Public Enemies Opening Analysis

Public Enemies

 

 

Mise-en scene: The clothing is in the style of 1930's, as that when the film is set. In the beginning we see John Dillenger dressed smartly, in a tie and waistcoat with a thick overcoat on. The policeman taking John to the Prison was wearing the same as John, but all black, he also had on a police badge. In the prison, Johns crew are prisoner, so are wearing thr regulatory black and white jumpsuit. The Prison officers were wearing navy uniforms with hats and batons. The woman at the farm, was wearing dull, worn clothing, indicating they were not well off, as you could see from the state the farm was in, she wore a green dress and baby blue apron with a brown shawl, the child with her was wearing dungarees. The next scene shows a man in a blue suit, white shirt, carrying a tommy gun, being chased by a federal detective who's dressed in hunting clothes, a grey shirt, beige trousers with suspenders and brown leather boots. In contrast with the woman at the farm earlier, the women at John's house wore much less bestraggled clothing, a black dress with white spots, perfectly fitting in with the steriotypical sthugh of style of the 1930's. Overall the men are in predominantly dark simply tailored suits, we know later in the film, the women are dressed in lavish dresses of bright colours, to show off wealth. The obvious props used were the guns: tommy guns, hunting rifles, machine guns and hand guns and then men wear trilby hats.

Editing:  They use jump cuts and cross-cuts between scenes to cut from one lot of action to the next. In the scenes they used normal cuts to emphasize different people and characters. Also to show different points of view. When the characters are speaking to eachother they use shot/reverse/shot. They also use lots of match on action e.g when the gang is leaving the farm house, then when they are outside heading toward the car.

 

Sound: Apart from the stomping of feet in the opening and gunfire and talking, the only other sound in the opening of the film is the song 'Ten Million Slaves' by Otis Taylor.
 

Lighting: In the beginning of the film the charcters are mostly outside so the lighting is natural , even when they are in the farm house the light's comming from outside, also in John's house, but when the characters are in the prison, that could bethe only time that they use artificial lighting, however the prision is quite dark, probably to portray it being a bad place, so it too may have used natural lighting.

 

Camera Shots: In the first minute the film opens with a shot of the prisoners feet marching, telling us right away by what they are wearing that this is a prison, also by the chains around their feet. Theres then an over the sholder shot of the prisoners and a close up of a guard watching them, there's then a long shot of a prisoner lying dead on the ground. There is then a long eye level shot of the prisoners walking toward the camera. And then an extreme close up of a prisoners hand on another prisoners arm as they walk. After that there's a pan of a car driving, signalling the end of the prisoner scene.