Mean Street opening title analysis

1. Luna Islam4088
Mean Street (1973)
To start with‘Mean Street’openswithablackscreen;thisalone connotesmysteryandmakesthe
audience eagertounravel more.The blackscreenisaccompaniedbya male voiceover. There isa
strongfocus onthe voice over,the sound of the voice isroughand low,onlythe audience hearsthe
character’ thoughts.The voice overiseffective becausethe audience getsasense of the character’s
personality;thiscreates anenigmacode forthe audience astheywonderwhoisspeakingandwhat
ishe talkingabout.
Afterthe blackscreenitcuts to a close upof the firstcharacter the audience meets.The audience
seesunderlightingbeingused,the strongshadowsemphasises the facial featuresof the main
character. There isa strong contrastbetweenthe brightestanddarkestpartsof the beginningof the
openingscene.The artificial lightcreatesominousmoodbecausethere isnolightusedinthe
bedroom,itismotivatedfromoutside.The lightingisoftenassociatedwithsuspense genres.
Furthermore,the openingtitle sequence beginsinthe bedroom, asthe maincharacterislyingdown
on hisbed.The settingindicatesthatthisfilmcouldbe aboutmysterybecause the audience canonly
hearambientsounds;the police sirensfromoutside setsanenigmacode forthe audience of whatis
happeningoutside;thiscreatessuspenseandcontributestothe genre crime.
The audience establishthatHarveyKeitel isone of the maincharacters;we firstsee him suddenly
awakeningfromhissleep;the cameramobilityisverysteady.Ithinkthe directorusedasteadicam
because itcreatesa soaringeffect,makesthe audiencefeelliketheirmovingwiththe actor.
We see a medium shotof the maincharacter and the surroundings,establishingthatthe scene isset
ina bedroom.We see HarveyKeitelappeartoemerge fromthe darkas he getsupfrom hisbed;this
createsa tense moodas the audiencesdonotknow whatis going to happennextasitis quiet,while
the camera tracks himto the mirror and backto the bed.

2. Luna Islam4088
His bodylanguage showsthathe had a bad dreamas he puts hishandson top of hisface. This forms
an enigmacode forthe audience astheymaybe ponderingwhathe isthinkingabout.He looks
troubled andconcernedaboutsomething,thispresentsthathe isoccupiedwiththoughts that
preventshimfromgoingtosleep.
The audience see ahorizontal close upof the character’sface as he layshis headdownon to the
pillow;thisemphasizeshisexpressionsandmakesthe audience wonderwhathe isthinkingabout.
As he laysdownhishead on to the pillow,the audience hearaparallel soundof adrum. This
contributestothe soundtrackthe audience begintohear.The soundtrack“Be My Baby” isplayed
while the cameraslowly cutstothe nextscene revealingamovie projector.
The audience firstsee the openingtitle whentheysee the movieprojector;the maintitle‘Mean
Street’ appearswhenthe chorusbegins; emphasizingthe name of the soundtrack- ‘Be My Baby’and
the title of the film.The musicplayedisoldfashioned,parallel tothe font- oldschool andtypewriter
font.

3. Luna Islam4088
The colour of the font ‘MeanStreet’is red;thiscan connote dangerandit isthe colourof blood
suggestingthatthe filmcouldbe aboutthe importance of survival andlife.
San serif isusedthroughout the openingtitle sequence;the yellow fontstands outfromthe black
background,thisshowsthe importance of the title credits.
A soundbridge isusedduring this;thisiseffective asitmaintainsthe continuity,startingfromthe
endof the scene in the bedroomandcontinuesonwards
The soundtrackemphasisesthe audience’smood,thisisplayedthroughoutthe scene,until the end
of the openingtitle sequence.Fromthe movie projectorthe audience see amontage of shots,cross
cuttingbetweencitiesandpeople. Thissetsanenigmacode forthe audience as they wonderwho
the people are inthe shotswithHarveyKeitel.
The costumesshowa 1970s fashionstyle because the costume wornby HarveyKeitel isvery smart.
The audience see manysuitjacketswhichhadflaredcollarsandtrouserswhichwere alsoflared.I
thinkthe costume suggestthe character’sself-image because HarveyKeitellookslike amiddlesclass
workerbecause traditionallytheyworeshirtswithwhitecollars.

4. Luna Islam4088
The font of the titlesreflects the genre of Crime Fiction. Itisslightlygrungyandlookslike itsforman
oldmanual typewriter.The voiceoveralsodevelopsthe genre, “Youdon’tmake upfor yoursinsin
church. You doit inthe streets.Youdoit at home.The rest isbullshitandyouknow it”.The dialogue
possiblyrepresentswordssaidtohimbythe priest.Thisforeshadowswhatwill happenlaterinthe
film.Ithinkthe narrative isaboutimpurityanda sense of spirallingdoom.
If I hadto sum upthe ‘story’ina sentence byjustwatchingthe openingtitlesequence Iwouldsay
‘HarveyKeitel facesmanyobstacles;he istornbetweendecisionsthatwill affectthe peoplearound
him’.