8/20/2019 Opening Scene Review - Legend

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Legend – Opening Trailer Review

Legend is a flm about English gangster legends, Reginald and Ronald,

better known as Reggie and Ronnie Kray. The flm is an adaption o !ohn

"earson#s book, The "roession o $iolen%e& The Rise and 'all o The Krays.

 The flm essentially details the rise and all o the Krays and their

gruesome portolio o %rimes.

 The opening se(uen%e opens with a dark wide aerial shot o a dark,

industrial looking )*+#s London, the shots eatures a emale voi%eover

that instantly sets the s%ene about the already notorious Krays, -London

in the )*+#s, everyone had a story about the Krays. ou %ould walk into

any pub to hear a lie or two about them./ This instantly reveals where the

flm will be set as well the reputation the Krays %arry.

 The s%ene %ontinues with a wide shot o a %ar driving down a busy London

street that turns into a %lose up o the two brothers with both Ronald and

Reginald smoking %igarettes. 0oth %hara%ters are dressed smartly in

tailored suits, showing that they mean 1business#.

 The voi%eover %ontinues throughout this s%ene as the emale voi%e turns

into an unseen %hara%ter as begins to des%ribe her relationship with the

twins, in parti%ular Reggie.

-Ron Kray was a one man London mob. 0loodthirsty, illogi%al and unny as

well./-2y Reggie was di3erent. On%e in a lietime do you fnd a street fghting

man like Reg./

 These two lines set both o the %hara%ters profles within the flm4 Ronnie

is a stereotypi%al dumb street gangster, driven by a %ertain aspe%t,

whether that is violen%e, money or women. Reggie, on the other hand, has

the brains o the two, he understands how things works and is more o a

strategist. The woman that eatures o the voi%eover reveals hersel as

%hara%ter that will be eatured at some point in the flm with her last line&

-0elieve me when 5 say, it took a lot o love or me to hate him the way 5

do./ This reveals that she not only knows the Krays, but also has apersonal %onne%tion with main protagonist Reggie.

 The lighting throughout this s%ene is also important as both %hara%ters go

rom light to dark as the %ar %ontinues down this street, although this is

%aused by the streetlights, it %ould symbolise and also oreshadow the

darker moments that will o%%ur in the flm, as well as between the two

brothers.

 This opening s%ene o%uses more on the dialogue as oppose to the visuals,

whi%h urther engages the audien%e as they have to pay attention and

listen to what is being said as oppose to 6ust wat%hing the two passive%hara%ters. The point o this s%ene is to introdu%e the %hara%ters to

8/20/2019 Opening Scene Review - Legend

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audien%e, although given the target audien%e o the flm as well as the

many flms that have been depi%ted the Krays beore, they should be well

aware o who the Krays are. 5t is also important to note that not on%e

during the entire %lip do the brothers look ea%h other in the eye, this %ould

be be%ause the s%ene o%%urs ater some a%tion has taken pla%e, or simply

be%ause they have no reason to, however, it does show that although the

two are bound by blood, they have some distan%e between, whi%h is also

symbolised by the spa%e between them in the %ar.