Goodfellas (drama)

Goodfellas is one of the best Scorsese films of all time.

Goodfellas is a drama which was made in 1990 and directed by Martin Scorsese. It had a budget of $25 million and made $47.1 million at the box office. The cast includes Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, and Lorraine Bracco. The generic conventions of a drama are that it's realistic and fairly solemn, dramas often include an interesting plot twist to keep the audience engaged.

The opening sequence to Goodfellas adheres to the stereotypical drama genre although it does include an added action vibe. The first shot introduces the car that three men are traveling in, it begins by showing the boot and then pans around to show the rest of the car and then the road. It's set during the night, setting an eerie tone due to the lack of vision of the surroundings, furthermore stereotypically in movies, something bad often happens at night. The three men are shown crowding around the trunk of the car, where an unsuccessful murder has taken place, the setting is pitch black although the men are shown in a red light, this encapsulates the audience as not only do we want to find out more as to how the men got into the situation and who they actually are, red is a common connotation to danger as well as anger and war.

 The title shot establishes the place and time of the movie, it's set in New York in the 1970s, we know that at the time America was much more corrupt and classist, therefore we know that the 3 men that we were introduced to must be very powerful and high up in what they do, as the use of smart costumes alongside guns and knives highlights their job quota.
The audience is encapsulated through dialogue and facial expressions, the men show distress when a noise is coming from the back of the car, although once they’ve fully murdered the man, they show no emotion at all, this also reflects the lengths of the jobs as they must be so used to killing people that it no longer affects them. Moreover, the costumes, car, and props all reflect a drama as none of them are too out of the ordinary highlighting the serious tone and realism within the storyline.

The audience is engaged through the use of a non-diegetic voice over “As far back as I could remember I always wanted to be a gangsta” this fully introduces us to the protagonist whereby we can assume the rest of the movie will be based around the protagonist and his associates and either how they got into their current situation and how he did become a “gangsta” or what they're going to do next. The story will most likely include violence, following the three men's jobs within the mafia. Although the lack of non-diegetic sound highlights the drama genre as it shows the scene to be more realistic as nothing is exaggerated.

The opening scene to Goodfellas is successful at establishing the genre as it hints to the storyline although leaves a lot to the audience's imagination, this fully engages the audience as they want to carry on watching the movie. The opening scene fully establishes the drama genre through the use of action alongside dialogue. I thoroughly enjoyed this opening scene and thought it to be very gripping.