This movie introduction is a very famous one, as it features classic footage of the Italian Alps from the viewpoint of someone driving along in the car as the opening credits appear on screen. The song 'On Days Like These' by Matt Monro, which was written for the The Italian Job, is famously played prominently in the background in the opening credits.
Narrative
The Italian Job is an Action-crime film, with a subgenre of thriller. The opening is a mystery to the audience, as we do not truly know what is going on, other than a man is driving a sports car around what appears to be the Alps. The film follows Charlie Croker (played by Michael Caine) who is allocated to do a "big job" in Italy to rob 4 million dollars worth of Chinese gold. This was the plan of the man who gets killed within the opening scene. Towards the end of the clip, the audience is introduced to the Mafia. This immediately introduces the theme of crime and gangsters. The isolation of the Italian Alps represents how within this film, it's 'every man for himself' and also the secrecy of the undercover "big job".
Mise en Scene
The mise en scene of this opening involves many scenery shots of the Alps as the sports car drives along the twisty, windy roads. As he is driving quite quickly, it suggests to the audience that perhaps he is in a rush to get somewhere, therefore, introducing the sense of the film being a crime/action film. The crime genre usually has an audience that like to be kept under suspense and unknowing, so this opening really entices them due to the lack of context given.
The opening starts off calmly. There is a red Lamborghini sports car driving around what appears to be the Italian Alps (due to the beginning part of the opening song being in Italian, and also, a Lamborghini is an Italian made car). This subliminally foreshadows the scene in which the film ends as well. For the first 30 seconds, we do not see the driver of this car, which engages the audience as they are enticed to find out more about the context and meaning of this scene. The lighting is bright, creating a positive atmosphere - and when the non-diegetic sound of 'On Days Like These' begins to play, the audience becomes at ease with the scene as it suggests a sense of calmness.
The opening to The Italian Job is a famous scene used for the opening credits. As the driver rides along the twisty mountainous roads, the credits appear on screen continuously as there is a Point-Of-View shot of the driver on the dashboard to the car. On the left we can see him turning the steering wheel a lot due to the twisty roads. Due to how quickly the surrounding scenery is going past as he drives, it communicates to the audience that the driver is driving fairly quickly. This is unsettling within the audience due to the dangerous roads with no barriers because he could easily slip whilst turning a corner and fall off the edge, down the mountain. This notion foreshadows what will happen by the end of the scene.
There are a few close up shots are used to introduce the audience to this character, whom they know nothing about. Close up shots are often used to give the audience an insight as to how the character is feeling and may also give them a clue about their personality, however, these close up shots only suggest the stereotypical character of this man via his appearances. We first see him driving casually with a cigarette hanging out his mouth, his head turned slightly to the side so the audience can have a good profile of him, without giving too much away. His squinted eyes closely follow the road, communicating that he is focused. This notion could suggest that he is intending to be somewhere important, quickly. A few shots later, he puts on some sunglasses whilst he's driving. The sunglasses and cigarette imply he could be some sort of crook.
At 2:56, the music fades out and he drives through a long tunnel. There is a shot of what is on the other side of the tunnel. A low angle shot of what appears to be a large digger blocking the end of the tunnel. This immediately indicates what is going to happen to the driver next (however, the audience doesn't know why). Above the tunnel are men in black suits and black hats. This connotes that this death has been set up by a group of crooks, potentially the Mafia, considering this particular scene is set in Italy. The man standing in front of the car, although we can only see his legs and lower back, it is visible that he is holding a memorial wreath, often used to put on peoples graves. This is signifies that this murder has been purposely set up by them and also indicates that the man driving the car through the tunnel is now going to crash into the digger and die.
After the crash, the camera zooms into a man in a suit and glasses amongst all the smoke from the fatal crash. Looking smug, he indicates to the digger driver to push the broken car off the edge of the mountain road. Afterwards, he steps on the sunglasses of the man he just killed, the sunglasses and cigarette being the only remains of him left. From this mise en scene of this character and from what he has just done, the audience are immediately able to identify him as the antagonist of the film.
This establishing shot used as the digger pushes the Lamborghini off the side of the mountain edge gives the audience a full perspective of what is happening, and where it's being done. The size of the mountainous area can also be taken into consideration here, communicating that the drop off the edge is very high and dangerous. The trees and mountains connote peace and tranquility, which is why this scene is so iconic (and ironic) in that amongst all this beautiful scenery, this group of people have decided to brutally murder this man.
Sound
At the beginning, before the non-diegetic music starts, there is diegetic sound of the sports cars loud engine as the driver accelerates. This suggests how fast they are travelling and how fancy the sports car is, which also implies they're quite a wealthy person. At 0:25 seconds, the non-diegetic music of 'On Days Like These' by Matt Monro begins to fade in, which relaxes the mode of the scene. This music blocks out any other diegetic noise, such as the car acceleration, suggesting that this the opening credits scene. At 2:56, the music fades out and the audience can hear the diegetic noise of the car again as he drives through a tunnel. The lack of calm music at this moment uneases the audience, as it communicates that something is about to happen. A few seconds later, we hear the loud non-diegetic noise of the car violently breaking (it is non-diegetic as we do not see the actual car on screen) and then a crash, followed by a diegetic explosion noise which lasts for 8 seconds as the audience sees the rise of smoke and fire at the end of the tunnel, indicating that the man has crashed to his death. After the car rolls and crashes off the edge of the mountain road, into the stream at the bottom, non-diegetic soundtrack music begins playing as the antagonist steps on the sunglasses of the man who rode the Lamborghini and throws the memorial wreath down the edge into the stream as well.
Editing
The editing within the opening to The Italian Job follows the car driving around the Alps, and is carefully used to show that the car is driving forward somewhere. This is done via continuity editing to create a sense of realism and time moving forward as the car is. Some cuts may go from the driver in the car, to the scenery of the Alps, to the point of view shot where the credits are being displayed. This is to make sure the scene doesn't get boring for the viewer to watch, because if it was just a single shot of the camera following the car around the Alps then this would not be enticing to watch.
Opening Credits
In the 60's when this film was made, films would have most of their credits at the very start of the film before there was even any dialogue or notion of what the film was about. This suggests why there are so many credits at the beginning of The Italian Job. The font of the credits is in quite a European font, almost cursive implying that it was set in a European country such as Italy. The font colour is red which connotes the genre of crime, and importance of the 'Italian Job' that they do in the film. The opening credits last for 1 minute 48 seconds.
This film opening is so classic due to the music and beautiful iconic scenery of the Italian Alps. I really like how there is such a long period where everything is calm and the audience are distracted from where the driver is going, and then towards the end there is the iconic scene of pushing the expensive red Lamborghini down the edge of the mountain cliff.
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