Casablanca - OPENING SEQUENCE

Question 1

How does the film position and orientate the audience in the opening sequence?

Answer 1

• omniscient narrator
• linear
• dramatic score - matching the action - French national anthem
• documentary aesthetic, maps, graphics, newsreel footage, lack of America presence

Question 2

How does all film form introduce you to Rick’s bad and it’s customers?

Answer 2

• outfits - very formal// business wear
• outside the cafe, crime, shooting of a man (Hays Code)
• spotlight outside - prison, checking all behaviour// not escaping - low-key lighting
• music - traditional, jazz, happy
• mid shots at table - different accents
• pans - multicultural, welcoming

Question 3

How is Rick introduced to the audience? What is he like?

Answer 3

• not very social
• playing chess with himself - strategy and intelligence - thinking and being strategic without being involved
• not playing with anyone - isolationist - doesn’t drink with customers - framed alone
• framed portrayed on the left - America is important
• tilt up to reveal Rick alone, low key lit - two kinds, decency and isolationist
• cynical - isolationist

Question 4

What do the range of different diegetic accents and dialogue highlight?

Answer 4

• America as a unifying nation, unlike Nazi Germany - also represents us as a refuge and safe-haven