In Oliver Stone’s ‘Natural Born Killers’, the opening montage is vital in setting the mood and tone of the film. Its purpose is to introduce the characters and the extreme level of depravity existing within them. The use of slow motion and tilted camera shots suggests that the characters have gone so far in their fetish-driven search for random violence that lust has become them and they have now entered an almost hallucinatory state in which they have little, if no, control over their actions or emotions. This solipsistic viewpoint that they harness so keenly has coupled with a long existing misanthropic mind set to create the two alienated and savage murderers we see on screen.
Using Colours
To build on the sense of this solipsistic hallucinatory day dream, director Oliver Stone uses colours to his advantage; flipping from fully coloured to black and white in an instant, whilst also experimenting with individual shot colourings, such as the pie being eaten in the diner.
Comedy
To bring the subject matter back to a socio-political stand point, comedy is interjected to create an almost cartoon like effect; such as when the cook is shot. The bullet is tracked from behind in slow motion yet the cook continues in real time to emphasise the point being made; namely, that cartoon violence is acceptable, despite being just as bad as any other kind. The use of music also helps with this effect as the slow operatic piece played in the background juxtaposes the on screen violence and the intent behind it.
The Setting
The use of a diner as the setting for this opening scene is also crucial to the cause. A diner is a common meeting place and so quintessentially American on a social level. This zeitgeistian observation adds to the juxtaposition of common social intercourse and brutal, needless violence whilst proving a point of how the two go hand in hand in the American mindset without them even noticing or taking heed.
The opening shot contains a view of a television set flicking through the channels. This gives the audience a cross section view of American media relations as one shot if ex-president Richard Nixon is immediately followed by a clip of a horror film suggesting that the director feels that extremes in film and television imagery often meet without question.
Ultimately, the opening sequence of ‘Natural Born Killers’ sets out to introduce the film, setting and its characters and it does so with an added insight into the public zeitgeist of the time, using the aforementioned techniques to the resulting effect.
Daniel Lambert - Daniel Lambert is a screenwriter and essayist. Born in Warrington, Cheshire in 1990, he attended Frodsham High School, Helsby High School ...
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