Sin City

Sin City

Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriquez, Quentin Tarantino
Released: 3rd June 2005 (UK)
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Plot: A film that explores the dark and miserable town Basin City and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in the violent corruption of the city.
User ratings: 8.4/10 (reference: IMDB)
Awards: 16 wins and 29 nominations

The opening to Sin City starts of with the camera rotating around the city Manhattan. This is a great opening brings out its thriller genre, as the camera rotates upwards we then get the opening title “Sin City” with the red, merging into the name. The red represents, crime, blood different gothic aspects.



Through out the film it’s done in black and white, this brings out the gothic aspects and really gives of a criminality side to Sin City. The opening scene is your typical thriller woman, we got the red dress and the red lipstick which stands out from the black and white which gives of an affect that is bold and really brings her out. In the picture below, we can see the big city; the idea of the view of the city gives of the impression that it represents crime etc. She’s exposed to the sounds of the city, you can hear the traffic and the cold wind blowing, this technique is very clever.



The opening to Sin City emphasises female’s vulnerability as we can see in the picture below. Looking at the woman below we can see she has the red dress; red lipstick and blond hair making her look venerable. She’s got her arms together, looking weak in away. We can see the male approaching the woman in his suit, looking more important, tougher in away. Looking at the mise-en-scene we can see the lighting is very dark on the characters, on the female one half of her is shadowed and the other half isn’t this may represent a dark side to her whilst the other half may represent an innocent side to her.



We can see that the director is using the 180 degree rule, the woman is always on the right side and the man is always on the left side. This technique has been use so it doesn’t confuse the audience. Through out the start of the opening, we have a narration, this helps to connect with the audience so we not what’s going through the mans head and what he is thinking. The woman smoking helps to relate back to its thriller genre, the woman acting bad in away. As we can see in the picture below we got the man holding the packet of cigarettes in a tight manly grip where as the woman is taking one out in a delicate fashion.



The camera angle being used in this shot is over shoulder, this technique can make the audience feel like they’re looking over there shoulder but in a sly way. Its almost like the audience shouldn’t be looking at something they’re not aloud to look at. In this scene below we have your higher class sort of criminals, we got a rich man in a suit then we have the female in the red dress. This is helps gives of its thriller genre within the film. The mise-en-scene within the film is that the lighting is still dark and gothic, giving it a thriller effect to it and the sound is gone so we can only hear the speech, and the audience is not distracted by the traffic noise and sounds of the big city.



In this picture below, the overhead is changed so now we see the woman’s back but the mans face. The use of this technique is very clever as we can see the mans characteristics and expression on his face. But the woman’s face is taking away from the audience, so we then become curious as into wondering what the characteristics on her face are, what facial expression she is doing. The idea that we cannot see her face gives of a thriller factor within the film and is taking something away from the audience, it’s almost like the director is trying to hide something.



In the picture below we can see that the woman has her back turned to the mans face almost as if she’s hiding something, hiding her facial expressions. This technique connects to the audience as we can still see the woman’s characteristics and we can see the mans facial expression, so there’s nothing hidden from the audience only from the male. The woman with her back faced to the man is like she’s trying to prove she’s independent she doesn’t need help or protection, trying to prove that she’s tough. The whole idea of her smoking also helps to bring out the thriller side within the film.



As the film continues through, we get a quick image of the picture above us in a graphic novel image; this technique helps the director to keep the films originality. Looking at mise-en-scene within the image we can see that lighting is very dark and gothic, on one side of the woman’s face it’s shadowed representing a dark side to her where as the other half isn’t representing an innocent side to her. Where as the man’s face is just completely shadowed giving of this dark image and telling the audience that he’s dangerous. Within the picture we got rain representing its thriller aspects within the film as well as giving of a gothic factor.



The use of the binary opposition technique within the picture is very bold, we got the black and white contrasting to each other, giving of a gothic effect and bringing out its thriller genre within the film. We got a dark image below, the city being black representing a dark, big dangerous world where as the characters are in white making them stand out from the back round so the audience immediately connects within the characters in the image.



Throughout the opening of Sin City we know the male is going to be a dangerous man, through out the film the audience sees this dark side to him. The mise-en-scene helps the audience to understand through lighting effect and sound that the man is going to be dangerous. This also emphasises woman’s vulnerability within in the film, it makes woman seems weak and venerable.



Looking at mise-en-scene within the picture we can see that it’s a very thriller image, it has a gothic side to it. We got the rain coming down and the man with his head up almost like he’s pleading for help. Looking at the lighting we can still see that the man’s face is still shadowed up still representing a dark image towards him. He’s been portrayed to the audience as a dark image.



Sin City has one of the greatest openings in any thriller film, we got are typical red dress, red lipstick woman who’s venerable and weak. Then we got our male character coming into play who we know is dangerous. It’s a great opening and brings out its thriller aspects within the film.