The Opening Scene
of a Film Noir – The Maltese Falcon
The film ‘The Maltese Falcon’ is a Film Noir from 1941. It
is by John Huston and stars Humphrey Bogart. This film follows the typical Film
Noir storyline of having a Detective and then a femme fatale who needs help. It
has the stereotypical characters and their costumes. The type of language that
they use is also stereotypical of a traditional Film Noir. Also, the whole film
is in black and white so this also follows the stereotypical Film Noir
requirements. The audience that this film is aimed at is possibly the older
generation. This is because they are the ones that have grown up with this
genre of film and they would have been around when the Film Noir genre was
first being created. The enigma in this film is that no one knows who has
killed this man so this hooks people to make them want to carry on watching the
film and to possibly tell others to watch the film too. The men are
stereotypically older than the women in the Film Noir genre.
At the beginning of the scene there is a piece of text
rolling down the screen which introduces the film and gives a basic outline of
what has happened in the past. This could also give an insight of what is going
to happen in the film. After this part there is an establishing shot which
shows where the film is set. It shows the Golden Gate Bridge with a headline of
‘San Francisco’, this tells us where the film is going to be set. An
establishing shot is typical of the Film Noir Genre. There is also a shot of a newspaper,
which gives the audience a rough overview of where the film is set and what
could happen by the headline and title of the newspaper.
The next scene is set in a private detectives office. There
is a man, who is the main character, sitting in his office at his desk. We
learn that he is the private detective. He is wearing the stereotypical costume
that a private detective usually wears in a Film Noir. He is wearing a suit
with a trilby hat and is smoking a cigarette. The woman then comes in looking
distressed. She is a stereotypical woman that usually stars in the Film Noir
genre. By the man being in the office and the woman coming in needing help it
can show that men are the ones that have more authority then women at this
time. The detectives secretary is called Angel, so this could infer that there
are two types of women; the women that are sincere and are not corrupt and then
the women who are corrupt and try to lure the detectives into their traps, this
is known as the femme fatale. The woman tells the detective that she needs help
and the man says that he will help her. This can be seen as the ‘spider and the
fly’ situation as the woman is luring the detective into helping her when she
doesn’t really need it. By doing this, the detective is becoming a suspect. The
detective also has a partner that later comes into the room who is wearing
similar sort of clothes to him, also following the stereotypical costume of a
Film Noir. They can be seen as carrying out a ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine.
There are many different types of camera angles that are
used in this scene. One of them being the establishing shot at the beginning;
this sets the scene and lets the audience know where the film is being set.
Another camera angle that is used is an over the shoulder shot, this shot shows
both of the characters but one of them has there back to the camera. The over
the shoulder shot gives a clear narrative but only shows the facial expressions
and emotion from the character who is facing the camera. The film uses the
180-degree rule and follows it well in the opening scene. A close up shot is
also used in this scene. This type of angle can tell us a lot about the character,
as we are able to see in detail their facial expressions, which can tell us how
they are feeling and sometimes what they are thinking.
In this opening scene there are a variety of sounds that are
used. Some of these sounds have been added in whereas some of them are either
dialogue or sounds that occur from the characters. Diegetic and non-diegetic
sound have both been used in this scene. Diegetic sound is a when the source of
the sound is visible on the screen such as someone speaking. Non-diegetic sound
is when the source of the sound is not visible such as the sound effects. The background
noise can reflect on the type of place that they are in such as car sounds and
people talking can infer that they are in a busy city. Towards the start of the
opening scene, the woman and the detective are having a conversation, which is
diegetic sound. This is helping the audience to understand the storyline of the
film. At one point the detective refers to the woman as “sweetheart”, this can
be seen as talking down to the woman as if she is not as important. It could
also illustrate that the detective may have deeper feelings for the woman. Further
on in the film there is a gunshot, which is non-diegetic sound. This is
creating suspense and hooking the audience to the film. Between different
scenes there is transitional music. The transitional music can also hook the
audience as it keeps them engaged and gives them the idea that something is
going to happen. There is tense music that is played when something dramatic is
going to happen in the film. This engages with the audience, as they know that
when this music is being played something is going to happen. The music builds
up suspense and can form a bond between the audience and the film as they feel
part of it.
The whole film is in black and white so it is different
types of lighting that is being used and can be difficult to see it. There are
some forms of artificial lighting that have been used, such as lamps and
ceiling lights being turned on. It is however a lot of natural light that is
being used.
