Brighton Rock Opening

Camerawork

• The opening shot moves in towards a telephone, ringing, and no one is answering it. This in turn creates tension and suspense.
• It cuts to a close-up of a man called Kite dialling someone on the phone in a telephone box. We know that he must be an important character in this scene.
• By using a wide angle shot next, it allows us to see the long walkway, the telephone box and the mist surrounding it, from which two silhouetted men emerge.
• When we cut back to the first location, there is a close-up on a character answering the phone, but no one is there to answer it.
• When we cut back to the other location, there is a very long shot of the two silhouetted men chasing Kite, and kite gets closer to the camera.
• We cut to a close-up of Kite stopping in his tracks, so we see his reaction and him talking to himself, knowing he is in danger.
• In the next few shots two new gang members appear to join the original two, one along the walkway and one at the top of a set of stairs. The gang member at the top of the stairs the camera looks up to, which shows his power in the situation. 
• When one member reveals a knife for the first time, we see a close-up of it, which creates drama and emphasises the sense of danger in the situation.
• When Kite reveals his knife, the camera also looks up to him, showing how the knife makes him that much more powerful.
• When a the fifth gang member approaches (Fred Hale) he is in the light unlike all the others, and we get a proper close-up on him so we know he will also be important in the scene. 
• As the men fight, a knife is dropped to the floor which is shown by a close-up of it falling, and then Fred Hale picks it up (match on action) and uses it to stab Kite. 
• Fred's power is heightened by an initial close up looking slightly upwards at him stabbing Kite, but after cutting away we see another close-up looking upwards at a steeper angle. This shows his growing power over Kite over time. 
• A new character is introduced, Pinkie Brown, by a close-up of him running towards the attack. When he arrives at the scene, there are a couple of shot reverse-shots of Pinkie and Fred, looking at each other in shock, at which point Fred runs into the distance of the open frame in fear.

Lighting

• The first location where the telephone is ringing has much warmer lighting than the other location, but is still quite low-key because the scene is set during the night. As it is warmer is shows that it's safer than the other place, but it's low-key and lit by a single spotlight, which implies the person who lives there is involved in criminal activity like the Kite.
• There is a single light in the telephone box to help make the box stand out in the wide shots.
• At the location in the centre of town, the lighting is very cold and moody, and the light shines through from outside the sheltered area. This means that identities can easily be hidden as when gang members emerge from the shadows, they're backlit so we can't see their faces.
• Knives are always lit when they are taken out by the gang members to really draw our attention to them and to stand out in the dark lighting. 

Sound

• During the first shot the only sound (other than beats in music) is the diegetic sound of the telephone ringing. Coupled with the camera moving in towards the camera, it builds anticipation and makes us question why it's not being answered.
• After cross-cutting to the other location, the diegetic sound of Kite speaking sounds like him but as you would hear him down the phone, so slightly muffled and distant. This even continues when he talks to himself having hung up the phone. 
• The soundtrack begins with beats in the music, and as the scene continues there are more percussive instruments added to really build up the intensity of the fight. After Kite begins to die, the musics becomes more orchestral, with many more strings instruments to increase the drama and empathy towards Kite.

Editing

• Only straight cuts are used throughout the opening scene, and other than cross-cutting between each location there is continuity editing throughout. 
• The editing is particularly fast-paced during the fight, cutting back and forth between the gang members and the knives. This makes it more frantic and and dangerous and builds intensity.

Mise-en-scene

• The lighting and set really helps to make the scene feel dramatic and dangerous. The lighting is very eery and ghostly, and as it is set at night and they are alone in a sheltered area, it makes the encounter seem much more dodgy and similar to a place where a gang would meet. 
• The costumes are similar to what a gang member would where in the 1960s, so it really yeps to epitomise the time in which it's set. This is also helped by the use of knives instead of guns, which they would've done if it was set more recently. 
• We can see from the expression of Fred's face that he seems quite unsure of himself: he fumbles around, he can't find his knife, he is terrified when Pinkie finds him.
• Pinkie must be very close to Kite because he runs to help Kite and looks in terror and sadness at Fred when he finds him.