Reservoir dogs opening scene analysis

Reservoir dogs opening scene

Camera shots

 -Production titles

 -The whole opening is then shot panning around the table at a medium close up level, showing each of the 8 characters as the camera pans around the table.

Characters

character types are very well established in the opening scene of this movie. In the whole oppening the camera is panning round the table, as Mr Brown is discussing the meaning of the song 'like a virgin', 6 of the men are wearing all black suits, some of them are smoking - reflecting the gangster genre of the movie, some are eating breakfast, but generally it shows that they are all relatively comfortable round the table with each other, having this random discussion about the song 'like a virgin'.

 Location

The location of the whole opening is set in a cafe in America, with 8 men sat around a table drinking cofee, eating breakfast, having a smoke - this connotes an element of normality to the location, a good setting to introduce the main character types, into a normal conversation.

Narrative

In the whole opening scene Mr Brown discusses with the other men round the table about a song called 'like a virgin'; the conversation isn't particularly linked to the plot, but it introduces each character by showing there relationships between each other from there individual inputs in the conversation - for example we can tell from the first scene that joe is probably the mob boss from appaearance and his low social input into the others random conversation.

 Genre

The opening of this film is definately appropriate for the genre for a number of reasons. The dress codes of the men are all very gangter themed as 6 of them are wearing all black suits - this from appearence gives audience imagery of organised crime. The character types also reflect the genre of the film as all the men wearing suits look about middle aged, wheras joe and Eddie both are wearing normal clothing and Joe looks relatively old- just from this we can assume the hierarchy of there particular organised crime system as joe from appearence seems to be the mob boss - the fact he is wearing normal clothes and looks like the oldest makes his character stand out more, wheras all the others are wearing suits shows them more as henchman.

Is it an effective film opening?

In my opinion I believe that it is an effective film opening, mainly because it outlines character types distinctively well.