Goodfella's opening analysis

Goodfella's is a gritty gangster film directed by Martin Scorcese, a prestigious director. The opening credits are made to look like moving cars on a road, the animation is matched with recorded moving cars. Text states that the film is based on a true story, this brings the viewer in, they are more intrigued and feel like they are further involved. The animation now merges into a real car, quite an iconic looking gangster car, the camera follows the car then there is a fade to black, where text tells us when the film is based, this is a quick way of establishing context. The camera fades to inside the car, this gives the illusion of time passing, the journey now seems a long one, as if the three men in the car have been there a long time. Two of the men are asleep and the driver, who seems to be the main character, looks tired, also giving the illusion of a long journey. The passengers in the car become concerned by a foreign noise emulating from the car, pulling over to see what it could be. The use of lighting is minimal when the men pull over, using only the red brake light to show what is happening. Each man is armed with a weapon, this shows the viewer that it is a gangster film. The men open the boot, to find that the dead man in their boot is, in fact alive. The camera cuts now speed up, this enthuses the violence, the gun shots fired into the man are accented by a flash. As the main character shuts the 'trunk' of the car, there is a voice-over, an interesting tool in opening sequences as it establishes many things. The voice-over says "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster", the character shuts the boot and an extremely contextual song starts, this then continues through a credit sequence.