Analysing the Opening Sequence of the film 'The Business' directed by Nick Love

This film ‘The Business’ belongs to the genre ‘British Gangster’. The main codes and conventions which you would be likely to see in a British gangster movie are things to do with drugs, crime, violence etc. All of these things are iconic to your everyday successful gangster movies. The audience’s expectations are not essentially fulfilled during the opening sequence for reasons simply because you portray stereotypical gangsters to be well groomed men, dressed in dark suits and have a mysterious look about them. In the opening minute of the film two men break into a house each armed with a gun and ordering the people inside the house to hand over illegal drugs, these two men however look as though they are lower class citizens dressed in tracksuits, not what you first expected to be gangsters. However the actions taking place by these two men match the iconic behaviour that you would expect a gangster to do, e.g. pointing guns at people and committing crime. The two stock characters at the beginning swear excessively to scare the people who’s home they have broken in to in order to make them hand over the drugs which makes them out to be tough men and extremely efficient at getting what they want. So already you get the impression that there is a clash between the two, the characters behaviour certainly matches those of a gangsters but their image however does not. By just looking at the opening sequence we do not know if their image is going to stay the same of inevitably change to match the description of your stereotypical image of a ‘gangster’. The director plays around with the overall characteristics and the codes and conventions which you would associate with gangsters so the audience are somewhat left to guess if the stock characters are just normal tough men or fall into the category of a ‘gangster’.

The mise-en-scene in the opening sequence adds to the characters overall image and gives the audience an insight to what the characters are like. The iconography and use of weapons (in this case guns) shows that the characters are portrayed as hard men and burst into a house showing no respect for someone’s property and they disregard the law completely and show little amount of fear to consequences if they are caught. The setting is based in a rural part of what looks to be Spain; this is not however an iconic place where you would see gangsters, you would more likely see them in the city or outside a mansion, sitting by a pool with a cigar which is your stereotypical picture you create for yourself when you think of gangsters. This denotes that the stock characters involved are not very well off and shows the poverty stricken land they are on. The use of weapons in the first scene shows the two men as violent and using excessive force to get what they want, this connotes that they are tough men and will cause injury to the other person if they were to resist instructions and refuse to hand over the drugs. The outfits which the men are wearing make them out to look cheap and not the iconic look of a gangster, wearing smart suits etc. During the gun scene the lighting is very dull and dingy this conveys a sense of wrong doing and the dark lighting could connote that what the two men are doing is wrong and is frowned upon.
The opening camera shots and angles are used to create different effects on the audience and emphasises what is happening to create excitement and tension and inevitably dis-equilibrium. The opening camera shot which is used is an ELS, the two men are jogging towards the camera and as they become closer you realise it is looking up from a worm angle shot, which connotes that the two men are big and powerful and by running towards the camera makes them look intimidating and scary from below. The cinematography changes throughout when they are running, the two men are looking from left to right as thought they are worried about anybody watching them. They run past two young girls and slow down to walking pace to decrease suspicion and make themselves look innocent before leading up to a crime. The shot sizes change throughout and then switch to a medium shot, you can now see clearly what the two men are wearing, and in this case they are wearing which looks to be cheap tracksuits and not expensive smart suits which you would associate a gangster to wear with all the money gained from dodgy deals. This could connote to the audience that these two men are on their way up and need to start out with the basics before they become a proper gangster fitting in with smart suits and looking the part. When the two men break into the house, there is the use of shot reverse shot. This enables the audience to see the facial expressions used by both parties; its switches back and forward and you can clearly make out who is on the attack and which people are on the defensive. A close up shot of Danny Dyers face shows worry and vulnerability and it looks as though he is the weaker man but is just acting on instinct by holding a gun to gain control of the people inside the house while the other man searches and uses a more verbal and violent approach to get the drugs as quickly as possible to make a quick get-away. After the first scene you find out that the crime they had just committed has already happened and now are looking back on it. It comes up with ‘a few years earlier’ and now begins to show you how this crime which had just been showed came about and what they have done to get themselves into this position. The use of a big close up on a group of men’s hands and what looks to be a ‘joint’ shortly followed by a birds eye view shot, portrays a group of males status and shows their vulnerability to make them look small and gives them a negative image while they are standing in a secluded area rolling a joint in secret, which gives you the bigger picture that what they are doing is frowned upon in society. Now the audience can relate to the characters and has an idea on what the film is leading up to.

