The opening title sequence of Mean Street begins with a black screen and male voiceover that sets a mysterious tone. It then cuts to a close-up of Harvey Keitel waking from a troubled sleep in dimly lit bedroom, illuminated from outside by police sirens, setting an ominous mood. As the soundtrack "Be My Baby" plays, the title "Mean Street" is shown in red font on the movie projector, suggesting danger and survival will be important themes. Through costume, dialogue and genre cues, the sequence establishes the main character and time period while hinting at themes of impurity and consequences.

1. Luna Islam 4088
Mean Street (1973)
To start with ‘Mean Street’ opens with a black screen; this alone connotes mystery and makes the
audience eager to unravel more. The black screen is accompanied by a male voiceover. There is a
strong focus on the voice over, the sound of the voice is rough and low, only the audience hears the
character’ thoughts .The voice over is effective because the audience gets a sense of the character’s
personality; this creates an enigma code for the audience as they wonder who is speaking and what
is he talking about.
After the black screen it cuts to a close up of the first character the audience meets. The audience
sees under lighting being used, the strong shadows emphasises the facial features of the main
character. There is a strong contrast between the brightest and darkest parts of the beginning of the
opening scene. The artificial light creates ominous mood because there is no light used in the
bedroom, it is motivated from outside. The lighting is often associated with suspense genres.
Furthermore, the opening title sequence begins in the bedroom, as the main character is lying down
on his bed. The setting indicates that this film could be about mystery because the audience can only
hear ambient sounds; the police sirens from outside sets an enigma code for the audience of what is
happening outside; this creates suspense and contributes to the genre crime.
The audience establish that Harvey Keitel is one of the main characters; we first see him suddenly
awakening from his sleep; the camera mobility is very steady. I think the director used a steadicam
because it creates a soaring effect, makes the audience feel like their moving with the actor.
We see a medium shot of the main character and the surroundings, establishing that the scene is set
in a bedroom. We see Harvey Keitel appear to emerge from the dark as he gets up from his bed; this
creates a tense mood as the audiences do not know what is going to happen next as it is quiet, while
the camera tracks him to the mirror and back to the bed.
His body language shows that he had a bad dream as he puts his hands on top of his face. This forms
an enigma code for the audience as they may be pondering what he is thinking about. He looks
troubled and concerned about something, this presents that he is occupied with thoughts that
prevents him from going to sleep.
The audience see a horizontal close up of the character’s face as he lays his head down on to the
pillow; this emphasizes his expressions and makes the audience wonder what he is thinki ng about.
As he lays down his head on to the pillow, the audience hear a parallel sound of a drum. This
contributes to the soundtrack the audience begin to hear. The soundtrack “Be My Baby” is played
while the camera slowly cuts to the next scene revealing a movie projector.
The audience first see the opening title when they see the movie projector; the main title ‘Mean
Street’ appears when the chorus begins; emphasizing the name of the soundtrack- ‘Be My Baby’ and
the title of the film. The music played is old fashioned, parallel to the font- old school and typewriter
font. The colour of the font ‘Mean Street’ is red; this can connote danger and it is the colour of
blood suggesting that the film could be about the importance of survival and life.

2. Luna Islam 4088
San serif is used throughout the opening title sequence; the yellow font stands out from the black
background, this shows the importance of the title credits.
A sound bridge is used during this; this is effective as it maintains the continuity, starting from the
end of the scene in the bedroom and continues onwards
The soundtrack emphasises the audience’s mood, this is played throughout the scene, until the end
of the opening title sequence. From the movie projector the audience see a montage of shots, cross
cutting between cities and people. This sets an enigma code for the audience as they wonder who
the people are in the shots with Harvey Keitel .
The costumes show a 1970s fashion style because the costume worn by Harvey Keitel is very smart.
The audience see many suit jackets which had flared collars and trousers which were also flared. I
think the costume suggest the character’s self-image because Harvey Keitel looks like a middles class
worker because traditionally they wore shirts with white collars.
The font of the titles reflects the genre of Crime Fiction. It is slightly grungy and looks like its form an
old manual typewriter. The voiceover also develops the genre, “You don’t make up for your sins in
church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it”. The dialogue
possibly represents words said to him by the priest. This foreshadows what will happen later in the
film. I think the narrative is about impurity and a sense of spiralling doom.
If I had to sum up the ‘story’ in a sentence by just watching the opening title sequence I would say
‘Harvey Keitel faces many obstacles; he is torn between decisions that will affect the people around
him’.