The opening sequence focuses on two main characters. The protagonist is a Caucasian male in his late twenties, early thirties. This character is the head of a crime syndicate (‘Boss’); he runs organised crime such as drug dealing and extortion. His business partner, and best friend, was killed by a police officer. The police officer in question is the antagonist of the story. He is an African American, also in his late twenties, early thirties. I have chosen to have the head of the crime syndicate as a Caucasian and the police officer as a African American to challenge the stereotype of the law enforcer being white and the criminal being black. This is because in reality a criminal and law enforcer can be any shape, size or race. The police officer is very ambitious when it comes to enforcing the law. A little bit too ambitious though, as he often takes the law into his own hands. The police officer’s main goal, is to bring down the crime syndicate and he sets the ball in motion by killing the business partner of the ‘Boss’. Now that his business partner has been killed in cold blood, the ‘Boss’ has taken out a personal vendetta against the police officer. He wants him found so that he can avenge his friend. The police officer fearing what could possibly happen to his family goes on the run, leaving no traces that would lead the ‘Boss’ to him.
The story is told in the point of view of the ‘Boss’, because of this he portrays himself as the innocent party, and of course the police officer is seen as a mad man who killed his best friend and partner. The whole crime syndicate constantly refer to themselves as ‘the agency’ and all wear black suits, with white shirts and a black tie, because of this the audience is led to believe that they are part of a crime prevention organisation like the CIA, FBI or MI5. The audience is under a false pretence as they believe that the criminals are the law enforcers and vice versa. The story line draws to a close with the ‘Boss’ being made aware of the police officers where abouts. He finds him hiding out in a warehouse. They have a confrontation and the police officer turns his back on the ‘Boss’ and refuses to face him when the time comes for him to die. At this point the audience is made aware that the police officer is in fact the hero of the film and the ‘Boss’ is in fact the real villain. The film ends with the police officer on the floor dead, and a close up of the ‘Boss’ with a terrified expression on his face. This back ground plot has only been outlined because the opening sequence is actually the ending of the film. The film is a flash back told in the point of view of the ‘Boss’, the last scene shows him finding the police officer killing him, taking his badge and finally being able to relax after avenging his partner, where as the opening sequence starts with the police officer already dead and the ‘Boss’ already in possession of his badge.
The opening sequence it’s self is an enigma because it is the last scene and the rest of the film is a flash back of the events leading up to the confrontation in the warehouse. The two characters in the opening sequence are also an enigma as neither of them has a name and the audience has no idea as to who they are or why one of them is lying dead on the floor.
The scene starts with the body of the police officer lying face forward on the floor. His back is full of blood and next to his hand is a hand gun. The focus shifts and behind him sat in a wooden chair is the head of the crime syndicate. The camera zooms into a close up shot of his hands caressing a police badge. Now because of this shot the audience automatically think that he is the law enforcer and the man lying dead on the floor is the criminal. The camera cuts to a close up head and shoulders shot of the ‘Boss’ shaking his head with tears in his eyes. He slowly closes his eyes and at this point the camera pans around one hundred and eighty degrees and stops with a medium close up of the police officer stood up with his arm outstretched and his gun in his hand. He begins to laugh menacingly, the camera cuts back to the ‘Boss’ who now has his eyes open, a terrified look crosses his face. The camera cuts back to the still laughing police officer as he shoots several times. The camera then cuts to a high angle shot of the ‘Boss’ in his blood stained suit slumping forward, the camera cuts to his hand going limp and the police badge slipping from his fingers and falling to the floor. The camera cuts back to the ‘Boss’ falling forward out of the chair and landing on the floor. The camera then cuts back to a medium close up of the police officer, who has now lowered his arm and pulls the trigger once more. He is out of bullets so he grabs the gun from the barrel and beats the ‘Boss’ with the handle. The ‘Bosses’ body remains out of shot the whole time because the camera is focusing on the police officer laughing and screaming profanities. This is to show his decent into madness and the sheer brutality that he is capable of. He eventually stands up and turns his back on the camera. He walks out of the warehouse leaving the body of the ‘Boss’ and most importantly leaving his badge behind. The badge it’s self is a symbol of the police officer realising that he should leave the whole ordeal in the past and let bygones be bygones.
The genres of this film are Crime, Thriller and Film-Noir. The reasons why I have chosen these genres is because of the murder riddled plot and confusing opening/closing sequence. The opening sequence starts with and ends with a murder, also because of the police badge it is obvious that one of the characters is a criminal and the other a law enforcer, so this is a main reason for it fitting into the Crime genre. The film is a Thriller because of the enigmas that are evident from the beginning and because of the brutality of the police officer. Lastly it is Film-Noir because I have chosen to shoot it in black and white, the reason for this being that I believe the sultry grey and black tones add shadow and mystery to the already enigmatic themes that run through the plot and are especially evident in the opening sequence. So far a soundtrack has not yet been chosen. I would initially like it to be some sort of classical music because the beauty of it is an oxymoron of the barbaric murder of the 'Boss'.
Shafaah, Chelsea and Bilaal.
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