Analysis of opening scene in The Football Factory

The opening scene of The Football Factory (Nick Love, 2004) is ideal for this type of film. It gives you a very strong idea of what to expect in the rest of the film. You also get an idea about who the main characters are and what sort of attitude they have.

I think one of the main things which makes the opening sequence so good is the non-diegetic music. This is key to this type of scene as it builds up suspense and keeps you focused. The pace of the music increases as the scene goes on and then all of a sudden it stops. Some kind of beat then comes in which gets louder and louder until the fight breaks out. I think the sound stops so you are able to hear the punches and kind of get the feeling that your there. There are also changes in the volume of the music. Another thing I noticed is the use of dialogue overlay; this is when the main character Bill (Frank Harper) is talking to the younger ones.

The camerawork is made up mainly of establishing shots. This is important because it gives you an idea about the lighting, location and costumes. The lighting is natural because it’s filmed outside. The location is in and around some kind of town or city. The costumes consist of a coat/jacket, jeans/tracksuit bottoms and a pair of trainers. This is quite important in the film because now you understand what a typical football hooligan wears. There are also a few shot reverse shot’s, the most obvious one is probably when the woman is shouting at the men when they’re fighting. I think most of the shots are hand-held. The reason behind this is because of how the camera moves with the characters; again it tries to give you a sense of what it’s like to be there.

There are two types of editing in the opening scene. These are parallel editing and the use of slow motion. Parallel editing is used because there are three groups of men all walking at the same time. This gives you a sense of anxiety and makes you wonder where their all going. Slow motion is used when the woman passing by shouts at the men fighting and then Tommy (Danny Dyer) gets punched. They use this to show the character’s reaction to the woman, it also seems as if he’s debating stopping what he’s doing.

I think the technique used by Nick Love in the opening sequence is perfect for this film. I feel this way because it gets you into the thick of things straight away which is important for a film of this genre. In films like this it’s hard to make the fighting seem realistic but because of the way it’s filmed it does. Having an action packed opening makes you want to watch more and is a real pleaser for the audience. There isn’t actually any written information about the film in the opening scene but because of the way it unfolds I think it’s better not to have any.

Jake Crick