The American

Today I actually watched the Anton Corbijn Film "The American", a crime thriller starring George Clooney. The opening scene was vital as it gives the gist of what the film entails. In the opening scene a hired gunman unsuccessfully tries to shoot dead the main character, Jack (George Clooney) and as a result he is forced to kill the gunman and his partner who he was with as she supposedly betrayed him. There were no subtitles at the very beginning; they appeared about five minutes in when he was driving to his new location after meeting with his boss in Rome. There was not too much that happened in the film, most of it took place in a small Italian town but was still successful as you were always waiting for something to happen. The audience mainly followed him making the same assumptions that it was the prostitute working with his killer, but as the film progressed the audience grew to know more and as I suspected waited in anticipation to see how he would react to it (or already had). The camera angles following the main character's movements added suspense since you didn't know what was going to happen. The setting also contributed towards this being a small quiet town with small roads, silent alleys and street staircases. On two occasions he was being followed through the streets by men looking to kill him. There was definitely use of a twist as you wondered whether it was the love interest who was part of the plot to betray him, but in the end it was the boss and colleague he was working for all along who were plotting to kill him.

In Relation to our Film

This relates to our film in a sense that it is the his best friend that betrays him. I think in our opening the best friend being there portrays her importance throughout the film.
Also as our opening is only two minutes we need to consider whether to make it evident to the audience through certain camera angles and body language that she knows more than she lets on, or keep it completely hidden from them that she has something to do with it.