Analysis of 'The Maltese Falcon' opening scene

This movie's opening scene manages to grab the audience's interest through the different techniques, codes and conventions of the film noir genre throughout it.

 

The first noticeable technique is probably how the movie starts with the opening credits where there is music playing during it which is non-diegetic, the music has an intense feel to it as it uses quite loud instruments such as violins and trumpets. The choice of these instruments helps to build an idea for the audience of the storyline of the movie as it is common for these types of instruments to be used in creating the intensity due to the fact that the instruments can sound so strong and confident, which could be representing the main characters personality towards his job. However the music is quite lively and the detective is known to be quite calm and collected.

 

Another technique used is the range of shots, the first main one would be the establishing shot which gives the audience an aerial view of San Francisco, this helps to give the audience an insight of where the story is set. We know it is San Francisco because it actually says this on the screen in text over the establishing shot and is multiple times during the scene. It may have been pointed out so blatantly because San Francisco is/was known to have a quite a high crime count so may foreshadowing the drama that will happen throughout the film, it has been used in many different film noirs and has become a stereotypical location for these films to set in. Also during these establishing shots the view is shown to be moving from right to left or zooming out in order to give the audience a better views of the city, as well it gives them an idea of how big the location that the film is set in is. During the scene there is a lady that is telling her distressing story to the detective, we get to see all of her emotions due to the close ups of the woman's face, it helps the audience to understand that she is in need of help. There is then a shot of a window that has writing on it, which reads 'Arthur and Spade', which we presume to be the companies name in which he is4being shot up right at the two characters, this time we are viewing it as a shadow which could be representing the mystery of the film because shadows sometimes cover up things that would otherwise have been seen. Another thing is that when we first see the writing on the window of the two names it is backwards so is harder to read but when we next see it as a shadow it is the correct way round, perhaps this could be trying to foreshadow how something may be distorted when you first view it but when you look around you can find the true meaning (the femme fatale).

 

Class is shown quite a bit throughout the opening scene which helps to give the audience a further understanding to how the characters may act and behave during the film (e.g. the upper class are known to be more snobby and uptight than the other classes) In this movie’s opening scene it shows a lady wearing a very expensive and posh looking dress with an eye catching hat with a fur shawl, this all suggest that she is in the upper class because during the years that this movie was set this was the best fashion out there and would have been very expensive and hard to get, the idea that she is of upper class is supported a little later on in the scene as she has to pay the men for their services and asks if what she has given the man is enough, which indicates that she is willing to pay more because she can. The men could've also been viewed as high class as well, again, due to the clothes they are wearing which is very neat looking suits with no creases, which gives the impression that they care a lot about their appearance. Similarly their hairstyles contribute to this because it is very neat and there's not a hair out of place which suggests their very well put together, perhaps this is because they have the money for it. The men were also seen smoking cigars which could indicate their class as they would've been expensive in the years the movie was set during.

 

In film noirs they are the stereotypical characters that are used a lot in all of the movies and in 'The Maltese Falcon' those stereotypical characters have been indicated straight away to which character play which role in the movie. First off there is the 'Damsel in Distress' who may turn out to be the femme fatale who will hurt out main character in whatever ways possible in order to get what she wants, this is known as the spider and the fly storyline which is a very stereotypical narrative for film noirs. The femme fatale will trick the main character by acting all sweet and innocent to begin with (which we observe in the opening scene) in order to get the males to fall for her so it will be easier to manipulate them and acting like she needs to be saved may help her do this as the men will feel masculine if they help the damsel to feel safe. In the scene the lady also did not make much eye contact with the detective perhaps as to seem as if she felt a bit intimidated by him because of the power he had in the position of work he has. This is can be supported with the way the women is speaking, she is talking rather fast as if she wants to finish as soon as possible, and again this may be down to nerves or intimidation. Furthermore when the second man, Miles, enters the office we can see the woman shuffling nervously in her chair, again, suggesting that the men have some kind of dominance over her. The men in the opening scene seem to contrast the upper-class lady's feelings as she was very nervous with very rigid body language whereas the detectives postures couldn't be anymore more relaxed or slouched, this could be due to the stereotypical male characters which are always calm and collected with very little emotions because they need to stay strong for their work. They are leaning all across their desks and as well as leaning back in the chair whilst the lady is the complete opposite. A female secretary was introduced early on in the scene and was called 'sweetheart' and 'darling' which shows how woman were portrayed in movies in those years, only in the movie for sexual reasons. The private detective also repeats what he says to his secretary, which suggests that he thinks of her as a bit thick and wouldn't understand him the first time.

Model of Genre Development - Metz Theory

Christian Metz explored the development of Genre film in his book 'Language and Cinema' (1974) and came up with his own theory that genres pass through four phases of development.

