Analyse the opening sequence of "Bullitt" and of another thriller/action film from the last 5 years.

Analyse the opening sequence of "Bullitt" and of another thriller/action film from the last 5 years.

Bullitt is a 1968 crime thriller, directed by Peter Yates and staring Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn and Jacqueline Bisset. The opening scene has general low key lighting with gloomy colours creating a dark and tense atmosphere typical to a thriller. Although the scene is generally dark this is contrasted with the white typography that zoom in and out of the frame. This could link to Levi-Strauss’ theory about binary opposites (the light and dark colours) foreshadowing to a battle of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ throughout the rest of the film. Not only is the mood set with the lighting but it is also represents the power and status that some of the characters have as they stand in the dark with light shining from the ground up illuminating them from underneath making them look scary and ominous, this is possibly the first time we see the ‘bad’ characters in the film. This is also strengthened by the upwards shot camera angle making the actors look big and powerful. The titles are unorganised and enter at random places which reflects the fight going on in the opening and possibly the action in the rest of the film. The whole opening creates a feeling of ambiguity and sets that tone for the rest of the film.

The film starts with destruction; this is not what Toderov described films beginning with. He stated that film have five stages; equilibrium, destruction, realisation, attempt to restore order and then new equilibrium. We can see that this film starts on stage two however towards the end of the opening scene the lighting changes to a high key lighting and we see a change of setting as we are introduced to a day time busy street scene hinting to a possible equilibrium after destruction. At the beginning it is not clear who is the ‘hero’ and who is the ‘evil’ are but we do know that there will be a hero as Steve McQueen is the main character and he is known for playing the ‘heroes’ in films similar. We can also see that there is a possible ‘princess’ in the film as Jacqueline Bisset is acting in it and she is also known for playing those kinds of characters. This is what the theory stated by Propp suggests about Recurring character types, which this film seem to follow.

The music in the opening scene starts slow and calm which creates a false sense of equilibrium making the audience feel comfort and well-being, however then it gets louder and faster keeping up with the action of the scene and even being interrupted by the action (like the car screech) this startles the audience as they were seemingly assured but the false “calm” at the beginning but suddenly the serenity is broken and they are dived into action and chaos. Towards the end of the opening scene the music starts to slow down again possibly to signify how we are about to meet out ‘hero’ in the scene coming up. Generally this film seems  to be a tense and nail-biting one leaving the audience anxious but also wanting to watch more.

Mad Max: Fury Road is a 2015 post-apocalyptic dystopian/action film directed by George Miller. The lighting and colour of this opening scene is rather similar to Bullitt and very different and unique at the same time. at first it is a black screen which is effective as it makes the audience have their sole focus on the voice over and news clips that are giving the audience vital information about the back ground to the story and introducing us to the main character, Max. This along with the darker pallet of colours is very similar to the opening of Bullett, however the credits are rather different as they are a sandy colour which links to the dusty desert that the film is set in and sometimes a blood red which makes the characters names stand out and are fixed in the audiences mind.

Mad Max is rather similar to Bullitt as it also contradicts Todorovs five stages because it dives straight into destruction without equilibrium first. We do however see binary opposites in the living and the dead as he is torn between the living people chasing him and the voices of his dead family. There is also no clear character role as we only see one character, our main character Max. The audience are not sure whether Max is our ‘hero’ or not as he is not a stereotypical ‘good’ or ‘bad’. From the way he talks he seems to have a rather bad past, he is also haunted by voices of a child and a woman which connote a sense of innocence but also making him seem mentally unstable as we later find out that these voices are most likely dead making the audience wary of him. His ragged costume and long tangled hair tell the audience that he has been running for a long time without any type a permanent home except his car, which seems to be a main prop as when we first see him he is standing next to it. In this opening we are given a lot more information about the narrative and characters than we are in the opening of Bullitt allowing us to really understand where the characters are.

The news type clips in the very beginning of the scene set this film as a dystopian future and also it sets the narrative up allowing the audience to understand more about the ‘Oil Wars’ and the reason why the world is In this pitiful state. Similar to Bullitt there is a false sense of calm, when Max quickly jumps into the car and drives out of shot, for about five seconds there is silence and we cannot see or hear anything different in the distance creating a more composed atmosphere that the audience latch onto. However this is quickly disrupted when a series of cars and motorbikes drive over the camera frightening and startling the audience as they were not expecting this car chase so quickly into the film (which is also a scene in Bullitt). Foreshadowing is very strong in Mad Max: Fury Road. The blood colour of the credits generates a feeling of violence and chaos which will most likely happen throughout the rest of the film as we have already heard of a lot of violence from the news clips. There is a very effective part of the opening scene where Max catches a lizard, kills it, then eats it, this could be alluding to unnecessary death that may happen a lot later on or more obviously the sudden capture of Max but those that are chasing him. From what we see of the opening scene Mad Max: Fury Road is a very captivating and thrilling film which draws the audience in and make them want to find out more about these characters.

Overall these two films are very similar in that they jump straight into the action and seem to be rather purposefully unorganised, however Mad Max: Fury Road is more focused on the narrative early on and don’t feel the need to create an enigmatic atmosphere that Bullitt does.