The opening scene of Drive establishes the film's setting of Los Angeles at night through an aerial establishing shot. Low-angle shots show the main character Ryan Gosling calmly driving alone at night while listening to music, establishing his brooding personality. Repeated shots of him driving foreshadow that driving will be central to the film.

1. Spider man
Analysis of the opening scene
By Ummina Begum

2. • The budget for Spiderman
wasn't small, and this is justified
by the well edited opening with
great computer effects.
• The institutions presented in the
film are Columbia and Marvel,
Marvel is a company that runs a
lot of comics and owns a lot of
characters, Spiderman is one of
these characters.
• After
the
sponsors
and
institutions of the film pass, the
opening continues with the
credits, showing who acquires
the main roles in the film.

3. • It then begins with a panning shot of some
never ending mist, the shot then rises into a
crane shot revealing the title "Spiderman".
• After this sequence of events each important
cast member's name is flung onto a spiders
web, signifying the action packed nature this
film inherits.
• The soundtrack throughout all this is a
sequence of short notes of a symphony,
making the action taking place seem very fast
and exciting.

4. I found the opening sequence of Spider-man really
interesting as it uses a lot of dark colours and some
accent colours such as red. The red symbolises
Spider-man and his costume as it is red. The colour
red also connotates danger which is foreshadowing.
A lot of graphics are used to show the audience that
Spider-man is a comic book character and animated.
They show this also at the very beginning when the
production teams' logos are shown as Marvel uses a
comic book being flicked through.

5. The audience establish who the main characters are as well; Spider-man and the
green Goblin. They can tell this because two graphic/structural 3D images are
shown of them. The audience learn that the film takes place in New York due to
the tall skyscrapers.
There is a point of view shot from Spider-man 'flying' in between buildings. This
kind of portrays him as being superior than the people on the ground. This maybe
because of his powers.
There aren't many shots in the sequence because most of it is graphics not real
life camera work, but a long establishing shot is used to establish that the film is
in New York

6. • The mise en scene in this opening sequence consists of a spider web, the
letters of each actors name are spread unevenly across the web, like how a
flies would be caught in a web.
•
The background is dark and daunting, connoting danger and risk, as the
camera dives deeper into the misleading dark background the webs become
more entangled, showing how the roles of each crew member becomes more
complex as it continues.
• As the webs continue, some buildings begin to emerge, this is the first time
the audience see Spiderman, hanging from a building. .

7. Drive
Analysis of the opening scene
By Ummina Begum

8. • The film starts with an ariel
shot that pans over Los Angeles
at night which shows all of the
skyscrapers lit up.
• This tells the audience that the
film is set in America in a big
city.
• The credits are in a fluorescent
pink/purple colour and are in a
stylish written type font.
• As soon as the film starts music
is playing as non-diegetic
sound.

9. • The next shot shown is a low angle of Ryan
Gosling's character sitting still in his car, this is
where the name of the film first appears.
• It then changes to an over the shoulder shot
of Ryan actually driving, here the audience can
visualise that he is wearing a jacket with a
high collar, driving gloves and has a toothpick
sticking out of his mouth, he is also driving
with one hand and looking out the window.

10. • The lighting in the majority of the opening
scenes a requite low key with lots of shadows
cast across the driver’s face. This connotates a
dark, brooding character that we expect to see
throughout the film.

11. • The music goes very well with the opening as
it contrasts with the main character who is
very calm and cool just like the song is.
• The following shot is not the characters point
of view however it is just off view and the
audience can see his reflection in the car's
interior mirror. This allows us to observe his
facial expressions which is another aspect of
mise en scene.

12. • Once the Driver has dropped off his clients to
the robbery he waits in his car for their return.
Upon their return the police begin a search for
the Impala.
• The pursuit begins. The majority of shots are
from within the car so that the audience
experiences the chase with the Driver.

13. • The camera never leaves the inside of the car
and is always with Ryan's character, which
allows us to feel what the driver goes through.
• At the end the repeated shots of him driving
foreshadows the idea that he will always be
driving throughout the film. And the story
reflects on cars.