The business

The Business is a 2005 British crime/gangster film, set in the 80’s written and directed by Nick Love. We can tell that this is a British gangster film this from the opening sequence because there are various stock character and conventions of a gangster film. For example the cockney accents inform the audience that the two characters originate from south London. Also their clothes are typical 80’s track suits, which would have been fashionable at the time and so it connotes that they have a lot of money and can afford the latest fashions.

The generic expectations of the audience towards a British gangster film are completely fulfilled by the opening sequence, as there are typical conventions of a British gangster film, such as violence, the use of guns, the use of drugs and the use of foul language.

The film is set in the 80’s and so the opening sequence completely conforms to the characteristics of the genre. We see use of drugs, violence, guns, foul language and abuse towards women, just in the opening 2 minutes. This shows the audience that the film is going to be jam packed with conventions that completely conform with the genre of the film.

The Mise en scene in this sequence is very meaningful, straight away we are aware that they are in a foreign country, the bright sky portrays that we are not in England for a start, because it is no the stock weather that we would expect in the UK. Also the run down buildings, the dusty foot paths, the dried grass and the colours of the two characters skin is tanned. This connotes that they have been in the country for quite a while and they have possibly immigrated Also the two girls on the footpath are tanned, have dark hair, Hispanic looking, wearing red high heels, but also holding a balloon, connoting that they are poor, through their mixture of clothes. All of these mise en scene indicate where the film is set.

There are multiple camera techniques used in the sequence, the first shot used is an establishing shot of the two men running, which shows us the location and the mise en scene. The director then uses MCU’s to establish various characteristics of the men, for example how tall they are, what race they are, their facial expressions and what clothes they are wearing. This all conveys meaning. A handicam is used at one point, when the men are running, to make the audience feel like they are part of the action. This builds up tension.
When they raid the building MCU’s are used to show in detail their facial expressions and then a freeze frame at the end of the scene, whilst the character uses dialogue to explain the predicament at hand.

80’s music is used in the sequence to support the clothes and informs the audience of the time phase that the film is set. Its also upbeat music which conveys action. Diegetic sounds are used and emphasized to also enforce action.

The first dialogue used in the sequence is at the beginning over a blank screen. We learn from these few lines of dialogue what danny dyer’s character is like. We learn that his father is a criminal and that evidently he is going to follow in his fathers footsteps. The dialogue is all cockney which indicates where they are from. And there body language connotes that they are important. Their actions connote violent behavior which portrays them as roofless criminals.

The narrative in this piece is very straight forward, the opening sequence is a scene from the middle of the story, and we see a glimpse of the operations that the two characters run. We are then informed about the story through the characters dialogue used twice in the sequence. Through this dialogue we are then placed on the criminal’s side and we start trying to relate to them.

The main characters that have been introduced so far have been identified. To a rough extent, we know the personalities through their dialogue and actions. But we are left wondering whether they have always been like this.
The music is the main creator of tension in this sequence, the build up to the raid scene is highly successful through the running and the type of music that is used.

There are 3 main groups that are represented in this sequence; there are young adult white criminal males from London, which is stereotypical that these type of people would be criminals. There are young adult Spanish males, also represented as criminals. And the last group to be represented is young adult, Spanish, females, and they are represented as quite vulnerable characters, as this particular female, fails to hurt one of the male characters.

I think the main ideological discourse used in the sequence is that to be successful you need to have money, and to have money you could be a criminal, this becomes mainly evident through the dialogue- ‘‘My old man told me to stay away from drugs, money and women, thing is, it don’t leave you much else to do, does it?’’

I believe that the target audience for this film are young adult white males, as this is the group of people who are mainly cooncentrated on throughout the film.