Genre conventions:
We have the main character who starts off comitting a crime and is probably unliked by the audience. This type of character features as a lead in many films, starting off bad but then regretting the incident. This is like the lead character from the film American History X - a white supremacist who murders two black thugs and is sent to jail, but sees the error of his ways (and tries to stop his younger brother from going down the same path). This form of character storyline falls into the trait of an anti-hero.
The overall atmosphere of the opening is generally dark given the context (murder, unfaithfulness, depression, crime) which is also represented by the cinematography as the scenes have low/dark lighting to them apart from when the interrogator enters towards the end where it is quite bright. Here are some screengrabs so you can see for yourself:
As you can see, the final frame kind of stands out like a sore thumb as it's brighter. One could interpret it as a turning point of some kind, as everything else is Jay reflecting alone. It's conventional for films of this genre to have this sort of style to them as it's realistic (if it was light and/or funny then it would be a crime comedy).
The narrative is linear, with flashbacks. The use of flashbacks is common in crime films, as it allows the audience to learn more about a character or the plot. These three conventions I have discussed will gather interest from our audience.
The use of music is for now one track that plays over the whole thing. It is part of the soundtrack to the film Schindler's List composed by John Williams so there is a potential problem that it may be easily recognised music. We will ask the teacher about that. The music is quite ideal as it goes with the material greatly. Though we currently have it playing throughout the whole opening, I think it would be better to have it fade out once all the flashbacks have finished, as it could represent Jay clearing his head and paying attention to the interrogator. Using this style of music (classical) really gives the film an impression of a film noir, as it gives a mature approach as opposed to giving an urban approach (which is much more common in modern days) by inserting a hip-hop soundtrack. The Usual Suspects also had classical music as its soundtrack, so there is another a comparison to that film.
The mise-en-scene is very conventional of the genre (knife, police custody room, alcohol, a street as a murder location). I think using the surveillance camera point-of-view is an original idea as that kind of shot isn't used much. The editing is fairly standard, we have a a short montage set after Jay sees his mate and gally in bed; however, because we used me as a double for Louis in a couple of scenes some people may get the impression that it is actually two different people which is bad. Our USP is the use of flashbacks as they are the main plot-point,
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