Brick opening analysis

The opening begins with close up shots of the scene, panning across the area. The camera then comes to a male character, starting at a close up of his shoes as he kneels at the edge of a tunnel. There is a blue hue throughout the opening to imply sadness in the scene. There is an extreme close up of the male characters face, which is out of focus at first then fades into focus, this shows the viewer that he is confused and sets the plot of the film as a murder mystery as there is a full establishing shot of the tunnel, the male character and a females body.
There are more close ups in the sequence, from the male character to parts of the females body to show she is lifeless and that it is his point of view of what he is looking at. These shots continue as shot/reverse shots on his face and different parts of the females body, such as her legs and her covered face, which does not allow the viewer to know what she looks like, adding to the mystery of her death. The close up of her arm and the blue bangles she is wearing is shown in the next scene, we know it is before the opening because she is alive and places a note in a locker. The sound of a school bell runs through both of these scenes as a sound bridge.
There is a blackout as a simple title screen is shown with the word ‘Brick’ on it in black and white. There is a subtitle on the screen as the camera shows the male characters shoes again walking to the same locker, it also starts out of focus so that the viewer focuses on the title; ‘Two days previous.’ We see the note she placed in the locker fall out, he picks it up and a close up shows the note which says where he should go. The note sets the next scene where the male character waits by the road until a telephone nearby him rings – we know it is the female character who died in the opening of the sequence due to the key props used. We know little about the characters in the opening sequence, although we know that it is a murder mystery and that the two characters know each other.