GoodFella's opening sequence

As the film opens out with the first shot it is of a black screen with the first set of titles in white, the titles then move quickly across the screen right to left and they are centred. The sound of speeding cars are in the background. The tempo in which the titles move across the screen were sued to symbolize the speeding cars. This then cuts onto tracking shot of the camera following a large car while it is driving on a dark, small unlit road. This film was distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by Martin Scorcese which shows that this movie was a big budget film. The tracking shot of the car causes the audience to to wonder why they are following the car.
This shot may also suggest the car is being followed. The camera tracks up along side the car and then cuts to the inside of the car where the audience can view the characters for the first time. This is a medium shot and is where the action and dialogue starts. The camera then cuts from inside the car to the the car pulling up in a deserted, dimly lit, wonodland space. This is a medium shot and gives and gives an eery, sinister atmosphere. The dark unlit road in which the car was driving on could signal the dark side of crime. The dim lights within the car and the darkness outside of the car would suggest that the characters ay be criminal deviants.
The camera shows the characters then cuts to the boot, then back to the characters with the clanking noise in the background. The camera shows the driver approaching nervously cuts to his hands unlocking the boot and opening and revealing a body wrapped up in cloth. The camera cuts tot the three characters standing alongside one another in an american shot, only showing them from knee level upwards. The second set of titles then begins with crooning music (love songs made in the 40's and 50's) this sets the era for the 'flashback' to when the character was a child. The crooning music chnages the era from the 70's back to the 50's. This also sets the scene for how he first got into crime.
The title of the movie being shown in red signalling the 'gangster' movie idea. The red font colour could also refer to violence, blood and anger. This film opening sequence has influence the way I have been thinking of choosing to build suspense in my own opening sequence. The violence in the first few minutes of the opening gripped the viewer and therefore persuaded me to use this sort of scene in my opening scene. The violence sets the genre clearly to the viewer and also makes them want to watch the rest of film. The red lighting which was used in this opening also effectively created the feeling of suspense and the foreshadowing of violence. However when I tried changing the lighting of my own film it did not have the same affect as the red was more of a gangster movie colour rather then a horror.Looking at this opening sequence allowed me to see how other movies effectively use violence in the opening in order to engage the viewer and to keep the viewer wanting to watch more.