I have chosen to review the first fifteen minutes of 'The Departed' which is similar to our film. the Departed is from director Martin Scorsese a director famous for his gangster crime films such as 'Goodfellas'. Scorsese has never been scared to push the boundaries and his films are known for very strong language and violence, this is similar to our film as they are both for a mature adult audience.
I have chosen this film because it's storyline revolves around betrayal as mob boss Frank Costello (played by Jack Nicholson) has a man undercover in the police, however the police have a man undercover in the mob. At the end they all realsie what is going on and a lot of people are double crossed. This is similar to our film because the ending also contains a betrayal as Chad Dawson is killed.
The film opens with a black screen and white writing reading 'Boston, some years ago' this establishes the setting. This then cuts to what looks like news footage and from the people we see their clothes and setting give the audience the idea it is around the 1970's. Over this there is a narration (non diagetic) talking about the area and it's trouble, on screen we see rioting. The voice is a man with a gritty, low tone of voice which gives a sinister sort of feel. As the narration continues it cuts to a long shot, on a dolly following a man from the sideas he walks along. However the lighting is dark and the man is in the shadows meaning we can't see any of his features, this keeps the audience intrigued and in suspense but also makes the character darker in a way evil.
As he walks we see him smoking and the camera gradually zooms in on the side of his face, from this we still don't get to see his face just that he is wearing sunglasses and has a beard, he walks off camera and the shot cuts to an establishing wide shot of a cafe. The camera moves into the cafe which feels like your walking in, this gives a different perspective for the audience.
A medium shot showing a man behind the counter and a man with his back to us being served, however this is not the case as a close up then shows the shopkeep handing money back then a medium shot from the side where we can tell the man being served is the man from the previous scene in the shadows. He says 'don't make me come down here again.' The audience can now tell he is a powerful character. Close ups on the people around show they are nervous and scared around him. the man starts talking to a child sat at the counter, close ups on the child again show fear but as the man buys the childs shopping then gives him money we can see this man is very rich, he then offers the child a chance to make some extra money. We then see an over the shoulder shot showing the child walking away cutting to medium shots of the same child at church cut between long shots of the same child looking slightly older in a garage talking to the man from before (Frank Costello), who is again in the shadows showing darkness. He is talking about someone who tried to tell him what to do which is when the camera cuts to a medium shot of Costello, low angle looking up at him to show power, shooting a gun towards the camera which cuts to a high angle shot of a man falling to the ground with his hands tied behind his back, then a wide shot showing him shoot a women crouched next to him. It is now the audience know this film is going to be about crime, and the setiing of a beach and them having their hands tied gives the impression it is organized crime and Frank Costello is a mobster.
When the scene returns to the garage the camera is moving behind Costello using an over the shoulder shot so we can see him talking to the child. In this shot we can make out Costello is smoking a cigarette, however the next shot, a low angle shot looking up at him giving him power, he doesn't have the cigarette in his mouth. This is a continuity mistake that is very careless for such a great director and hopefully we will not make any obvious mistakes like this. he talks about being cops or criminals and the line 'When your facing a loaded gun, whats the difference?' stands out and gives the audience more of an idea it's about crime. As thecamera shows a close up of the childs face it cuts to the same shot n an adult (Matt Damon) this is a good shot because they look similar and the shot hasn't changed, the audience instantly knows it haas gone on in time and that the child has grown up. However when it zooms out we establish he has become a policeman. we see him going trough training, then we see a smiliar medium shot of another police man (Leonard Di Caprio) who is taking an exam.
It is now we hear a lot of very strong language and sex references that are frequent in every sentence and blend into conversation with their common use. The strong language is very common in crime films like this.
Editting here has got faster as it shows a graduation, it quickly cuts between close ups of different parts of the police uniform (gun, badge etc.) The fast editting establishes and speeds up the sequence which is showing a training process that will have taken months and fits it into aorund a minute.
A long shot showing a car pulling up with Costello inside cutting to a close up of Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) tells the audience taht something isn't right and that he still knows Costello. We see him in the car being given a gift and we then know he is still working for the mob.
There are two main costumes in the opening sequence, the police costumes then Frank Costello in a suit, this shows power and is similar to ours because we wear suits which makes us look more organized.
A shot I really liked was an iris which shows a black screen with a small circle where we can see a man standing at a road crossing, this zooms out showing the rest of the scene, we see a big building, but I like this shot because it is a very good way of making you focus on that man. A close up then shows the man is Sullivan which cuts to a craning shot looking down on him climbing stairs up the building, this is a good way of following him walking. Inside we have an establishing long shot of him in an office talking to two men. Over the shoulder shots and medium shots are mixed together here during the conversation, and it is eddited so we see who is talking then as they are talking it cuts to the other persons reaction. As he walks out we see a man sat waiting outside the office (Billy Costigan played by Leonardo Di Caprio) who we remember from before, he then goes into the office to talk to the two detectives. The shots are again similar to the previous office conversation. Costigan is then asked to go undercover in Costello's mob. this is cut between Sullivan sat in a briefing office being told about Costello.
throughout this certain parts have had very simple, quiet, relaxing guitars but as Costigan says he'l do it everyone has their role, and an up beat loud rock song kicks in followed by the title in white letters on a black background, standing out to the audience.
The sequence contains items we associate with mob films, alcohol, guns, money, cigars and cigarettes.
The lighting at the start is dark which is another thing we associate with crime.
Overall I like the opening sequence to this film because in the first fifteen minutes we know the role of the characters, Sullivan is undercover in the police and Costigan is undercover in the mob.
It uses characteristics we used in our films such as suits on our gangsters to make them look organized, props such as guns, cigarettes and cars.
Also there are many shots I liked that are in our film for example over the shoulder shots to establish the setting and characters and close ups to show emotion.
