Layer cake- opening scene analysis (Matthew Vaughn 2004)

I found this thriller very interesting as it has many amazing shots which I could use in my thriller opening. Layer cake is about a drug dealer attempting to retrieve one million ecstasy pills from another group of drug dealers, this is an inspiring crime thriller as it has a very simple plot line yet is extremely cleverly made and there are many twists to the plot which make it very interesting.

The opening scene begins with an establishing shot of a black car door which turns into a medium close up,  the background used in this shot is plain black which connotes danger as the colour black is typically associated with violence and death, this foreshadows events which are shortly about to happen. There is a voiceover (non-diagetic sound) as the car doors are shown, this carries on throughout the opening of the film which makes the audience connect with the main character of the film revealing that the film will be completely focused upon him (Daniel Craig) right from the beginning and it will be from his point of view. This is an effective way to open a thriller as it keeps the audience completely on edge, the dialogue is very interesting and does not tell the viewers a lot about the content of the film but some of the things which are said foreshadow parts of the film as featured in 'Essex boys'.There is an explosion in the car which blows the doors open, yet you do not see the rest of the vehicle; this is shot in chiaroscuro lighting which can make an object look more threatening. The explosion is an extremely good way to begin a crime thriller film as it connotes corruption, power and violence; it also lets the audience know which genre it is going to be as soon as it starts. Just before the explosion the narrator says the phrase “cops and robbers” which completely sums up the films motive-corruption.

The explosion cuts to a very interesting flashback of an armed robbery outside a building, this scene uses very milky non-ambient lighting and is in slow motion so the audience knows it is a flashback, the milky lighting adds tension and mystery and it connotes fire and explosions suggesting the film will be full of suprises. This film has a circular narrative which keeps it very interesting. As the flash back begins the first thing we see is a man walking with a gun, this foreshadows events to come as guns are a very frequent prop within this thriller. There is a tracking shot of the street which turns into a medium close up of a woman’s face, this shot is very effective as it shows the fear in the face of an innocent victim. This is a very significant shot as women are frequently portrayed as insignificant victims in thriller films and are usually dominated by men, this attitude to women is shown clearly within this film as there are only two actresses who have lines and one of them is murdered.

There is an amazing transition shot from the woman’s head to a man’s head which leads to another flashback. This time there is bright, non-ambient lighting which suggests a happier time in someone’s life. The medium close up shows a group of hippies smoking drugs and lounging in someone’s living room, the drugs foreshadow the plot of the film. The tracking shot follows a girl (we only see her bare legs, this shows she is insignificant and is just a thing to be looked at) walking through a hallway, there is a transition shot from the woman walking, to a man walking in a very grey hallway holding a baton which is another signifier of corruption and men being dominant. I think this portrays men's generalised views of women very effectively as the woman is being shown as an object yet the man is shown in a prison holding a baton which shows she is defenceless yet he is very powerful and could be violent. The non-diagetic lighting in this shot makes the tone of the mise-en-scene change from happy to tense and angry. We see that this shot is filmed in a prison canteen, there is only non-diagetic sound (voiceover and soundtrack) and this makes the audience aware that it is still a flashback, this technique makes the audience feel as if the mise-en-scene is unreal as the lighting and the sound are both non-diagetic.

The next mise-en-scene features a tracking shot of a shelf in a shop holding bottles, these bottles are well known companies such as FCUK yet they are selling drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy. This is probably the most important and amazing mise-en-scene within the entire film as it reveals the plot of the film and the reason behind the plot too. The bottles represent a metaphor for the main characters view of the future, he believes that companies will eventually see the immense amount of money conducted in drug dealing and will want to be involved in this industry. This is an amazingly clear connotation of corruption in the modern day as the main character is talking about drug dealing as if it is perfectly fine to be doing it yet he seems to be justifying this by saying there is lots of money involved. Very interestingly, the bottles begin to turn back into modern day bottles letting the audience know this part of the mise-en-scene was a metaphor for the future. As the bottles turn back we notice that the main character is standing in a chemist (non-ambient) which completely contrasts with his view of how the world should be.

We never find out the main characters name which is extremely interesting as it gives the audience something to think about when the film has ended and is very enigmatic. This is a very interesting technique as it shows that even though we have been following the plot through the eyes of the main character, the audience do not know the character at all as they have been out smarted by him throughout the entire film.