The use of sound is to anchor the opening sequence in this film ‘The Business’. The director uses a backing sound track while the two men are running; this connotes a sense of urgency as though they are trying to do something quickly and efficiently. Furthermore the sound of an aeroplane flying above a group of men shows their low status and makes them look small, in the smoke given off by the plane the spell out the words ‘be someone’ this connotes to the audience that a message is trying to be given out that simply they need to make something of their lives and inevitably ‘be someone’. At one stage in the opening sequence it is at night time, night time could connote a sense of gloominess and a negative atmosphere is set, the backing music is introduced to emphasise the negative atmosphere and shapes informs the audience that something bad is going to happen. In addition another backing sound is introduced when Danny Dyer is sitting with another man and a few brief sounds are quickly played to connote a sense of urgency and the crime which has been planned is all falling into action very fast. To end the opening sequence you hear a plane taking off, this suggests that one of the stock characters has already been put on a plane extremely promptly and is being whisked away to another country. Within the opening sequence there isn’t a great deal of dialogue between the characters, this does not allow the audience to get a clear picture on what the characters are like and are not able to familiarise themselves with them or gain a sense of personality amongst stock characters. The only insight we get to the characters through dialogue is the excessive amount of swear words used which allows the audience to get a vague picture on what some of the characters may be like. When one of the main characters is outside, watching in to see a man hit his mother, you can tell the non verbal language connotes tension and anger building up inside. A sudden burst of adrenaline makes the character run towards the house but still using non verbal language and uses violence to sort the matter. At one stage during the opening sequence the director shows a blank screen and then puts a voice-over over the top of this. The voice is of one of the stock characters with a small speech ending it with, ‘I’d rather be someone for a day, rather that a nobody for a lifetime’ this signifies a do or die attitude and believes that people should do whatever it takes to make themselves something in their life and not to waste it and do nothing for a lifetime. This creates an enigma and the audience’s natural reaction is to want to find out how they are going to make something of their life.

The narrative in the opening sequence of the film ‘The Business’ is structured to show the audience the future and how the men end up, it then rewinds back a few years and tells you the story and how these two characters lost it all. The methods of Levi Strauss use binary oppositions to create conflict during the film. In this case the binary oppositions are bad vs. bad, it shows conflict between both groups of people’s wrong doings competing against each other to commit crime, sell drugs and use violence to get where they want to be in society. The audience are put in a false sense of security and want to know what is going to happen next, inevitably this causes an enigma and the viewers want to find out weather or not the two characters make something of their life or not. Throughout most of the opening sequence the audience are shown a lot of Danny Dyer. Towards the end of the gun scene a freeze frame effect is used to focus in on this character which positions the audience to understand that the film might be based around this character, which you later find out to be true. The main characters are slightly alienated in the opening sequence due to the fact they are somewhat torn away from society and their actions are frowned upon, and do not behave like a normal person. The people whose house the two main characters have broken into could lead the audience to believe that they have done something to upset these two men and begin to ask themselves questions to weather they are part of another gang or a feeder of drugs to a rival gang. The major scenes in this sequence are extremely evident throughout, the use of violence, weapons, harsh language and drugs are typical and iconic of a gangster film. From listing these themes the audience can clearly see which genre this specific film belongs to as it shows typical traits of a British gangster film and is easily recognisable. The tension in the opening sequence is evident when the two main characters break into the house and hold up a group of people to steal drugs. The use of guns leaves the audience in a proiaretic state wondering if they are going to shoot the people in the house like they are threatening to. The tension is maintained by the constant shouting and orders given out by one of the main characters and by keeping the gun pointed at various people in the group who own the drugs. However the audience does not know for what reason these men have broken into the house for and why they are using violent methods like this to get the drugs, they look to be in such desperation they do not care about consequences anymore.

The only social group which is being represented in the opening sequence of this film are young male or middle aged white citizens. These men are made to look like the bad ones but in some respects the audience likes to side with the criminals and these men are seen to be iconic and people do in fact like them The two stock characters in the opening sequence are represented in a bad light, the ideological discourse of how to be a man is to act in a violent manner and to use physical actions to get where you want to be. The ideologies which come with being a gangster is to be well groomed, wearing smart suits, own a posh car and live in a spectacular house. However at the start of this opening sequence it is unexpected and the ideological discourse is that you see these men to be wearing cheap and unattractive tracksuits and the audience does not expect this, so you begin to work out as the opening sequence is of what has already happened and this is how the ended up after living the high life of a gangster.

The target audience is mainly aimed to the more mature audiences, the age certificate tells you that it’s a 18 rated and will not be suitable for anyone under this age bracket. It will normally be aimed towards young males because they see this film as iconic and can somewhat relate to the things which are happening in the opening sequence