The Goodfellas
'Goodfellas' is one of the great post-Godfather gangster films that is thought by many to be Scorsese's finest work. It shows one mans rise and fall in a 'family', so this subject matter demanded a strong, relevant opening.
The first shots are the opening credits, which try to reflect the setting of the opening scene of a road by having the writing pass across the screen with a car sound effect. Back when it was filmed this would have seemed very classy and clever, but nowadays it seems a bit cheap. The writing is white on black to try and make the genre seem more 'high-brow', increasing the production value and involving a wider audience. The credits are also in a very tactical order, to show the audience that the film has a very strong cast and crew, such as Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro. This pulls the audience straight in and makes them realise that it is probably going to be a very good film as they trust the cast and crew. At the end of these credits it says 'This film is based on a true story.' which draws the audience in by making them intrigued as to why it is being shown.
The first live action shot follows nicely on from the opening credits by showing a car. This theme was introduced in the opening credits, and now the audience is able to see why there was a car sound in the credits. The car is a very stylish one for the time, so this conforms to the conventions of the gangster/crime genre by showing them as rich and stylish. The camera moves around the car and gets a bit ahead of it showing the road ahead. This framing is very interesting as it shows that there is more to the scene that is coming. By the end of the shot the car is in the lower right third of the shot, which is not the most important part of the shot where the audience is drawn to. The most powerful place in shot composition is the upper left third, which here is being filled by the road ahead. Therefore Scorsese is showing them this third for a reason, and the reason is most probably that there is something is about to happen there. Of course, by the next shot we know that nothing does happen in that third, so instead the audience's perspective of the road being in that third changes so they realise something is going to happen later down the road. Framing is key in giving a message, such as in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho', the use of off central framing in the shower scene creates tension and later in the scene, the upper left third is finally filled with the killer. Hitchcock pioneered the use of this unconventional framing in many of his suspense films, and we can see that it is applied here as well to create intrigue. Despite it not being an obvious enigma, it certainly is one, but just one that the audience is subconciously aware of, making it an extremely clever shot.
'New York, 1970' then appears on screen, to orientate the audience to the time era. We will see this technique used in one of Scorsese's later films - 'The Departed'. The title is done in a very interesting way, in order to try and appear more 'high-brow'. It is in white on black again, which I have already discussed, but there is also an odd use of the comma between 'New York' and '1970'. This is how it would have been written in a book, and is also the correct way to write it, but in many films they miss out the comma in favour of impact. Most films do not want the comma as it is used as a breath, and they do not want the audience to pause when they read it. They want impact, and a fast, snappy title, so the audience is not drawn away from the film for too long, and it makes the film seem more 'epic'. However here the comma is used almost casually, and it seems oddly stylish to have the title written 'correctly'. There is also a slight fade into the title which slows the title even more. It builds the suspense from the previous shot with the off-central framing, and the contrast of tense framing and relaxed titles works well to lull the audience into a false sense of security that will be destroyed later in the scene.
After this we are introduced to the characters in the car. We are introduced to a few obvious enigmas with the hammering in the boot and the characters at first not knowing what it was, and then their sudden realisation. The acting is very naturalistic and they all seem to know what the other one means, like they're all in something together. There is some swearing in this exchange as well which again fits in with the conventions of a gangster movie. This is all in one shot which is effective as it continues with the laid back feeling of the opening, and in its relaxation builds suspense as to what the scene is building towards. The characters get out of the car and one of them pulls a knife out of their suit pocket, showing the character as violent and always ready to kill people. The scene is lit with a very red light from the back lights of the car, and this helps make it seem more bloody and violent. At last we are shown what the banging was, and that it was in the boot of the car. An injured man covered in blood is lying in there, and the gangsters kill him brutally while swearing. This appeals hugely to the conventions of a gangster film through violence and swearing. Enigmas are set up through the dead man in the boot, as the audience are left wondering who they are and what they did to deserve death. Finally, at the end of the scene the audience is presented with another enigma as there is a freeze frame on one of the gangsters while a voice over says: 'I've always wanted to be a gangster'. BUT WHY?
The Departed
The opening to 'The Departed' is very similar to the opening to 'Goodfellas' for the simple reason that it is the same director - Martin Scorsese. 'Goodfellas' had just missed out on the oscar for Best Picture, but this time round Scorsese was more successful and won it. So clearly this time he did something better than he had done in 'Goodfellas'...
From the first frame we can clearly see the similarities between 'The Departed' and 'Goodfellas' by the text 'BOSTON Some years ago'. Once again the title is white on black, but this time it is a lot more casual. By saying 'some years ago' instead of an exact date, the film is given a more laid back feel than 'Goodfellas' and perhaps this reflects the status of the gangsters portrayed in it. It is trying to set up the audience in a more casual setting, and is trying to fit in more with the dialect.
In this opening we are presented clearly with a character and a setting. The character narrates the history of the setting, with his own twists in accordance with his opinion, which neatly kills two birds with one stone. The audience is shown the progression of Boston through old fake documentary film, and Nicholson's character guides them through this by saying what the society has relied on. In the end it all comes down to the point that he has the power - what all gangsters crave. This is a clear convention of the gangster/crime genre as most gangster dons like to assert their power through baseball bats, piano lids and horses heads. The point is, as far as Hollywood is concerned, when it comes to gangsters, it's all about power, and that is what Nicholson's character has. To further this sense of power, Nicholson's opening monologue sounds like the character knows the society and he knows what he's talking about. For most people, the opening narration is quite hard to understand and get their head around on first viewing, but that is the point, as Scorsese doesn't want you to understand THAT, he wants you to understand that the main antagonist is clever, powerful and knows what he is doing. The fact that in the opening few shots the audience relies on the narration gives a further indication of how much power he has, as for the first few minutes what he says is what we believe. It may not be entirely true, but we have to believe it.
The first shot of the main antagonist is in silhouette, which is a very clever technique for showing the audience only what you want to show them. In this case, what we can see of the character is that he's smoking and he's wearing sunglasses, immediately gangster stereotypes come to mind. As this silhouette comes in, more swearing comes into the narration, as if the character has suddenly become more informal. He is also very racist, and talks a lot about divides in ethnicities...from the outset we can see that ethnic tension is going to be an issue in this film. Finally at the end of the narration he says: 'No one gives it to you...you have to take it'. Immediately the audience is thrown into a very hostile environment where you don't make friends, you make alliances. Taking is a much more violent verb than giving, especially when they're used in the same sentence, and this is really brought out, not just through the writing, but also the emphasis the actor puts on the word 'take'. Stealing becomes a prominent theme.
Both films have very strong openings, and both conform to the conventions of gangster/crime films through violence, power and swearing. 'Goodfellas' centres its effectiveness on the enigmas it introduces, whilst 'The Departed' centres its effectiveness on the character and setting it introduces. Personally I prefer the opening to 'The Departed', as the voice over leaves a lot of holes to fill in, and the lead antagonist seems more interesting.
