Double Indemnity- Analysis

In the opening sequence of Double Indemnity there is a man in the background who, his face is not in the frame. The title appears on the screen in the centre of the frame, it is also a mid shot. There then is an establishing shot which sets the scene of the film, this is in Los Angeles. There is a car which is driving at high speed, where the car was very close to crashing into the workers on the road. At this point the audience have reacted with a question in their head, which is who is this character? And why are they acting in this behaviour. We then see this character that appears to come out of the car, the type of shot is a high angle shot used. The character starts to walk into a room. The next shot is a long shot of another character who is new into the scene, it then is a mid shot to show the scene and the characters body language because the characters face is not show , in the frame there is the back of his head. This character then starts to walk through a hall to a door, the mise-en-scene clearly informs the audience where this character is which is an insurance company, however it doesn’t tell the audience why? Yet. The character and the door was a mid shot.

the titles are in block, white capitals which scrolls up on the screen. the tiltes include who is starring and the types of people who are also to do with the film. titltes include

1) Assistant director
2) Assistant to producer
3) Film editor
4) Music composer
5) Screenplay
6) Produced and directed by
7) The titles include:
8) Main star
9) Supporting actors
10) Art director
11) Set decorator

Sound- the opening sequence starts off with hyperbolic sound of drums beating. The use of sound effects are very effective for example the sound of the car and the sound of her running and the way she was breathing was emphasised and this clearly shows she is out of breath she is breathing heavily and very deeply. So from the way she was breathing it made the audience may have been unsure on what is actually going on. They me think is it sound of being scared or the sound of relief? The music from the radio was diegetic and it was at a high volume which stood out and linked with the type of music that was liked by people back in them days.

Why is it a good opening sequence?
the opening sequence is very good becasue the film starts with a car and its night time with a horrible anoying non diegetic music playing. This sound is like a scratchy noise which has an affect on the audience, it makes them feel uncomfortable becasue they axpect something to go wrong for example may be the car crashes. it is driving at a high speed. the mise-en-scene condones that the films genreby adding black and dark backgrounds. the setting is a low key set with dark shadow and little light.