Ronin Directed by John Frankenheimer and Focusing on the Opening Sequence

As you can see from the trailer above, 'Ronin' directed by John Frankenheimer, is an action packed, humorous thriller with an all star cast. There is no wonder really why this is one of my favorite films and also why i have picked this film to be part of my blog. Another reason is that it exhibits so many thriller signifier's and is so full of mystery and intrigue that it is great to analyse for this subject. On top of this the opening sequence is brilliant, so is great to gain inspiration from for our thriller. The DVD box quotes the tag line for the film as being 'Loyalty is bought, betrayal is a way of life...' this tells a little of what to expect and also shows one of the thriller signifiers of twists, corruption and betrayal.

Before the establishing shot there is an epigraph that tells the tale of lone, masterless Samurai named 'Ronin' which explains why the film is named thus and also implies that the characters or main character is a merciless, live wire, who goes where they will and does not like taking orders. The film name then appears after the epigraph about Samurai and the title is written in black on a striking red background as if handwritten which connotes bloodshed and a personal vendetta. Already the audience has got great expectations of the film - they definitely will not be disappointed, in my opinion.

The opening sequence exhibits a great many thriller signifiers, whilst also introducing the main characters and using pathetic fallacy to intensify the feeling of danger, mystery and secretiveness. With the setting being at night time indicating the covertness of the operation and adding an opportunity to contrast the bright light from windows and street lamps with the blackness of the night, which is very effective when Robert De Niro hides in a pitch black doorway and peers into the light where his face is only partially visible (Chiaroscuro lighting), in addition to this the weather is miserable, continually raining, thus adding to the sense of dank, dark and illegality. Furthermore the establishing shot that shows that the setting is Paris, also depicts a maze of small, black cobbled streets that reflect the white light of windows due to the continual rain, besides this they symbolise the many twists and turns the plot takes like all thrillers do.

Panning down from the establishing shot of Paris, the camera focuses on a man (Robert De Niro) walking down a hill, this cuts to a close-up tracking shot of that man so the audience walk alongside him and can get a good look at him wearing a trench coat (generic thriller quality) and a flat cap that do not really cast great shadows over his face as you would expect, but instead it would seem that the director wants you to know what he looks like and that he is played by Robert De Niro. The character shows his secretiveness in a different manner and whilst walking down the hill he slows and walks into the shadows of a doorway, where you can only partially see his face, the other half being cast in darkness, peering round the corner at someone or something on the road below the hill. We can tell from these few shots that the narrative structure will be from De Niro's point of View because we see these very first events through his eyes.

Japanese type music, that fits with the opening sequence of sentences that introduced the name 'Ronin', sounds like a heartbeat to intensify the sense of Sam (De Niro's character) being so calm, as the heartbeat beat continues in the same manner the music builds on itself adding more instruments to make the surroundings seem more dangerous, as it cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot of what Sam is looking at (we are in his shoes); a car on the road which stops outside a pub and then it cuts to a mid-shot of an attractive woman (femme fatale another thriller signifier) getting out, saying something to the driver and then a tracking shot following her as she walks into the bar and we watch as the door closes behind her. Why was De Niro hiding from her? (mystery and intrigue). The camera then flashes back to the shot of De Niro watching the street as if he is waiting for something.

In the bar the music builds and falls as we meet more and more of the main characters in mid-shots, introducing them to the audience; a man looking inquisitively at the woman who is working behind the bar and who we later find out is called Larry, the woman herself who we later find out is called Deirdre. Jean Reno is now introduced to the audience with a tracking shot alongside as he walks up to the pub's entrance, this shot is more interesting than that though for two people walk in front of the camera as it is tracking and when they exit the shot Reno seems to have skipped a few paces and is already at the door although he was not walking that quickly. This shot seems to have been designed to put the audience off guard and to prove that nothing is what it seems, also this shot is longer than the introductions to Larry and the woman showing that Reno's character Vincent bears more importance.

When Reno is ordering beer in the bar where the non-degetic music is still rhythmic but has gone back to the steady beat like a heart. There is an over-Vincent's-shoulder shot from the side so you can see the woman and in between them both Larry is framed sitting in a chair smoking next to a no smoking sign showing that he pays little heed to what he is told and looking from one to the other so they are obviously not here by accident, but the opening still has me asking: Who are all these people? What is going on? And why are they there?

A worms eye view shot brings us back to De Niro walking down the final steps to the front of the bar where he looks enquiringly at the menu and we can hear the diegetic noise of the light in the pub's window until it goes out and we track beside him when he walks round the back of the bar until he disappears out of sight, showing that he knows his way round and has maybe been scouting the place out. A cut to a shot of a wet, narrow, cobbled street with stairs at the end that Sam walks down the it cuts to a close up of his face, which leads us into a panning shot of the street from his point of view, looking back and forth as if we were the eyes in his head, this gives the audience a unique perspective into someone else's head to process what they are seeing and to get them very familiar with the character, so much so that they are standing in his shoes.

A close up of him walk into the street and down it a little way and in the background there is a window, through it we can see vaguely see Deirdre although they are all steamed up. It would seem from this shot that either she is the orchestrator in all this as she bears great significance in most of the shots or she is a later love interest as seen through misty glass by Sam. He turns and walks back the other way as the smooth camera tracks with him to a stack of bottle crates next to the back door to the pub, we then see an extreme close-up of him taking out a gun and from a high vantage point over his shoulder we see him hide it behind the crates. The extreme close-up of the gun shows how significant it is to him and how dangerous he is. As he is hiding the gun this would suggest that all the people in the pub are dangerous and that if he is expecting trouble he knows where to go even if they search him they wont find a gun until he retrieves it.