1) The experimental - The Cabinet of Dr Calgari (1919)

2) The classic - Dracula (1931)

3) The parody - Scary Movie (1998)
4) The deconstruction - The Blair Witch Project (1998)


The Experimental Phase
This is the first phase of Christian Metz's theory, it suggests that the first few years of a genre are just an experimental stage where the movies are played around with trying to find out which story lines will attract the audiences, which codes and conventions work in the genre that they trying to create. This whole process is what helped to shape how the genre came to be.


The Classic Phase
The second section to Metz's theory, it is when the genre has really been defined and the codes and conventions have been set and will be followed by other movie makers so that their film goes into that specific genre
The third section to Metz's theory is the parody stage, this became popular during the 90's and it gave the usually tense scenes of the horror genres a more comedic side. It mocks the stereotypical codes and conventions of the genre, such as when the main character goes to look at what the loud noise was.
The final phases of Metz's theory is called the deconstruction and it consists of copying the main codes and conventions of the genre but modernising them.

Stereotypical Representation of Thriller/Horror

The Thriller and Horror genres have very similar stereotypical representations that have been carried on for many years, the most well known ones for gender and ethnicity are:


Cultural Bias - All over Hollywood the leading character has always been a white male character with the side-kick or the minor roles being played by a black, ethic and minority actors, however this very old tradition has started to be broken over the years with actors of other races as appose to just white have started to play the lead. Specifically in the horror and thriller role it has always been known to have a white male protagonist as the main role.


Gender Bias - In the thriller genre females have always played the 'damsel in distress' roles and the main hero male character will be the one to save her. Or if not that then she will be the femme fatale who's role is to seduce the main male character in order to get him to help her gets what she wants. The female characters are never the main characters who saves the day.


Heterosexual Bias - Also having a homosexual/lesbian main character is very rare in any genre, only recently has any kind of homosexual/lesbian relationship been introduced in movies to be a side story let alone the main couple. This may be because in thriller/horror the main character is usually one to have a lot of power or in an important job so them being openly gay may make them seem less manly.


Examples of all three of these together is Dracula, a white male who bites the necks of women  (most commonly) and in some instances can control people, so shows that he has a lot of power.

MR JUDGE FEEDBACK

This is in addition to the previous feedback which hasn't been attended to:

1.   TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE OPENING OF SE7EN WITH IMAGES AND VIDEO EMBED FOR SE7EN

2.   CHRISTIAN METZ MODELS OF GENRE DEVELOPMENT – HORROR (12D ONLY) + IMAGES

3.   FILM NOIR & HISTORY OF GENRE (HSR) + IMAGES/VIDEO EMBEDS

4.   STEREORTYPICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THRILLER/HORROR GENRES/CHARACTERS

5.   TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF OPENING OF A HORROR FILM – WOMEN IN BLACK/SCREAM etc.

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Analysis of the Spectre trailer

The trailer for 007 Spectre movie had a lot of different techniques used within it to create its attention-grabbing and suspenseful atmosphere.

An example of one of the techniques is the many different shot types. The trailer opens with an establishing shot to set the scene (Mexico City) they have used this particular shot in the scene the people in it can be seen celebrating ‘The Day of the Dead’, which, with just the name of the day, could be interpreted as foreshadowing all the action and death to come in the movie.

The next gripping part of the trailer is when we have a two shot of a man wearing a mask, accompanied by a lady, this quickly transitions into a fast pasted fade out which then reveals the next shot to be a close up of just the masked man. This draws our attention to the man making it clear that he will have some sort of importance to the film. The mask he is wearing is of a skull which could be viewed as, again, foreshadowing his role in the movie (e.g. murderer). However not knowing exactly who he is behind that mask creates mystery and more tension. Additional uncertainty is added due to the non-diegetic sound added in, the noises are very loud compared to the music and speech already in the trailer which could be in an attempt to convey that the character will have a big impact in the film. Also the noise is very fast paced and snappy, just like the transitions.

Pyrotechnics are next used in the trailer to create the feeling of action and danger. This specific one was of a building being blown up by Bond. This technique could’ve been used to grab a certain type of audience to watch the film, boys, as they are stereotypically more attracted to dangerous and action packed films.

There is a subjective point of view shot used when Bond is talking to a lady. A diegetic sound of the Bond theme is being played at this moment which could be showing that she will be one of the Bond girls in the movie, as it this is a reoccurring theme in the Bond films.

Another part to draw in a certain audience could be the car scene where two characters seem to be having a race in their cars with the diegetic sounds of the engines, so again could be interpreted as trying to draw in the male viewers as that is what they are commonly known to like. To help add the action of the race the cars are being tracked horizontally by the cameras to show more of the race and perhaps to make it seem as if the audience were actually there watching race instead of just keeping the camera in one set position, it gives the feel as if somebody were turning their head to watch it.

