'Goodfellas' 1990

'Goodfellas' 1990

The combination of the visuals, voice-over (V.O) and soundtrack all help drive and introduce the film to the audience. The V.O (performed by the leading actor) connotes the feeling of nostalgia, helping the audience create an emotional connection to the character.

The opening couple of shots feature the main protagonist and the rest of his 'gangsters', pulling over and killing an un-named man who's tied up in the boot of the car.

Mise-en-scene, the use of red lighting connoting blood, violence and death.

Wide-shot of the 3 coated in red.

The main man/close-up indicating his status as well as connoting violence with the use of red.

After this point, we then jump into a 'montage' of the character's life when he was a young boy. By doing this, we don't only look back on his life, but we (the audience) feel as if we're looking back on his life along with him, as he talks about his past experiences.

• The pauses featured throughout the first 7 minutes are just as important as the V.O; combined with the perfectly timed sound effects/soundtrack, they situate themselves as a 'springboard', or a 'leap' into the next scene.

• There is a lot of camera movement in the opening, seducing the audience and remaining in-time with the pace of the film.

• The script itself is strong, interesting and more importantly fast-paced which helps maintain the audience's attention. The use of camera movement seduces the audience and it keeps in-time with the pace of the film.