Textual Analysis of RocknRolla

This is my textual analysis of the opening two minutes of the film RocknRolla. The genre of this film is crime which is the same genre i have chosen for my media text.

• Film starts with a black screen 
• Loud music with a deep bass
• A voice over comes in over the music saying 'Whats a RocknRolla?' in a deep cockney accent - cockney usually associated with crime also establishing the setting of the film maybe

• Camera zooms in on a young male who is topless - maybe introducing main character?
• Voice over continues telling audience what a RocknRolla wants 'Sex, drugs, money...'
• Music stays the same 

• Camera still zooming in
• Stops on a mid shot of the male reaching for a gun in his back pocket - a gun is a key convention of any crime film 
• Music begins to get quieter - maybe because he is about to shoot something?

• Camera pans around the character quickly 
• We see the characters gun is actually a lighter
• Character is doing drugs - another key convention of a crime film as it is against the law etc.
• Never see the characters face - maybe he isnt the main protagonist?
• Music stops all together as the voice over says 'A RocknRolla wants the f**king lot'

• Same music as before comes back on loudly as the main titles come on screen
• The RocknRolla title comes up in black and white - maybe signifying that there will be conflict?
• The picture behind the title is of an animated young male - maybe the character we have just seen, we don't know as we never saw his face
• Character holding guns - again key convention

• Names of the stars in the film come up against animated pictures of them
• The pictures are of their character either using guns, doing drugs, fighting etc all indicators of the genre - crime
• Music continues to play loudly with no voice over now

• After all the characters' names have come up the music dips as the voice over comes up and we see a close up of a male 30/40, smartly dressed, focused direct address
• Close up suggests he is the/a main character
• The character on screen is the voice over as he says 'My names Archie formally known as Archibald...' again suggesting he is the/a main character

• The scene the cuts to another character called Lenny as the voice over tells us
• The voice over also says 'i work for...' showing this new character is even more important than him
• Lenny is smartly dressed; suite, tie etc... dark glasses on - maybe signifying he is evil?
• We can tell he is important as he has bodyguards - also smartly dressed - maybe due to good pay showing Lenny to be rich
• Music continues at a low volume

• A long shot of London comes up clearly establishing the setting
• Voice over tells us 'London is on the rise' 
• music continues at low volume

Taking into account all these points over the first two minutes of this crime film it shows that upbeat, bass heavy music works effectively with faster pacing camera shots. Also that one of the characters doing the voice over is effective as it establishes many factors of the film eg. accent/dialect of voice, what they say and when they say it.

Giving main protagonists close ups works well as it shows their significance, importance and even their status, it also works well when not showing the characters face as it gives the film mystery and makes it intriguing  for the viewer. However there is not a wide variation of shots which can make it boring to watch, so in my media text i must make sure i use a variety of camera shots.

Overall by doing this textual analysis work i have learnt to make a successful opening two minutes i need to use a variety of camera shots, i got an understanding of the type of setting i need to use eg a big well known city, a voice can add tension and give hints towards the film and finally the type of music i need to use eg. bass heavy, fast paced, upbeat. 

Knowing all this now i have a better understanding of what needs to go into my own media text to make it effective and successful.