At the beginning of the clip, it shows a wide shot of a stereotypical modern city, which is establishing the location of the scene and possibly the film. While the camera zooms into a specific building, low volume, fast paced music is heard. When a window smashes from the building, the music becomes much louder and quicker. This emphasises the window smashing and instantly suggests that something is not right as it is not an ordinary, every-day event. The next shot is from inside the building, showing two masked men who are preparing to zip line to another building. The masked men are used as the narrative enigma of this opening sequence as it allows the audience to question who they are because they are not showing their faces. The masks, which are somewhat creepy looking, gives a sense to the viewer that the men are most possibly the antagonists of this opening scene.
The volume of the music lowers again as the third character is introduced. This character, who is standing in a street, is also carrying a matching mask to the other characters. The camera zooms into the mask which shows that this character is obviously part of the possible crime which is about to take place. When the camera is doing this, it shows it from a low angle, which suggests that this character may have a higher reputation than others. The quiet music is interrupted again by a screeching car which pulls up to the character. This intensifies the music and again, it becomes louder and quicker. This burst of loud music indicates movement and danger which foreshadows what is to come in the clip. The possibility that these men are about to commit a crime is confirmed when it shows they have guns and are loading them in the car. The men also, using their vocals, explain who they are working for and what he looks like. This tells the viewer who the main antagonist of the film is and it reveals a main character of the film without the viewer visually seeing him.
The first murder which is displayed, is on the roof with the two masked men who were first shown at the start of the clip. This introduces a key theme in all thriller films and confirms that these men are extremely dangerous and are committing a serious crime. It quickly becomes clear that the men are attempting to rob a bank, and the men on the roof are there to disable any emergency alarms. When Braking into the safe of the bank, the drill sound becomes much louder than the background music, this emphasises the crime and what they are doing. This occurs again when one of the antagonists pulls out a needle from a grenade which outlines the possible danger. We see the grenade through a match on action editing technique, this technique is used to show clearly that the grenade is armed and could detonate in seconds, as well as the fact that the antagonist is giving it to one of their hostages.
The masked antagonists, are all wearing black or dark coloured clothing. Not only is this very stereotypical of bank robbers, but it also adds to the narrative enigma of these characters as it does not provide any clues to who they are. The man who works in the bank who attacks the masked villains is also dressed very stereotypically for a man in his profession (wearing a suit). When this man attacks the robbers with a small shotgun, he is shown in a medium close-up tracking shot. This shot is used because it clearly shows the expression on the man’s face and it also shows the pace of which the man is moving. The volume of music is slowly rising during the attack, which builds tension, up to the point in which the bank man runs out of bullets. This is followed by an awkward silence which shows suspense and hints that the once promising attack from this man has failed.
Near the end of this clip, there is a shot reverse shot of the two bank robbers. This shows that they are looking and talking to each other, as well as showing their body language. In this case, one of them is pointing a gun at the other. There is also an over the shoulder shot which highlights the fact that one of the men is a pointing a gun at the other.
In conclusion, I think the purpose of this film opening was to introduce some of the key themes in the film and to give the viewer a presumption of who the main antagonist is and who the main protagonist’s enemy is. The narrative of this film opening centres on a serious crime which is both theft and murder. This also lets us assume that crime, murder, unordinary events and danger are all a key feature in this film.
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