Requiem For A Dream - opening sequence essay

Explore the use of film language for effect in an opening sequence to a thriller. How does the director engage the audience?

Chosen film: Requiem For A Dream (opening sequence: 2:36 min)

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Let us first concentrate on the colour of the film. The camera has been given a filter, making the colours slightly deeper - this helps to establish the genre and may portray the dark subject matter of the film. However, these deep colours have been muted and made to look dull - for example, the hues are predominantly browns, dirty greens and pastels, giving the sense of depression, fatigue and possibly even boredom. The lighting in this opening sequence is outdoor and seemingly natural light; the scene takes place in the late afternoon in summer, as the light is bright and hazy. The natural light helps give the impression of the movie, which deals with real, disturbing subject matters, rather than, say, an artificial fantasy world.

The sound begins when the title is shown - a non-diegetic sound of prison bars slamming is heard. This intense, sudden start engages the audience and pulls them in from the very first frame. The camera then begins with a close-up of Love, which instantly establishes a level of intimacy with his character. Simultaneously, Summer Overture by Clint Mansell begins to play, which continues throughout the sequence, slowly building to a crescendo towards the end. This song is contrapuntal to the image, (classical music accompanying a pair of junkies), which surprises the audience by going against usual conventions. This song is the only non-diegetic sound which is heard throughout this scene. The first diegetic sound is heard in the first few seconds of film; Love speaking to Goldfarb. The two young men exchange a few sentences - this small amount of speech setting up the scene and introducing the characters motives - before going outside the apartment block. The building and the suburbs which they travel through establish the characters lower status and class - the setting begins to build an impression of their lifestyle.

The bulky TV on a wheeled stand which Goldfarb is pushing not only conveys the time period - late 90s or early 2000s - but also provides semiotics; this TV becomes a symbol of the desperation and need for heroin - it reappears throughout the film, dealt back and forth between drug dealers and Goldfarb’s unstable mother. The costume also gives the audience an insight into Goldfarb and Love’s junkie lifestyle tendencies; their clothes are baggy, old and plain - showing that they don’t care about their appearance, but also that they don’t have the money to spend on nice clothes; it has all been spent on drugs. Goldfarb’s hair is greasy and unstyled, showing a lack of personal hygiene and even self worth.

In the next few frames, the men walk outside and we hear a line of sunbathing women chattering, the TV stand wheels rolling - all diegetic sound in the frame can be heard, making it very naturalistic - creating the familiar atmosphere of mundane daily life. These women are all dressed in different colours, prints and patterns, differentiating their lifestyle choices and character traits from Goldfarb and Love. There is first a wide, close framed shot of the women lined up against the wall, and then cuts to a close up which then pans across the long row. This then cuts to a couple of shot reverse shots; Goldfarb and Love and the women watch each other - making the women’s judgement of them apparent and highlights their differences. The camera then cuts to an open, medium wide shot of the men, the camera crab dollying beside them from the point of view of the seated women.

The scene then cuts to the 1:50 minute sequence of Goldfarb and Love wheeling the TV through both the town and the suburbs. Continuity editing is used, and the different angles of the camera (positioned slightly below, above and at eye level) helps to convey the distance which they’ve had to travel, suggesting their level of addiction. Throughout this scene we begin to feel more distant due to the wide shots and the absence of diegetic sound; only the non-diegetic soundtrack can be heard. This therefore brings the audience in, their curiosity for the characters motives building. The camera work is a combination of closed framed wide shots and open close up tracking shots. In the close up shots, Goldfarb is shown pulling the TV from the front and Love pushing the back; this establishes that Goldfarb is the main character in the film. These shots are open, giving the impression that life is happening around them beyond the frame. A steadicam is used to track them, involving the audience and again conveying their desperation. In the wide shots when the camera is angled below eye level, the element of focus is always on a static object in the foreground, and the characters are almost the afterthought, hurrying across the screen on either the right or left hand side. Their figures appear small in comparison to the screen, which may be hinting at their insignificance to their society. This sequence has many straight cuts between shots of the young men and a black screen with the credits. This also helps the continuity editing to run smoothly.

The scene ends with the non-diegetic sound of the prison bars, and the end shot is a wipe from the top to the bottom of the frame; a black screen with ‘SUMMER’ written in white letters. This gives a definite ending to the opening, but also captures the audience's attention. Bar this shot, low speed editing has been used in Requiem For A Dream’s opening sequence. Between every new shot there is a simple straight cut, perhaps symbolising the simplicity of the men's one track minds, but to also highlight the importance of the subject matter rather than the way in which the film is edited together.