Drive- Nicolas Winding Refn (2011)
Opening Scene/Title Sequence: https://youtu.be/ZHYaj6EHfJg
Shot by Shot Analysis
The movie Drive directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (2011) is about an unnamed man, who goes by the title named the Driver. He works as a stuntman in movies, fixes cars at a garage with his friend Shannon, and for extra cash does get away for criminals in heists. Throughout the movie he gets closer with his neighbor, Irene, and her son Benicio. However, he falls in love with Irene, even though her husband is in prison. Her husband Standard Gabriel gets out of prison and Driver soon has to save Irene and Benicio from mobsters protecting Gabriel while he was in prison.
In the opening scene, we are met with a map of Los Angeles with a voice-over of a phone call between protagonist Driver and another character. This shot has a longer duration and take and does not cut off right away. By having the voice over the phone call, we able to see what the protagonist is involved with, a planned heist and crime. They talk about navigating the city, this creates tension in the beginning of the film.
In the same shot we see The Driver from behind looking out at the urban city. The camera tilts up to see the character looking out at urban Los Angeles. This paves the way for a noir fim. We have a gritty urbanized setting, that takes place at night, where most criminal activity takes place, with an anti-hero character.
The camera cuts from the longer take and we have a zoom in on the window of the Driver’s apartment looking out at Los Angeles. This zoom is kind of suspicious because we do not know the characters actions and what kind of action is going to occur next, it heightens the tone and tension in this scene.
The camera jump cuts to a similar perspective of the city but through the protagonists point of view. This shot can be considered a point of view/over the shoulder shot because we are seeing the streets of Los Angeles through a perspective of The Driver and we are traveling with him to his destination. This shot is important because it shows the protagonists character, he is very focused and a man of few words, drawing the audience into the movie.
The camera then cuts to a low angle shot of The Driver. Here we have a visual of who the protagonist is, what he looks like, and his attitude. This low angle shot is significant because it shows him as a superior person, a very fierce character. This contributes to the fierce and high strung atmosphere of the film, because of the information on the heist and then seeing him as a character.
In this shot, the camera cuts to his destination before involving himself in criminal activity. We see, Shannon, a friend of the protagonist from this canted angle shot. This shot leaves off-screen space, where the Driver will arrive in the doorway in the background. This implies that Shannon was expecting him and knows the kind of work that the protagonist does for a living. In this scene, we see that Shannon helps to provide the Driver with cars, from older to even newer Chevy Impala. The camera scans over the garage, with a tracking shot, to show how big the garage is and the Drivers connections with Shannon.
In this shot, we have an ariel shot of the city from a high altitude perspective. This instills in the audience that the protagonist can be involved with crime and get away with it because the city is so large. It establishes the setting of where the movie will be prominently be taken place.
Lastly, the introduction of this film shows where the heist takes place. This long shot, shows the car and it’s surroundings. We see that this heist takes place in a sketchy area, gates all around and many alley ways. This can be compared with Nighcrawler where Lou was taking apart of crime in a restricted sketchy area himself. Overall, this film from the introduction has many elements of a noir film, the gritty locations, the anti-hero protagonist who is involved with crime himself, the large urban city terrain, and the law being the center around the crime.
Sound
The sounds that are in this film is the dialogue. This is seen through the voice-over with the phone-call in the beginning and when he is speaking with Shannon in the garage. A sound effect would be the car driving down the street, as the protagonist is on his way to pick up his new heist vehicle. You know the vroooommmm, type of thing.
Editing
Not going to lie, this movie has some long a$$ takes. Not to be informal but the beginning scene, was pretty long. This was because of the phone and the map being seen, it was to give a action and tension filled opening scene. We see a match cut from the window view of the city to the city seen through the window of the car. This was to preserve the continuity and show that the protagonist is in pursuit.
Mise-en-scene
Lastly, some mise en scene elements that could be seen in this opening scene are the annotated map in the establishing shot. Another prop was the duffel bag, the Driver hauled out of his room. Then the getaway car, he went from an oldie to a Chevy, to help preserve his identity. (he could’ve picked a better car, *cough* Dodge *cough* Challenger, but it’s whatever) The driver wears modern, everyday clothing, jeans and a guys bomber jacket.
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