Review of Touch Of Evil

The opening sequence of Touch Of Evil.

When the short sequence starts we begin by seeing the logo of the producers of this particular film. It is accompanied by a piece of dramatic, brass instrumental music. It then takes us to a shot of a man setting a bomb, straight into a crime. The camera then cuts to the intended victims. The perpetrator then runs to the victim’s car and places the bomb into the trunk of the vehicle. They do not notice him and get into the transportation without worry. The music throughout this little sequence has a fast paced rhythm and begins to add more instruments for extra tension. When the engine starts we hear the music change into what we would assume the emotions of the characters would be like. It becomes happy go lucky, like an everyday piece of music. They than drive out of the place they are parked in and see them be on their way to their intended destination. The tension then rises in the audience as the couple are on their travels. They keep getting stopped by traffic officers and pedestrians. We become tense and nervous because we know that there is a bomb in the boot of their car ready to explode. Traffic passes by them at their first stop. This diverts the audiences attention to what is passing them by, the people and what they are transporting, the vehicles and their different styles. The music becomes bouncier and we hear symbols collide within it to add even more tension to what should seem like an everyday night. The car then travels further down the road and is stopped by yet another traffic warden. It is shot from in front and is tracked using a dummy. We then focus on another couple as well as the vehicle and it’s victims inside. The two are on foot and are the cause of the car stopping. They are then pushed aside by the car onto the sidewalk. We watch the couple walk for a bit down the street in the direction the car had gone. They then make their way onto the road and are overtake the car that passed them, the car stopping due to live stock on the road. We then follow in front of the couple a little more seeing the car finally get past the sheep in the background only to be stopped by more traffic. The music is still bright and chirpy and you feel, as an audience member, tense and anxious to see the inevitable, the explosion. The car is sowed slightly by pedestrians and then comes on par with the walking couple. Both the vehicle and the walking couple reach the same destination at the same time, but the couple win as the man in control of what is happening addresses them first. The woman is American but the man is obviously well known. The enforcer seems intrigued to find that this man is married to this particular woman but allows them to carry on. The two in the car are impatient and distract the attendant’s attention, guiding it towards them. The music is low in the background but is still happy, jive type music. You know the bomb is going to go off and you can’t wait to see where and when. Anxiously the clip makes you wait even more, the frustration and tension encapsulates you. The well known man from the couple is then talking again and the man in the car seems frustrated, like he know he should hurry, but will it be too late. The woman then hears a ticking noise and becomes distraught. No one believes her and the man lets them be on their way. The music has all but faded away and you know the explosion is going to come soon. We then see the car drive past and two wardens appear. The camera skips past them to focus once again on the walking couple who are now deep in conversation. The couple are about to immerse into a passionate kiss until there is an asynchronous explosion. The camera cuts to a flaming vehicle. The one we saw in the car. Each of these individual things contributes to the genre of film noir. I think me and my group and I can add specifics into our idea to contribute to our opening sequence. I like the idea of starting off with a crime and letting the audience become tense and nervous as the 3 minutes comes to an end with a mystery.