Video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Bm4YTs_Mr5M Individual Opening Sequence Analysis: Sin City by Jack Crute After a 20-second introduction of credits, the opening scene begins with a black-shot, accompanied by asynchronous sound of sirens, beeps and cars; were instantly introduced to the fact it is set in a busy urban city this is a stereotypical location for a film noire film. A fade in transition shows the sequence has been edited to black and white for affect; the girl, introduced by a medium long shot to show her looking over a balcony in a "damsel in distress" pose, has been edited using a technique called 'masking', where her red dress, red lipstick and green eyes are in colour while the rest of her, and the rest of the sequence, is still in black and white. This emphasis could possibly be a sign that the woman is seen as a sexual and seductive character and further supports her 'damsel in distress' persona; red is often seen as a sexual colour but also has connotations of 'danger' or 'death'. Somewhat going against genre conventions and stereotypes, however, is the womans short hair; this, in 21st century times, is seen as a stylish and popular style, although the mise-en-scene of the scene suggests it is set in the 'olden days'. Women, especially as 'femme fatals', in film-noire films usually have long, flowing hair. Different close-ups, medium close-ups and long shots are used to show a male character enter the scene from inside of the building; we hear his footsteps as he voice-overs the sequence, saying 'I let her hear my footsteps'; the man is quite obviously a more dominant character in the piece, expected of film-noire films, and is dressed in a suit, once again a stereotype of noire movies. After his introduction, their conversation is shown through shot/reverse shots which show the lust in each others eyes, through eye-line matches, their flirty conversation and the 'mask' effect on the woman's green eyes; they're shown to be prominent and beautiful through this editing technique (this technique overall possibly suggests woman are only looked at by men through their eyes, body and lips; a stereotype that woman are merely 'sexual objects' for men).

The shot/reverse shots also show the man offer the woman a cigarette, which in film-noire movies is seen as a 'glamorous' and traditional thing to do; the slow camera shots and movements show the smoke she exhales, demonstrating how feminine and lady-like she smokes. Throughout the whole shot/reverse shot sequence, we see a slow zoom which suggests passion between the pair. In film noire films, there is generally a 'love interest' introduced which then causes violence throughout. An editing technique then turns the pair into edited silhouettes through a longshot, amplifying the difference between the man and woman in height (the man is taller, more dominant, while the woman is 'curvy' and 'sexy' in posture and shape). We are also again introduced, possibly properly for the first time, as an 'establishing shot', the city and sky-scrapers behind the pair, along with special-effects 'rain' while they kiss, to show they do not need anybody but each other (while film noire films are generally aimed at men, woman are likely to relate and empathise to the love-story and therefore a secondary audience comes into play). The sequence then returns from the silhouettes and shows a cutaway to the man pulling out a gun, while his American-accent voiceover (traditional of film-noire's) uses dialogue such as "I tell her I love her". An edited flash is then added to make the gun-shot seem more realistic and dramatic, and the woman is left dying in the mans arms. The juxtaposition of the 'cutesy' romantic voiceover and the killing of the femme fatal character adds drama and possibly even humour to the introduction. A crane-shot zoom out is then used, to show the woman lying in her red dress dying in the mans arms; the dress is still masked 'red' and instead of it once symbolising sex and passion, it is now a symbol for death and danger, making the audience question if she was as 'good' as she came across. This zoom-out once again shows the city in all of it's glory, in black and white to show how dull and repetitive it can be compared to the woman lying on the ground, covered in her own blood. The sky-scrapers are shown until eventually, it fades into the logo of 'Sin City' - the logo is coloured red to once again symbolise sex and danger, and is in a comic book font; the audience are likely to enjoy comic-strips and generic film-noire story lines, and therefore will appeal to the audience.

Throughout the entire sequence, a saxophone and piano soundtrack is used; it sounds elegant and classy and juxtaposes the sounds of the city and emphasises the womans beauty and the difference between the two characters stood high on a balcony and the rest of the noisy city; the characters are obviously of more importance than general 'city-folk'. The soundtrack also makes the sequence seem more dramatic.