The document provides an analysis of the opening sequence of the 2009 film "The Firm". It summarizes that the opening scene introduces the main character, Becks, as he gets ready to leave his house on a Saturday morning in 1980s London. Becks is suggested to be the leader of a football hooligan firm based on clues from his clothing and early morning trip to the pub and phone booth. The analysis also notes that various details in the opening, like the use of a phone booth and picking up milk, aim to set the scene in 1980s England and foreshadow that Becks and his firm will soon be involved in some kind of violent confrontation.

1. Opening sequence
The Firm (2009)
Owen Howard
(Sam Cooke also working with the same
film)

2. Synopsis
O The production company; vertigo films, is shown
before the movie starts, but the viewers can
already get an idea of what the film is about
because of the neon lights that were frequently
used in the 80’s. During this time violence was also
a huge factor of this time and football hooligans
were also popular. The bright colours from this
production title sets the theme of the film when you
watch further on because it is very animated with
lots of anger scenes shown throughout with a fast
pace to the film.

3. Open sequence analysis
The setting is revealed early on
in the film as ‘London’. This is a
busy place as it’s the capital of
England, but is also known for
football hooliganism due to the
huge clubs like: West Ham,
Millwall, Chelsea… London is
also a well known place for
violence so the audience know
what’s coming but don’t know
how its going to be presented
which is the intriguing factor of
this film.
43 seconds have
gone of the film and
we already see
‘Becks’ staring in the
mirror which
suggests that as he
is the first character
being presented he
is the main one and
the film will be
shown around him.
This is an over the shoulder shot
which is used to add dialogue and
suggest that two people are having a
conversation but because it’s the
same person it suggests that ‘Becks’
is a bit disturbed acts arrogant as he
is looking at him self in the mirror with
a pose.

4. ‘Becks’ the main character is clearly trying to ensure his wife/girlfriend that
he’ll be safe and wont get into trouble as the woman says before he is
about to leave ‘be careful’. This suggests that she knows what he is getting
up to and in the past he has clearly been hurt or arrested by the police as
she has lots of worries whilst she sees him walk out. The idea of him
pleasing his wife with a kiss on the neck suggests he wants to keep her
happy but deep down knows he has plans for the rest of the day relating to
football hooliganism.
We see from this clip that the main character is leaving the
house with his Adidas tracksuit on which suggests
connotations of him being a football hooligan. We know from
the film that he leaves the house at 8:30am to go to the pub,
this is a really early time to go to the pub so there is more
evidence that suggests that he is going to get into trouble or
has some football business to sort out.

5. The red phone box shows signs of the 80’s as they are not as
popular now as they once was. Football hooligans were also
popular during this time so the link suggests that ‘Becks’ is
calling the opposition to organise a fight before the game. The
lead man in a football frim usually has the job of arranging the
fights so we now know that ‘Becks’ is the main character
because he is head of the firm. (This links back to the title of the
film)
Before this screenshot we see ‘Becks’ pick up the milk from outside his house.
This happened every Saturday morning during the 80’s so there is more evidence
suggesting that the film is linking back to certain times of the 80’s. As he picks up
the milk and walks down the road to the phone box, the previous music that was
being played earlier ‘Tainted Love’, is played again which suggests that we as the
audience, are waiting for the first problem of the equilibrium which will set the
tone of the film. This will probably be set by ‘Becks’ as he is the main man of the
football firm.