There is an extreme close up of a ring with a symbol on it, this certain shot is emphasising the importance of the symbol because of how close it is. This creates uncertainty and tension for the audience because they know that ring must have some importance but not what that is.

There is a part of the trailer where the has just been a fight section and then the non-diegetic music suddenly stops, this creates tension for the audience because the scene has also just faded out, leaving a blank screen this may leave the viewers thinking the trailer has finished for just a second, leaving them wanting more.

There is a handheld shot of a wall that has names on, the one that stands out it James Bonds’ which is in a red, this could be representing blood and all the death that will come in the movie. The handheld shot may have been used in a subjective point of view to show Bonds’ nerves as the camera shakes a little because he was seen in the shot before looking at the writing.

There is a part of dialogue used to create tension which was the rhetorical question ‘What took you so long?’ this makes it seem as if the person asking the question has planned for Bond to be there and that Bond is now in trouble because he has fallen into their plan and is now trapped and the audience will be wanting to know how Bond got into that situation.

Blue Velvet Analysis

The scene begins with a transition from a curtain of blue velvet into the clear blue sky, the transition used is fade in. This transition was used to show how calm the town is to create a tranquil vibe so the audience is unaware of what is to come, the fact that the sky is clear also continues that feeling as it completely clear which could be representing how the town/community is perfect and how nothing eventful usually happens.

The shot then pans down to a view of a white picket fence and some roses growing. This helps to continue the feeling of serenity as picket fences are usually associated with the perfect traditional family home, perhaps this is because of how fences create a sense of safety as they are stopping anything from entering, the colour of the fence also portrays a nice family home as white sometimes represents something of purity as it isn't tarnished with anything else or it could be viewed as clean as white is sometime the colour of something new and unused. Roses are occasionally used to show love which could be thought of as the innocence of the town as sometimes roses are usually given to people you love. Some flowers are shown not long after, however these are daffodils. Daffodils are known to have the symbolic meaning of temperance and calm, they were probably used to create this effect of the whole town.

The innocence of the flowers is continued as the scene, again, transitions smoothly into another to show a lollipop lady helping some children across the street, which has no danger to it all and helps to portray how the community is quite close to one another as they care about the children's safety, not all towns have this.  The non-diegetic music playing also helps to keep this vibe as well as serenity because its not very fast and just keeps to a very simple and basic melody that does not build up at any point. 

The non-diegetic music playing throughout the whole opening scene maintains the calm atmosphere as it has minimal layers, keeping the sound very basic and serene, the song does not build up and stays like this for the whole scene to keep the audience thinking that the scene will be uneventful but by the end of the scene the music and what is on the screen are contrasting immensely. Also there is diegetic noises of birds chirping which suggests that the town is very calm as birds don't usually like loud noises or feeling as if they are in danger, so for them to be chirping freely says that they feel safe.

Also during this section we see a red fire truck drive past houses with a man and dog waving whilst going past, this suggests that the town is quite happy and friendly as fire trucks are usually only used in emergencies but this one is just patrolling the town as there doesn't seem to be any trouble.

Then we cut to a lady sat in her house watching TV and on the screen is somebody holding a gun, this could be foreshadowing that something bad or to do with death is going to happen further into the film. Next the scene cuts to a man watering his flowers, we had actually seen this man earlier on in this sequence so him being shown multiple times could be suggesting that this man has some sort of importance to the movie, we get this idea because if he didn't have any importance its unlikely he'd be shown more than once (e.g. the man on the fire truck).


Where the hose is connected to the wall is then shown, it is spurting water out the sides of the tap which portrays that there is something wrong with it as this is not a normal thing for a hose to do, this, again, foreshadows that something bad is going to happen because the bad things/aspects keep building up. Then it cuts to a shot of the man pulling at the hose because it is caught on something. To carry on building the tension and suspense there are three shots that are shown multiple times: the man pulling/checking the hose, the hose being wrapped around something and the tap at which the hose is connected. This build tension because these three shots being shown repeatedly are also very quick and snappy shots which makes the audience want to know what is wrong. Also at this point the audio is also building suspense because the calm music is being covered up by the dramatic noises of the water hissing out the sides of the tap and what seems to be to water gurgling up to the tap.

After this the man then grabs his neck in pain and collapses to the floor. When the man writhing around on the ground he is also making gargling noises die the pain he is in. Once the man has stop moving and we guess is unconscious we also see a baby (which could be representing the man's innocence to whatever happened to him) and also a dog drinking the water from the hose.

