Film Opening Review: Green Street

(0:00 - 2:24)

The opening scene starts with two rival firms (west ham and tottenham) in a train station. There is no non-diagetic sounds. Only their conversation and train station backround sounds. The two rival gangs are on different sides of the tracks and are having an argument, their is alot of over the shoulder shots and quick changing shots. There are a lot of close-ups of each character during the fighting, which creates the effect of fast moving action. There are also points of view shots from the start, where a handy cam technique is also used. They also use low shots to create the effect of overpowering characters. During the fight they speed up some of the shots and put in more exagerrated sounds to create a more powerful effect. The location of the scene is an underground station in London. As a train arrives at the station, one of the firms goes onto the train and off the other to fight the other firm. One prop you notice easiest is the red phone box. A quick change of shot onto it and then back off and back to a long shot of the whole scene.
The titles in this do not appear over the scene, they appear before it starts onto a blank screen. They are just bold white letters. The characters are all pretty similar as they are just angry middle aged men looking for a "scrap". As their is no soundtrack it doesnt set a pace to the film, it also establishes itself as a realistic scene as if this does really happen. This scene referes to the football hooligan culture in england and shows how widespread it is.
We chose this opening sequence because it has lots of different kinds of shots and is fast paced scene with alot of action.