer has know.
These two shots are almost back-to-back, there is just one in between of the character Jay (I wont refer to him as Louis as Louis is the actor!) coming in from outside (with which we did a match on action of him opening the door). It is quite cliche to have the cheating womans boyfriend come home right as they happen to be hitting the sack and a bit unrealistic - wouldn't she have made absolute sure he wouldnt come back whilst they go at it? It is very common to use the theme of unfaithfulness in any type of film, and we decided to use it as we thought it was an emotional enough occurrence to provoke Jay into comitting the crime.
Filming this shot was a bit frustrating due to the unenthusiasm of the actors, one more than the other but I wont be naming names now! This is what Jay sees as he peeks into the room, and it's a pivotal moment for him as it sends him into a great amount of shock and anger. It's supposed to be that they are having intercourse, but as you can see they are just laid next to each other not doing anything which is quite unrealistic and kind of ruins the story, as viewers may laugh at the awkwardness of this. The actors were so frigid, they could of just climbed on top of each other and stayed there for just ten seconds or have just one of them in the bed bouncing up and down and being filmed from an angle that would make it seem the other is in the bed underneath them but noo, not even that. Anyway, the lighting and colour is good: the lamp gives a cosy lighting (reflecting the mood between the two lovers), and the duvet is red, the colour associated with passionate and/or seductive traits, as well as being known as the colour of danger.
The shot of the two in bed fades quickly to this, which works well as it implies that his immediate method of comfort is in alcohol. Use of alcohol is conventional in any films associated with the drama genre, either to establish a character's personality or as a realistic answer to a character's problems and we used it for both of those reasons as well as to let the viewer know that Jay is not in the right state of mind when he kills his friend.
The idea of having him stood in front of a mirror came from having seen in many films a scene when a character is stood in front of a mirror and is in a moment of reflection on their actions, wether done or upcoming, a notable example being the film Taxi Driver. Also, the lighting here is effective as it shows him as a complete dark figure, representing the troubled position he is further digging himself into.
The shot here is succesful in portraying Jay as threatening, it looks like something like a still from a slasher film. The weapon is slighty unconventional as mostly it is a gun and not a kitchen knife.
Here is the entrance of the interrogator, who enters and sits straight down without bothering for an introduction. This kind of straight-to-the-point attitude is somewhat predictable for police characters. We tried to make his clothing as realistic as we could, but I think it was an error to have me holding the truncheon like that as if I was about to use it, as it kind of gives a suggestion that he's about to start whacking the prisoner which was not meant.
DUN DUN DUUUN!!!
Although I like the name Lethal Affair, and it pretty much rounds-up the story, it seems too hard-to-take-serious for a film that has a serious style. If one went to a DVD rental shop and saw a film with this title, they would assume it is some erotic-thriller type film kind of like Basic Instinct with lots of innuendo and a seductive saxophone filled soundtrack. Our opening doesn't really challenge the cliches and conventions to be expected really, the only slight departure is that our storyline does not involve a criminal trying to leave the lifestyle as is mostly featured; just a normal guy who goes a little crazy one unfortunate night and probably ruins his life.
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