Analysis of Act Of Violence (1948)
Genre-
There are a lot of things in this opening that could tell us what the genre is, one of them being the fact that the whole scene is in black and white. This could have been because of the time period but it has a lot of effect on the genre which is crime/mystery/noir. This is because noir movies are in black and white and contain a lot of low key lighting to fit the scene, which is what this opening for the entirety of the scene. Another point that adds to the genre is the character in the opening, he is wearing a long coat and a hat, this is the typical clothing of someone who is the protagonist in a noir film which helps to get an idea of what the genre is. The fact that this film was made in the 1940s also tells us that this film is most likely a noir film because the noir genre was at its peak in the 1940s and 1950s.
Narrative-
The narrative for this film could be a murder that has some sort of negative effect on the story or the characters. This is evident through the name of the film which is 'act of violence'. The character could commit an act of violence which could open the story and put the character in the situation he is in already. Another reason murder could be the narrative is when the gun is being pulled out of the drawer and the man leaves the apartment building, this could mean he could be using this gun to potentially harm or even kill someone because that is generally what guns are used for. Another reason for this being the narrative is because of the genre, the film is most likely a noir film and this includes different conventions such as murder, guns, violence etc. These three conventions are included/hinted in this opening. The guns are shown in the scene with the apartment, murder is hinted through the gun because of the connotations of the weapon and violence is shown through the title and the gun because a connotation of guns are violence and murder.
Character-
There is only one character in this film, which could be the protagonist because the protagonist is generally the first person to show up in the beginning of the film. He is shown on his own which could have connotations about his personality such as loneliness or insanity. This could tell us the kinds of things he gets up to in the film like becoming so lonely that he commits a crime or kills someone as apart of his loneliness which leads to insanity. On the other hand he could be a good character using his weapon as a way to defeat crime and solve things such as other crimes and the identity of the criminals. Although when we see the character for the first time, it is apparent that he is walking with a limp, this could imply his life prior to the film. It could show that he may have been ridiculed for having this limp and resulted to crime as a way to take away the pain he has of not feeling as if he's like everyone else. On the other hand the limp could represent an injury he sustained whilst solving a crime or catching a criminal. So the characters life and personality is not really known for certain and this adds to the idea of what the genre of the film is about, he could be good or he could be bad and you would have to watch the rest of the film in order to find out what he is about. 
Atmosphere-
The atmosphere in this opening is quite depressing but also quite eerie and unsettling. The depressing atmosphere is shown through the black and white throughout the film and the low key lighting. It could suggest the character is in a bad time in their life because the low key lighting suggests they are at a low point and the black and white has connotations of dullness in life and having no meaning for anything. The eerie and unsettling atmosphere can be shown through the character and the weapon he pulls from the drawer in the apartment, it could be because weapons have connotations of death/murder so then we have an unsettling topic the connotes what the rest of the story is going to be like.
Themes-
Isolation could be a possible theme here, we see this through the fact that the character is own their own throughout the entire opening. This could suggest that he is alone and will be for the entirety of the film and it is a major part of his life. Another theme could be death, this is showed through the fact that the character is seen retrieving a gun which could signify that he is using it to kill someone as guns are generally used to kill people.
Sound-
The only sound in the film opening is the music, i believe this is good because it adds to the curiosity the audience may already have for the film and this is because no character speaks which makes them seem very mysterious and questionable. The music in the background builds suspense because its very high pitched at some points which makes it very eerie and in a way scary because you it puts you on edge and makes you think that anything could happen at any point in time all of a sudden. Doing this can draw the audience in because it makes them want to know what the character sounds like and adds to the curiosity of the film because of how mysterious and conspicuous it is already.
I believe this will help us when creating our opening because it shows us what type of things we could add to our film to make it more like the genre such as sounds and mise en scene. Adding these type of things will make people think that it is actually a film from the crime/mystery genre.
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