Opening sequence - Goodfellas
This screenshot shows the opening credit before the movie starts that shows that Warner Bros produced this film, and it being the first credit shows that they are very important. Warner Bros is an American entertainment company that produces film, music and television.
This is the second credit shown before the film, that shows that Irwin Winkler produced the film. Irwin Winkler is an American producer and director of 50 major motion pictures. In 1976, Winkler won an Oscar for Best Picture for Rocky. As a producer, he has been nominated for best picture for three other films: Raging Bull, The Right Stuff and this film Goodfellas.
This is the third credit shown before the film starts, that shows that Martin Scorsese directed the film. Martin Scorsese is an American director, producer, screenwriter, actor and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema foundation. Martin Scorsese is best known for directing in films such as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Casino. He won the academy award for best director for The Departed.
This is the next credit shown that shows that Robert De Niro is the main actor in this and the most important. Robert De Niro is an American actor and producer, that has featured in over 90 films. In 1980 Robert De Niro won an academy award for best actor in the film Raging Bull. In Goodfellas as Jimmy Conway Robert De Niro was nominated for academy award best actor.
This sentence shows that this film is realistic, and actually occurred in real life that makes the audience surprised and makes them reiterate the event that actually occurred that this film is based on.
This is the first actual scene we see in this film, this scene sets the scene for the rest of the film. The surroundings show that it is dark, and a car that is driving quickly in an attempt to bury a man that they have kidnapped quickly that is in the boot.
After a short scene of a car driving fast, this location and date is shown. This puts the Location and the date in the audiences' mind and this gives them the opportunity to think back at what 1970's New York was like, the type of car shown also links to the time period, this also gives the audience a chance to know what society was like in those times.
This is the scene shown after the location and date are shown. As seen in this screenshot it shows Ray Liotta on the right playing the role of Henry Hill and he is the one driving and the facial expression of him shows nervousness and a serious nature. Robert De Niro on the left playing the role as Jimmy Conway, he is shown in this scene asleep, this shows that the time period they are driving at is late at night. They are driving somewhere to bury a body in their boot, they do this operation at night so no one sees and no one is awake at the time.
This scene shows them three digging a hole where they can bury the body that is nearly dead in the boot that they have kidnapped and tortured. They look very nervous in this because they really are trying their hardest to not let anyone see what they are doing, and thats why they are huddled close together to stop if anyone is seeing. Long shot is used here to show the whole location and where they are at the time.
This scene shows proof of the man that they had trapped and tortured in the car boot, however in this scene he is still moving and isn't fully dead. but this has a big impact on what the film is like from just the opening scene which is very dramatic. This also shows a high angle which shoots down on the character that is used to make the character inferior, and as shown in this scene the character is dead and insignificant.
Robert De Niro playing the role as Jimmy Conway is shown in this shooting the victim that happened because of a revenge attack on him. This opening scene has a big impact on the rest of the film because it makes you want to know why they have done this horrible thing towards the man. A mid shot is used here to show from waist up and show upper body movement and in this it shows Robert De Niro pointing a gun.
The colour of the title used here is very interesting because it's red. A connotation is used here to associate with the movie. We usually associate the colour red with blood, and the background colour being black also links in with death, which outlines the main theme of the whole movie and this shows it perfectly with the title and the two colours connecting together.
