Drive Opening Credits

Drive (2011), a film directed by Nicholas Winding Refn, is a crime thriller starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. The opening of this thriller really enticing, tense, yet relatively simplistic in style; we see a short view into Driver's lifestyle (Gosling) while building tension because it is quite slow speed, and set at night.

Throughout the film is an electronic, 80s pop style soundtrack, which reflects the time period in which it is set and is also slightly contrapuntal to the setting, as the film is a thriller and yet the music is quite upbeat. This slightly ironic tone is also reflected in the title text, a pink cursif that stands out against the dark shots of the city. However, the audience are likely to associate this style of electronic pop and bright pink text with a drama with potential romantic elements.

The first shot is a long crane shot that pan over the skyline at night, which establishes the setting and immediately creates an urban, busy atmosphere. The shot fades into a mid-shot of Driver in the driver's seat of a car, with a shallow depth of field so we can se the blue lights of the city outside the window in the distance. It cuts to another over the shoulder shot, with very cool low-key lighting from in the car and warm light from outside shining in. In a series of shots we get a sense of the character's isolation, and that Driver is very separate from normal life in the city just from the barely-there lighting inside the car and lots of lights trying to shine in. This may also reflect something about his character- maybe it shows that he tends not to let many people into his life. Driver also wears a reflective jacket so that light can bounce of his jacket, again reiterating the theme of boundaries and isolation.

Cut to a crane shot, which is synchronous to the change in mood in the music, panning across a highway with warm lighting, and then dissolves slowly into another mid-shot of Driver in the car. This connotes time passing and that he is on either a journey to somewhere or that driving is a large part of his lifestyle.

We change scene and mood as we see a mid-shot pan of a car pulling into a space in a garage with raw striplights, contrasting with the light from outside. The camera cuts to an over the shoulder POV shot of Driver walking towards a lift with a spotlight above the doors. Out of the lift walks a girl dressed in white and red, symboling innocence and love, who is later revealed to be his love in interest in the film (Carey Mulligan), and orange light shines out of the lift into the garage. We get the sense from this choice of lighting that the girl may be a warm, kind character, juxtaposing with the dark light from the garage. We then see another POV shot out of the lift looking into the garage, and we see the girl walking away. Viewers will know at this point that both characters are not familiar with each other, but it is implies they live in the same building. This again shows that if he does not know her but they are in such close proximity, he must not be home very often, or works at night, emphasising his mysterious character.

The next series of continuous shots show Driver returning to his apartment. The first shot of this sequence shows him walking in via the corridor outside, and another warm spotlight shines through, but there is little/no light in his apartment which connotes trouble and danger. As he walks round the apartment we see the only way it is lit is from the outside through a large window. This further emphasises the theme of detachment from others and his solitary lifestyle.