Analysis of the Opening Sequence of The Departed

THE DEPARTED

When an opening sequence is long winded, the audience will be inclined to take a lengthy time in actually responding to the film. I believe an efficient opening sequence will get straight to the point and although it won’t give away to the storyline to the audience it will give them a strong idea about the genre - feeding them enough information to keep them entertained. However, narrative enigma is also important and unanswered questions are one of the main reasons why somebody will watch on into a film. Therefore, I believe by analysing the opening sequence of ‘The Departed’ the desired examples and techniques which make a good opening sequence will be used.

When trying to give off a certain mood to the audience, the music which is used needs to be suitable and well thought out. It is effortless to place any music in an opening sequence and still have an effect, but when the director wants the audience to really connect and get involved in the film, the music they choose needs to be strategic. To begin the sequence, instant ambient noises of birds are heard, this could be deceptive for the audience, as typically the sound of birds singing are generally associated with a peaceful and tranquil feeling. However, after watching on a little further the diegetic sound of the gangs fighting transforms the mood and gives a prompt insight to what the genre is related to. Gang crime? At 23 seconds, a man starts to speak. The first line he says is “I don’t want to be a product of the environment, I want the environment to be a product of me” even though this does make sense, it can be rather confusing for the audience to comprehend, this leads them to subconsciously watch on in order to unravel more of his character. At 43 seconds fast, upbeat music starts to play. The man is still speaking at this point, but at 1:48 the music gets louder and becomes more apparent. Another line he later says is “20 years after an Irishman couldn’t get a f***ing job, we had presidency, may rest in peace.. That’s what the n****** don’t realise”. This is quite unexpected, and gives the audience a further opinion of this character, he seems quite aggressive and heated and because the audience doesn’t realise why, narrative enigma is successfully created resulting in them wanting to find out more. The music itself doesn’t have a great impact on stating the genre, but the representation of the mans character and what he says makes it fairly obvious.

The camera movements, shots and angles are also imperative when analysing an opening sequence. The establishing shot to start the scene off, pretty much sums the mood of the audience. It shows that the people there do not respect their environment, and due to the fact a handheld shot is used when filming the boys fighting, makes the audience feel like they are truly involved in the scene. It is evident the person filming the fight is doing so for entertainment purposes, and this accurately sets out the genre for the audience, resulting in the dominant ideologies of the film being negative. When the camera cuts away to the school children on the bus, a close up is used of the young girls cheerful face, this could propose that she is familiar with situations like this, and for her it has become a norm. Finally, a quick pan is used to show a cluster of people on one side of the road (we make the assumption they are rioters) and a group of policeman on the other. This illustrates the opposing relationship between the two, and the representation of the two different set of characters this film is going to propose. Below are screen shots of points made.

The editing of this clip additionally plays a part in making the opening sequence of this film successful. The director uses a chain of short takes, this speeds up the action making it seem extra dramatic for the audience. However, at 1:00 when the man is talking, a long take is used, this could make the audience feel uncomfortable, and leave them on edge thinking something unexpected is going to happen. There is a cross cut of the fighting and the man (in his policeman uniform) waving on traffic at the opening , this could confuse the audience, again creating narrative enigma. Due to the fact the opening sequence doesn’t run in a linear narrative, there will be many questions that the audience will want to be answered, this will result in them watching on further. Below are screenshots of the editing of this sequence.











I personally think the mis-en-scene doesn’t reveal a lot about the genre of the film, though some hints are given. The main colours used are yellows, blacks and grays - these colours are associated with danger but this is not enough alone to give the audience a dominant ideology, or represent the characters well. We see that the man is dressed in a policeman’s uniform, this does indicate his occupation but still doesn’t tell us enough about him as a character. However, when we do get further into the clip and there is a long take of the man is talking, low key lighting is used. This has a virtuous effect, and successfully makes the character seem shady, dangerous and untrustworthy. Here are screenshots to demonstrate the low key lighting.











In conclusion, more through the sound, camera and editing the genre is clearly stated, resulting in the dominant ideologies revolving around crime. The representation of the main character is put across well, but conversely the conventional elements (the credits at the beginning) do not have a great effect in regards to the genre. The audience may not distinguish how to react when the sequence first starts, but certainly towards the end they have made their own assumptions on what they think.