Double Indemnity 1944 Opening Sequence

The setting is revealed with a successful establishing shot, the long shot of the American street shows the towering buildings and cars that are speeding up the roads. The buildings seem to have power over the characters and portray the buildings to be quite threatening due to them being so high above the humans. The locked up buildings show they are working out of hours making the opening mysterious causing the audience to become curious as to what the characters are doing.

They use costumes to show the people within the film are wealthy, the smart suit finished with a hat and jacket shows the main character shown walking through the building door is of importance.

One interesting camera shot is the first shot showing the figure of a man walking towards the screen this is creepy as the face of the figure is not visible, he is also walking with a limp which would produce a tense atmosphere, the audience will be confused as to what happened to him. This shot then dissolves into the establishing shot of the street.

The film title 'Double Indemnity' is shown in block capital letters giving away no clues on what the film is about.

The first shot of the man's figure walking towards the camera connotes the film will be based on war or conflict due to the man limping and being supported by a crutch. The dark figure suggests the film will be quite secretive and mysterious as not much is given away in the first few shots. This also reveals to the audience that it is a thriller, the silence and shadows suggest there is no one around meaning anything could happen or anyone could be hiding behind the shadows. The building that the man enters is closed and it is quiet, this could mean he isn't supposed to be there.

Introduced first is the male that seems to be the main character/focus, he enters the building whilst being greeted by someone else who works there. It is in night, it is dark and deserted no body else is in the building apart from the man who came to the door therefore he has gone into the building outside of working hours.