Opening of "Never Back Down"

Never Back Down 

First thing we hear is  the noise of a camera zooming in and out which is then overcome by diegetic loud rainfall and cheering as well as non diegetic gripping music which makes the audience feel thrilled and energized. Voice over of a umpire announcing the score fits in with the setting, but it mainly there to inform us on how close the game is and assisting for anyone who doesn’t fully understand American football. Many grunts and groans are used to show how hard the players are working presenting us that this game is important to them. As the players exchange words the attention grabbing music continued hinting that something is about to happen between the two.

By the reaction of player 44 it’s evident that what the other player said affected him by linking to a personal incident that has happened involving someone’s death causing him to respond aggressively. During the fight the music has changing and become more high tempo and rocky.

First shot is an extreme close up of a video recorder screen, this is effective as the audience get a feel of what it looks like to be there and watching the game from the stands, then a close up of a particular character which we follow throughout the opening making us believe he may be our main character. Now a range of shots are being used to show all areas of the game. Before the fight close ups of their faces are used to emphasise the rage in his eyes.  An effective low angle shot is used as he is beating up the other players to show he is most powerful in this scene. The finishing shot of the opening is a aerial shot of the players fighting each other all due to him losing his temper and being aggressive

In the opening scene it is obviously aimed at a male audience through the use of sport. It is a very masculine scene, lots of young male adults promoting violence which again attracts men to watch as they are interested in. Therefore due to all these features the genre is action.

Our main character at this time seems to be player 44 as the camera focuses on him the most. We know nothing about him except that he seems to be the popular football star. As the scene unfolds so does player 44, we see him being rather cocky and proud of himself when he tackles the opposition. The trigger of the fight was one boy saying to player 44 about his father who died, audience doesn’t know how he died but knows its linked to alcohol as he states,” The sauce, that shit will kill ya”. Immediately the audience work out that player 44 has had some trauma recently and from this  he takes his anger out through fighting, which he is very good at as we see in the last bit of the opening suggesting this isn’t his first fight. Proving that his character may be emotionally on edge and have a short temper.