Brighton Rock

Brighton Rock begins with the name of the film distributing company appearing over a black background. From the start of this, the audience can hear the asynchronous, diegetic sound of the sea. The screen then cuts to black for a few seconds, here, the national lottery logo appears followed by the UK film council company name. All the production and funding titles are done over black, as the last production title is shown, the audience hears the diegetic sound of bells, the fact that you cannot see where the sounds are coming from, creates suspicion as to what the setting may be and why. As the final titles are shown, a tense, deep, string score begins. The over black technique is replaced by a dark cloudy background, with the film title “Brighton Rock” displayed, a lighthouse torch swings to and fro over the title, bringing up more enigmas.

Before the opening scene begins, the screen cuts to black, followed by the source of the earlier asynchronous sounds of the sea waves. The waves are dark and mysterious, the camera tracks one wave until in breaks, as the shot takes place, the score gets louder and more tense. The score is abruptly stopped and is replaced by the shrill, diegetic sound of a phone ringing. The camera tracks along the wall of the house in which the phone is ringing. The wall is grubby and falling apart and the section of the house visible to the audience looks disserted. This created the enigma of why is this particular phone ringing, who’s calling, and who lives in this house? All these suspicions creates a tense atmosphere, accompanied by the ear splitting telephone ring and the dense score.

The scene then cuts to the man on the other end of the phone, inside a telephone box. In the first line of dialogue of the film: “pick up the phone!” The man sounds urgent and his heavy breathing connotes that he has been running, maybe away from something. The camera then cuts to a long shot of the telephone box and the empty road, facing out onto the sea, you can still hear the man waiting for someone to pick up the phone . Here, a tableau appears, stating that the film is set in Brighton, England, 1964. The tableau is shown over the action being played out on screen.

In fog in the background, we see two dark silhouettes of men running down the street. We can assume this is who he man on the phone is running from and that they are not good news. The man in the telephone box says - “I am in a bit of trouble here.” - which gives the audience information that the men in the fog are dangerous. Dramatic irony created as the audience sees the figures in the fog before the man on the telephone does, this makes the audience anxious and tension is created.

The camera then cuts to the old, battered house where the man finally answers the phone, but it is too late. The camera cuts back to the other man who has spotted the dark figures in the fog and made a run for it. The camera does a medium shot of him running away from the 2 men, then cuts to show a man jump out with a knife. This creates terror and anxiety for the audience watching. The next few minutes of action are a mixture of slow paced editing and long shots of a violent gangster fight taking place. Pathetic fallacy is being used here as a harsh storm is being taken place, which represents the cold, violent mood of the scene. The shadowing, created by the low key lighting is being used effectively, highlighting the weapons being used, creating anxiety and suspense. The opening scene ends with the original man shown in the sequence dead on the floor after being stabbed. This opening scene creates enigmas, the audience is left wanting to know why he was being chased and who by. The audience can be sure that the remainder of the film is going to be thrilling, just as the opening sequence of the film was.