Deconstruction - Sin City

Sin City Opening - A Deconstruction

The film

This is the first three minutes of Sin City, a 2005 thriller/neo-noir film. The term 'neo-noir' is used to describe modern takes on the film noir genre that contain elements that didn't exist during the 40s and 50s when film noir was at its peak. The opening depicts a man approaching a woman on a balcony, having a brief conversation with her before kissing and then shooting her. The man's inner monologue is played over the top as a voiceover throughout. 

Sound

Throughout the scene, ambient city background noises can be heard, and for the first part this is mixed in with a soft jazz soundtrack. This starts off as just a saxophone, but then a piano joins and begins playing minor notes which foreshadow a negative event. After he shoots her, the music immediately stops and all that can be heard is the sound of the rain. The sound of the gunshot is a very sudden sharp sound which contrasts to the soft background music, aiming to make the viewer jump.

As well as diegetic dialogue between the two, a non-diegetic monologue of the man is also heard playing over the top. This allows the viewer to have an insight into his mind that the other character on screen doesn't have. Finally, the line in his monologue "she shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree" foreshadows her death later in the scene.

Mise-en-scene

The costume used in this scene is very typical of film noir films. The woman, commonly known as a femme fatale, is usually dressed in either red or black which have connotations of danger and love/sex. In this particular film, the woman is wearing a red dress and has red lipstick which are edited to be the only things in colour, contrasting to the monochrome surroundings. A gun and a cigarette are used, the gun being a typical symbol of violence and both being common items seen in film noir films. 

The film is also set in an inner city area which is standard for the genre. Finally, as things between the two become more heated, it begins to rain. This shows both romance and tragedy, as kissing in the rain is a common romantic trope and it's also being used as pathetic fallacy to imply something bad is about to happen. 

Camera angles

The first shot in the scene is a high angle shot of the woman walking towards the edge of the balcony. High angle shots are used to show weakness and vulnerability which relates to her death later in the scene. It also shows her looking out at the city, which makes her seem much smaller.

A long shot of the man walking towards her is used which makes him seem slightly threatening, however when he gets closer close ups of both of them are used to better show their emotion. Several two shots are also used to show the closeness between the two characters.

Editing

Match-on-action of the cigarette being taken out the packet and also when it's being lit is used to emphasise the action as smoking is a key element of the genre.

Shot reverse shot is also used to show the conversation between the two and show them looking into each other's eyes. Finally, editing was done on the shot of them kissing so that only two colours are used - black and white. The sudden change for this one moment implies a moment of intimacy between the two, as well as making them stand out on the predominantly black background.