Lastly we see what I assume to be a POV shot of something moving in the grass. At this point the non-diegetic music is very very faint in the background as its being covered up by the diegetic noises of the grass being moved by whatever we are seeing through the eyes of. This portrays to be whatever the thing is to be dangerous as the cheerful music has stopped in its presence, suggesting that this creature is not cheerful.

Genres and Film Noir

Genres
Where did genres come from?
Genres originated in the 20's, this happened because they just started to produce the films that were popular at the time. This was because this was when entertainment was becoming more popular as technology was advancing quite a lot.

How did the 'Golden Age of Hollywood' reinforce genres?
Film companies would produce films of a similar story as they knew that people would watch it because they were a popular type of film at the time. And as time went on peoples interest would change so genres were made more noticeable.

Which Genres became popular in Hollywood?
Genres such as film noirs became popular during the 20's because people were interested in the mystery and action of it all, it may have also been popular because of the females which were sometime the femme fatale who were shown to be strong and powerful, which was new for movies at this time. Westerns also became favoured, this may have been because they showed different cultures which a lot of people may have been unaware of, perhaps also because of the action and guns used in the films. Other genres that were popular were musicals and science fictions.

Why do audiences like genre films?
I think that people may like to have genres because when they do watch the film they may have a small idea of what they are going to see so can judge if they're going to like it, meaning they may be saving because they won't be wasting their time with a genre they don't like.



Codes and conventions of film noirs
Codes and conventions are used in films to help make the film fit the genre they are trying to make. Film noirs have quite unique codes and conventions, this is important because it helps to create the movies moods and atmosphere. Examples of some of the codes and conventions are:

• Characters - the most common ones being the detective or the hero and the femme fatale and the main storyline will revolve around these two characters as the femme fatale will begin in the movie acting all innocent which makes the main male character fall for her, but then he will be betrayed by her to get what she wants.
• Lighting - used in these films are usually quite similar as the movies are in black and white and the scenes are usually very dark in order to maintain the movies atmosphere of mystery. Silhouette and shadows are two examples of how this is created because as you cannot see the whole picture is leaves the audience wanting to know what it is in the darkness. This could be considered to be a type of restricted narrative.
• Narrative - the spider and the fly is probably the most commonly used narrative in film noirs as it very easy one to create as it is basically that the main female character will seduce the main male into helping her to get what she wants before exposing that she did it all for selfish reasons, so captures him in her 'web'. There is sometimes a voice-over during the movie which helps to give the audience an idea to what character that's doing it opinion or feelings are.

Film Noir
Film Noirs became popular during the 1920's, this may have been because of the new narrative they used of the spider and fly which would've been portrayed by the hero, main male character (fly) and the femme fatale (spider), which may have drawn the audiences in due to its sexual nature which was a new aspect to the film world in those years.

Mr Judge feedback

Complete the following tasks ASAP 3. NO PRELIMINARY TASK EVALUATION EVIDENT 4. NO BLUE VELVET TEXTUAL ANALYSIS (COULD USE BOND: SPECTRE INSTEAD) 5. NO BLUE VELVET SCREEN GRABS IN PLACE 6. NO SE7EN TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN EVIDENCE 7. NO SCREEN GRABS FROM SE7EN TO ILLUSTRATE POINTS 8. NO work on GENRE from Mr Rutherford

Conventions of an Opening Scene

In an opening scene, a lot of different effects are used to capture the audiences attention immediately so they will continue watching. The features are essential for a good opening scene as it gives the audience some information about the film, who will be in it, a vague introduction of what the film will be about, who directed it etc. ,so will capture their interest right from the beginning.

• The title of the film is very important for the opening scene as it shows the audience what film they are actually watching and helps to give a tiny glimpse of what the film will be about, the font could also help. For example in a horror movie a cliché title would be red with the letters looking as if they were dripping which could foreshadow the death that will occur in the film.
• Names of the actors and people who worked on the film (e.g. director, producer, production company) are also titles of the film but they may attract the audience for a different reason because somebody may only be watching the film because their favourite actor/actress is included in the movie.
• Sounds used in the opening scene are crucial, whether they are diegetic or non-diegetic as they both help the audience to understand the film. As diegetic is more useful for helping with the actual narrative of the film, non-diegetic is more to aid the development of the atmosphere in the film.
• Perhaps the most essential thing needed in an opening scene is grabbing the audiences attention with the hook. If there is no hook then nobody will want to continue watching as it hasn't got them interested on what will happen.
• Another useful aspect is the shots used during the opening scene as it gives the audience an idea of where the movie is set this would be done with an establishing shot, or who will be the main characters in the film which could be established with close ups.
• An introduction to the main character(s) could also be used as it makes it clear who will be in the film at what their personality is like and just get to know them a little.
• An enigma is also commonly used as it makes the audience question which grips them to the movie as they will want their questions answered as it is an element of mystery.