Textual Analysis1. (Introduction)

The Italian Job was filmed in 2003 and directed by Felix Gary Gray. I have chosen to analyse the opening to this crime thriller because it shows the side of the story to the stereotypical ‘bad guys’ and shows why they do what they do, it breaks the expected boundaries of films and creates a lot of enigmas and suspense throughout the film. I will analyse the first 5 Minutes of the opening.

2. (Narrative Context)

After being betrayed and left for dead in Italy by their ‘inside man’ Steve on a job that consisted of $35 million worth of gold, Charlie Croker and his team plan an unforgiving revenge and elegant gold heist against their former acquaintance.

3. (Enigma Codes)

Throughout the opening of The Italian Job, we are left with many enigmas, the first being who is the lady whose hands are shown because we never see her face. The next question is why is John randomly in Venice and also why does he have a parole officer. The last enigma we are left with is who is the man that John met in Venice and is he the ‘Charlie’ that his daughter mentioned on the phone?

4. (How are the characters established and represented?)

The first character we are shown in the film is John’s daughter sleeping she is introcuced by a medium shot when she is sleeping, it is done in this way because it

doesn’t reveal the characters identity at first. We then learn about the character that she cares about her father and that she is worrying where she is. This can show character traits that John’s daughter is laid back but also caring. Her character could later be linked to the plot as her character is the typical ‘damsel in distress’, a beautiful woman who may need to be saved. The next character we are introduced to is John, which is shown to us through a medium shot. He is shown to have an unpredictable personality by the fact he randomly went to Venice without anyone else knowing. The traits then shown to us is that he is like a father for Charlie and also a mentor. This links into the later film because he is the leader of their group and the wisest, it also links to when John gets killed, Charlie wants to get revenge because John meant a lot to him. The last character we are introduced to in the opening is Charlie. The shot we are first shown of him is a tilted long shot that reveals him from the ground up but we also see a faded reflection of his face in a puddle on the floor before we see him. This shows us the body language of Charlie and this links to his character trait of being calm in most situations. Charlie is represented in a way that he see’s John as a mentor but also father figure, this links to the plot when later Charlie wants to get revenge for John being killed. This shows us the character trait of loyalty.

5. (Locations)

The locations we are shown in the opening of The Italian Job are; a bedroom and also Venice. A bedroom is not a typical thriller location as usually not much exciting activities happen unless you are watching an erotic thriller. Venice is a very typical thriller genre as it is a very popular city but also foreign for the intended audience. It is typical as it’s usually a highly populated area which is good for chase scenes as it’s hard for people to move through.

6. (Camera and Editing techniques)

During the opening credits a lot of extreme close ups are used on blue prints and pieces of paper that look like plans. This is used to create the effect that precision and a lot of planning goes into acts of organized crime. During the first scene of the film when John is on the phone to his daughter cross cutting is used so you can see things happening at different times in the world. This is used so because later in the film the same technique of people being in different places but still communicating and talking is used. A two-shot of both Charlie and John walking towards the camera is used in the opening of the film. This is used to create the effect that audience can see the chemistry between

the two characters.

7. (Use of sound)

In the opening credits of the film non-diegetic music is used which starts of casual and calm but nearing the end of the credits the music reaches its climax and is very intense and replicates a shoot-out or chase scene which is very typical event in a thriller film.

8. (Titles)

The main title of ‘The Italian Job’ faded in can give the effect that the opportunity arose to the crew and they’re taking advantage of it, the boldness of the letters can show the certainty in the task they are doing. The colour being a faint white could show innocence but has somewhere gone wrong, meaning they are only pulling off the heist because they need to.

9. (Intended Target Audience)

The target for a usual heist type thriller movie will be males aged 14-32, this is shown by the fact a beautiful lady is shown in the opening of the film to attract the attention of people who may not have been paying attention before. Also, we can tell it is aimed for men are that the events of theft, shootings and money are usually more interesting for men than women.

10. (Creation of Suspense)

Not much suspense is created in the opening of The Italian Job except from the lack of information we are originally given which gives more enigmas in the film which we will later find out in the film. This is therefore not the stereotypical thriller opening however it is unique and effective.