Sin City and Layer Cake introductions

"Sin City"and "Layer Cake", two very different thrillers, opening in two very different ways. Where "Sin City" uses the opportunity to show off the fancy visual effects, and at the same time give us an idea of the sort of film we're about to watch; "Layer Cake" gives us a run-down of crime through the ages, setting the scene for the movie as well as introducing the main character as a cool, slick, intelligent man, so we instantly have respect for him, even with his dubious role in society. 

"When I was born, the world was a far simpler place." The opening shot to "Layer Cake" is the back of a plain, dark van. The camera zooms out slowly, showing us what it is, adding an air of faint interest into what is going to be revealed. "It was all just...cops and robbers." The van blows up, and a mellow chord fades in. All hell breaks loose, but everything feels washed out, the lack of colour, the soft music, the slow speed of the scene, even the voice of the robber shouting is quiet, as if in a dream. A smooth edit later, and we're zooming out into a 70's pad, facing a group of hippies. The colour is washed back into the scene, replacing dull blues with warming shades of orange. The camera swivels around, and next thing we know, we're facing a prison, facing the two types of inmates introduced from the other scenes. The connection between the two types of criminal isn't just in hair length though, as it's worth noting that the colour scheme of the prison is a mix of the orange and blues from the past shots, combining to create a dingy shade of green. Everything about this whole scene relates to drugs, the central theme of the film. The slow, relaxing music is a nod to the calm hippie lifestyle, the camera movement too, slow and free. The voice-over, performed by Daniel Craig, fits perfectly into the melody of the song, contributing to its sound. His slow, controlled voice fits perfectly into the tone of both the diegetic music and the pictures, as well as giving us an insight into his opinions. 
"Drugs. Changed. Everything." We skip once more, and the dopey music picks up, adding a rhythm, getting more lively. Now, we've entered the future. The dark, dull flashbacks are replaced with clean, clinical metal shelves, each lined with orderly rows of sleek metal bottles, and our protagonist walks onto the scene, observing the racks as they start to change from the future to now. The use of time skipping is very effective in the scene, as the brief history lesson makes us come to agree with Daniel Craig, which as a drug dealer, is a very hard thing to do. This way, as soon as we start the film proper, we take his side, his enemies are ours. 

Note the structure of the very start of the intro. The mainly unrelated scene, the van, slowly zooming out as our interest increases, subtly building tension, until the complete unexpected happens. This same technique is used in the opening to Sin City. It opens with an establishing shot of the city, (of which corruption and darkness is a major theme) with a woman in a flowing red dress is viewing from a balcony. A soft, yet masculine voice narrates. "She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree" This generic, poetic use of narration used in the same way as its detective genre roots, stemming back from Raymond Chander's books. 
It is impossible not to notice the clever black and white effect of the film, which the intro first shows us. A not-too-subtle nod to the black and white film noir genre, although that isn't the only thing. As the camera switched from an establishing shot to a mid shot, revealing a man walk towards her, he speaks "I let her hear my footsteps". However, we have no idea whether the man actually lets her hear his footsteps, as the narrator, he can tell us whatever he likes, but he would want us to think that he has the upper hand. This also ties in the the Philip Marlowe stories, as we only know what he tells us, and have no idea if the truth is hidden from us. There are even more things that tie in with the film noir genre in this shot. There is the use of chiaroscuro lighting, a very common film noir signifier, used to make the man seem mysterious, as we can only see a silhouette, as well as the positioning of the 3 characters, both on the vertical lines of the rule of thirds, balancing out the shot. More obviously, there is the use of darkness and rain, which are both used throughout the whole film. Both create a very gloomy and pessimistic atmosphere, perfect for the dark deeds to be carried out.