Opening Sequence Analysis

Shifty is an urban thriller about a day in the life of a crack cocaine dealer. The film follows his struggles and the dangerous situations that face him every day. As our film is also about a day in the life of a character, I thought this would be a good title sequence to evaluate.

Sound: The sound is mellow and sad, which creates a sombre mood and all sound is non-diagetic.

Shots: There are a variety of shots used, including close-ups, medium shots and long shots.

Titles: The titles are white and very plain. The font is also plain and so it doesn’t indicate the genre.

This is the first shot of the opening sequence, and it shows a man by himself on a coach. His face has little expression, and looks sad just like the weather outside the coach. The shot is a long shot, and it is shaky so it makes the fact he’s on a coach seem more realistic.

This shot introduces us to the character. It’s a close up so that we can see his full expression and he is staring blankly with his headphones in. All sound is the non-diagetic soundtrack.

This introduces the setting, a block of flats on an estate in a run down area. It sets the scene.

This next shot introduces us to another character, and suggests he’s the main character as the title of the film is over him. It shows him walking away from a block of flats wearing all black.

This shot introduces the theme of the film, drugs. The birds eye view shows little of the setting and makes the viewer question who this character is, and what they have to do with the storyline.