Taxi Driver - Analysis

Use of camera (Cinematography):

The opening sequence of the film Taxi Driver is not of the norm for a thriller, the opening shot is of a cloud of smoke and a car emerges from this. Typically, in a thriller opening title sequence we are introduced to an establishing shot of a landscape. As viewers we want to question ourselves why the director of the film as done this. Although there is not a establishing shot we do see some extreme close up shots of a characters eyes. This is an effective way of convincing the audience to watch more of the film because we pick up on these clues and build up a story from them.

Mise-en-scene:

The Mise-en-scene of the film, Taxi Driver is interesting. We are only introduced to one character the opening sequence, the character is male seems as though we do not get to see his whole face. We only see his tanned white skin with his deep black eyes scanning something in its sight. We do not get to see any facial expressions as we don’t see his complete face. As an audience we are attracted to this character as we do not gain more information about him. The location of the film seems to be along a raining high street however it is unclear due to the contrasting blurred colours. Once again this is effective due to the audience is not revealed too much information that will make the story line less effective.

Sound:

Within the opening sequence, of Taxi Driver, the soundtrack sets the tone of the film. It is quite a mellow tone which relaxes the audience. I believe the pace of the film may speed up when the murder takes place. There is no diegetic sound in the opening sequence which is quite weird, the sound track takes over and no other sounds can be heard. As a viewer we may not notice this so we may feel not so bothered. In some cases, some may argue that the additional sounds.

Editing:

In the opening sequence of the film Taxi Driver, there are fades in and out between the cuts of the shots. But there are also straight cuts between the different shots. The lengths of the shots are quite long and drag on. An audience may feel that this leads up into indecision, which makes a viewer want to piece up the storyline further which makes the viewing experience more intense.