Inside Man is a 2006 crime-drama film starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster, and directed by Spike Lee.
The opening sequence to Inside Man is very different to the usual thriller. In the sense that the audience is addressed directly by a character, breaking the concept of almost all other thrillers that we the audience, are only on lookers of the action, and are distanced from it.
Inside Man opens with a closeup of Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) sitting in confinement, though the location of the cell he is in is not revealed. He muses, to the audience, the difference between a cell and a prison. In a self-important tone, he offers to explain to the viewer his "perfect" plan for a bank robbery.[1]
The film flashes back to the robbers gathering in a van to prepare for the heist. (This begins the timeframe that will carry most of the film; though there are several flash-backs and flash-forwards within). Led by Russell, the robbers enter a bank disguised as painters. They first use infrared flashlights to knock out security cameras. They then brandish firearms and begin taking over the bank.
Meanwhile, the police show up and surround the bank. Detectives Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
I am looking mostly at the opening sequence to the film, as it is what i have to make. The opening sequence really stands out to me because of the direct address to the audience, which immediateely made me feel more involved with the film, as well as interested as to whether we were given a small amount of priviliged information characters in the film would not know. The fact that at the end we see where Russell is hiding has inspired the film title and brought the narrative full circle gives a sense of accomplishment to the audience, i was also impressed at how the complexities in the plot were all tied together by the end to give a clever finish.
Again like Running Scared where the narrative begins not at the start, but at the end of the plot, i thought was a clever technique , the fact there was direct address also made a large impact and made me engage and focus on the film in greater detail. An idea i could possibly incorporate with my thriller, although dialogue can be difficult in terms of sound quality and acting skills.
I thought the mise en scene when Clive Owen is addressing the audience was extremely well done. The dark shdowy light created enigma as to where exactly this character was?. Its setting was also effective in creating a sense of entrapment which was done with the closer moving brick wall. The camerwork also created this with a medium close up.
The transition from this direct address , to a different time in the narrative, was done with a dissolve clearly showing to the audience that time had either passed or we were backwards in the narrative.
The music that accompanies the opening to Inside Man is also extremely unusual, being Hindu (Chaiyya Chaiyya ). It is infact a bollywood hit song from a extremely successful bollywood film. This reflecs Spike Lees of representing different cultures in his films, and he has creatively combined Bollywood with Hollywood to create a great effect. Spike says himself "I've been blessed with the opportunity to express the views of black people who otherwise don't have access to power and the media. I have to take advantage of that while I'm still bankable." I think it adds a considerable amount of individuality to the film, and its opening sequence is more memorable, as the usual hip hop track could have been used here, but wasnt, making it different. Maybe in my film i could use a boldy different music choice like this.
The step backwards in the narrative, then continues the film from the start of the Heist where we follow the team of painters , soon to be bank robbers on their journey through the city towards the bank. The music makes the opening more pacey, and after the direct address means the audience is expecting action.
The sequence also cuts away to different parts of the citys monuments. Such as the bull, to help show where the film is set, and give the audience a greater concept of the surroundings after the enigmatic, and confined shots from Clive Owen when he in trapped.
This films opening sequence has inspired another idea. Similar to my first and similar to Inside Man, it would begin at the closing stages of the film. In this case with our gangster or mentally unstable physco killer (still not sure which character it would be yet) arrested and placed in a grimy police cell. Here they would look dirty, and sleep deprived , staring into empty space. The camera would then ease in on them focusing on their face, and blurring the foreground. The character would close their eyes slowly as if drifting to sleep, then suddenly we would have white flashes, and a montage of shots from hat would be the last 3 weeks would flash up. Him kiiling people, gunfights or shots, a girl, police, all shots would probarbly contain common signifiers of the thriller genre. Then suddenly the last shot would be of red blood cells in the blood stream ( Like the medical shots showin in House )the camera would then zoom out of the body, through a bloody cut , and shirt to a low angle of our physco with a chainsaw, or axe, or the gangster in a sharp looking suite with a gun. In both shots though we would be focusing on their eyes, which would suddenly open. And in the case of the gangster scenario , we would be in some sort of grimy hide out most likely urban where he is reloading his gun, about to shoot another gangster. He shoots him, and there are blood splatters and stains on the floor etc, as the other man dies and falls to the floor. He then heads for a door, we have a close up of his hand opening it. Then a long shot from outside in the street as he opens it ( chance to use continuity editing ) and walks outside , then walks along the street. I think here we could then slow the shot down for a dramtic effect and have agressive, yet reflective music over the top. With credits either superimpose over the footage, or coming up in the corner. The idea behind the gangster scenariois he wants out of the mob, and they see it as betraal so put a hit out on him. In order for him to escape he has many people to kill. And eventually is arrested for one of them.
The idea for the physco character would be similar in most ways. Except he may be with an axe, holding a young blonde girl or women hostage. Police outside ordering him to let her go. Eventully he brabs her by te nck and opens the door to a simialr location as the gangster would be and we have the same shot of him and his victim walking along the road. With credits.
I think both of these ideas are ambitious and i probarbly havent descbribed them very well,but ould be possible to do well if planned enough with te right locations and actors. Plus i think the chance to use special effects would really impact on the audience.
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