The craziest opening scene in Baby Driver : Film Analysis

Hi Guys,

Recently I have doing some film analysis to my favourite Filmmaker who have produce a multiple great creations in Film industry which is Edgar Wright. Anyone who have passion in filmmaking must familiar with this big name. Edgar Wright is a notable director, screenwriter, and producer originally from England with a unique remarkable screenplay in the film industry. His famous "Three Flavours Cornetto" trilogy which is also his first film, starring buy Simon Pegg and Nick Frost has shaken the film industry with his dark comedy and unique representation of his works.

In 2017, he wrote and directed ‘The Baby Driver’ starring by Ansel Elgort. Yes Ansel Elgort guys, he's the one starring in "The fault in our stars". Any girl would be excited to see this movie star driving super fast car in this film. Wright has brought off a musical-crime comedy with a glimpse of romance to another level in the film industry.

Baby driver opening scene film analysis

This film tells us a story of a skilled getaway driver, Baby whose using music as a way to escape from his tinnitus condition due to the car accident that killed his parents. The plot goes as he unwillingly involves in a criminal act to pay back his unusual debt to Doc, a rich crime boss based in Atlanta. The film focuses on the conflict of Baby who desperately want to escape from the world of crime and violence. Music is the only cure that allows himself that escape and transforming the darkness of his crime into a thrilling soundtrack playlist. The scene I have chosen to analyze is from the opening scene of the film where the scenario of bank robbery happens. In this essay, I will show how the selected clip from the movie The Baby Driver uses elements of mise-en-scène, the sign, cinematography, music, and sound to shape our understanding of Baby’s character.

In the opening first shot in the scene, Wright shows us the settings which have several signs such as the car, a bank and a sign telling the city, Atlanta where the scene takes place. As Bill Nichols explains, “Mise-en-scèneis a French term that means “put in the scene”. In cinema, the term refers to the arrangement of what appears in front of the camera” (2010, p. 60). Wright purposely put these three objects together in one place to spark the audience’s insight into what will happen next. The image of the passing car and people walking in front of the bank shows a usual morning routine for people in Atlanta city. These elements give it a sight of ordinary people who unaware of what could possibly happen in the next 50 seconds. Then, Baby’s red Subaru fills the entire screen calling audience attention to itself as the most important piece of that moment. The first shots give context for the world building and set up around the main character. The use of sound through this first shot is critical to what Wright want to emphasize in this film. As Bill Nichols (2010) points out, the sound is as crucial as the image in conveying meaning (p.64). Before we see anything, Wright uses a high-pitched tone fades into musical notes before establishing shot takes place. The audience might not know until much later that this is the first sign to show that Baby listens to music due to his tinnitus. In this film, images are often subordinate to sound, a reverse of unusual roles. So it’s obvious that we will hear the sound before we see images, establishing sounds critical roles in the film. To add more authenticity to the scene, Wright uses diegetic sound such as the sound of the passing car on the streets, the people who talk to the phone outside the bank as it naturally shows a busy typical morning in Atlanta city. Nichols (2010) describes, that diegetic sound appears to originate in the story world or diegesis (p.64).

The second shot in the scene is close up of Baby’s iPod. This is the first step in establishing the fact that music in The Baby Driver soundtrack is a part of his world. Wright wants to develop the connection between the audience and Baby’s world as we hear what Baby’s hearing. The music is a crucial part of Baby’s world and it’s not just something for the audience to listen. The next four cuts of close-up happen on continuous beat accompanied by suspense music shows the main character, Baby and three other characters inside the car. Spectators need a comparable familiarity to understand and interpret what they see (Nichols, 2010, p.31). In this case, Wright uses a variety of signs mixed together in the scene. The actors wear black costumes with dark shades, chewing gums, shows frowning face and the girl at the back with a cynical smile give audience the logical sense of a criminal act will happen soon. The audience must be familiar with these multiple signs of crime scene shown in this film before where it leads to a particular conclusion. Every act in this scene rhymes with the music give the thrilling vibes to the audience. Wright has portrayed the unique ways of playing with the audience’s feeling with the using of sound to convey just the right tone and adds more feeling and meaning to it.

The next thing that appeals the most in this scene is the way Edgar Wright uses his cinematography and editing techniques to bring his audience to the wider world. He used mixed of different shots and angles to portray the important meaning of every shot used. The establishing shots in the beginning clearly show the overall situation he tried to tells the audience. In the car, where every four cuts happen to be in close-ups intentionally to grab our attention to focus on the actor's facial expression and the sign they have shown us which lead us with certain expectations. Bill Nichols explains, "close-ups fill the screen with an object or figure of significance, typically the face, but the shot is also used for important objects such as a key, knife, or letter. The shot leaves no doubt where the viewer’s attention should be directed" (2010, p. 51). The use of tracking shots in this scene follows the action of the trio gets out of the car, the slamming of car’s door and when they open and close the trunk. The scene follows by a wipe transition from a close-up shot of the mystery bag brought by the trio to the wide, panning shot to the streets where they are crossing the road. This is a significant distinct style of Edgar Wright’s works, an editing technique of "frames wipe transition" using a diegetic moving object like “people” to smoothly combines two shots together. This technique looks so smooth and seamless as they momentarily trick our brain into not registering the transition even though it doesn’t make sense to have people passing in front the camera in the middle of the busy road. Moreover, this wipes transition accompanied by a sound effect which also a diegetic like a sound of skateboard where it completes the transition process perfectly. As Bill Nichols (2010) indicates, the diegetic sound can be manipulated to serve the dramatic and emotional needs of the story (2010, p.65). As the trio crossing the road, they put the mask on. It’s a perfect time for the audience to already grasp all of this information to conclude it as the robbery scene. The trio put on their mask as a sign of hiding their identity from the public in order to complete their criminal act.

The movement of the action moving into the bank, Wright uses a wide telephoto shot and perspective to separate Baby’s world in the car from his criminal partner. This indicates us to the fact that the rest of the story will play out from Baby’s perspective and it helps us to separate him from his dark criminal world. To further establish this scene, Wright uses a sequence of baby singing and drumming along with the song to emphasize the real Baby’s attitude and his playful personality. Instead of seeing him as a criminal, this scene shows the audience that even though Baby is a getaway driver, he acts more like a bored intern passing his time. Every beats and Baby's acts are all match with the drumbeats from the blues soundtrack, Bellbottoms by Jon Spencer Blues Explosional. Wright quickly reminds us that the separation is just an illusion. The sounds of police car passing awaken Baby from his own daydream. Baby needs to get back to his reality which in the middle of the crime scene. Baby’s view of what’s happening in the bank and the gunshot serve as a harsh reminder for us and for baby with what he’s involved with. Baby shows signs of nervousness and frightening upon hearing the gunshot. The audience don’t know yet but this is the central conflict for his character. Baby’s concern about his relationship to the world of crime. This can be proven by the closest shot to the baby's face to highlight the important value of this moment for baby. The shots when Baby lowers his sunglasses tells us the few seconds he lets the crime world he is in getting to him. The sunglasses are the symbol of his concealed himself from what is going on around him.

In conclusion, the first opening scene has successfully created a perspective to understand Baby’s conflicts and situations. The scene cleverly constructed in the best and clearest possible shots to help the audience to came up with the predictable expectations. We also know the fact this film is choreographed to multiple soundtracks because music is the escapism from the cruel and terrifying reality of Baby’s life.

#babydriver #filmanalysis