City Of God (Dir. Fernando Meirelles, Bra 2002) - Opening scene

‘City Of God’ opens with the mise-en-scene of a knife being sharpened on a stone this connotes the danger of the slum. This is significant because it represents that everything in the City Of God is a weapon. The opening frames use rhythmical editing which connotes the bumbling and claustrophobic atmospere of the slum. The non-diegetic soundtrack that accompanies the harsh sound effects of the knife on the stone is upbeat samba music, a common convention of Brazillian films such as this; this offers a juxtaposition between violence and celebration; a theme of the film as tragedy often happens while the characters are at their happiest. The soundtrack also represents a believable verisimilitude as most people are familiar with Brazillian samba but unfamiliar with the concept of child gangsters thus making the concept more believable. Each shot is half- a - second and the shots which are composed of a weapon (the knife) with the blood and body parts of the innocent chickens who have been slaughtered in the background, for example the chickent feet in the picture below. The depth of field is such that the weapon appears at the forefront of the viewers eyes with all else in the background to reinforce the significance of the weapon as a convention to the genre. The knife is intercut with black to create a sense of mystery in the work.. The technique used is a high cutting ratio. 

The mise-en-scene begins to reveal that a chicken is being slaughtered to eat. The chicken is slowly revealed to build suspense for the viewer and a sense of threat. This creates tension and pace for the audience as they are forced to eagerly anticipate what will be revealed after the black intercuts as part of the enigma code as the black periods inbetween leave the audience to contemplate what is going to happen in the next frame.

City Of God (Dir. Fernando Meirelles, Bra 2002) - Opening scene

A convention of a traditional Brazillian instrument, The shots are dark with low colourisation as this is a dark scene depicting the bleak end of an animals life, yet still party music is played this is reinforced by a blue tint. The high cutting ratio is used to make the scene chaotic and the editing is rythmic to go along with the tempo of the soundtrack. People are shown having drinks and this connotes that a party is happening.

The dead chickens are used as conventions for the children in the City Of God who run around like headless chickens; causing chaos with their guns and murder. The chicken that escapes is a metaphor for the main protagonist; Rocket who escapes from the rest of the children in his slum in search of a better life.

This shot stays on the screen for a slightly longer time than any of the other shots that tend to be cut at the slowest ratio of every 0.5 seconds; this connotes the bloodshed that takes place during the film.

City Of God (Dir. Fernando Meirelles, Bra 2002) - Opening scene

The chicken has a child like innocence to it, with it's bewildered look and this is iconography the children of The City Of God. Furthermore the chicken is framed slightly to the right in the rule of thirds to emphasise its interchangeability. The soundtrack is silenced during this shot which lures the viewer in to a false sense of security and creating an enigma code for the audience.

However the calm is not to last for long as the villain in the story orders for the wild children of The City Of God to chase the chicken; this represents how Lil Zé brings chaos during the course of the film. Lil Ze is shot in a blurry way but still from below to show his power; however the blur shows the instability of his psychopathic mind. A new, more threatening non0diegetic soundtrack of drums is played to intercut with the chase scene. The chase scene is disturbing because it shows a mise en scene of many children with guns shooting at something as worthless as a chciken; this adds to the enigma code of how the children's lives have gotten to such a wretched state that this seems like a normal and acceptable part of their lives. This contributes to genre conventions because chases are often used in gangster movies but often with cars; what is effective of Meirelles as that these children are too young to drive but not too young it seems to wield and shoot a gun. The chase scene brings excitement to the film through its chaos. The mise-en scene of most of the chase is guns and a poverty stricken world. The city is full of rickety pieces of wood and the walls are crumbling around the children with graffiti sprawled across them; the City is a wasteland with no hope.

City Of God (Dir. Fernando Meirelles, Bra 2002) - Opening scene

A low angle shot is used here to show how the children stomp through The City Of God; it shows there is chaos and the children can be a cause of the chaos. The mise en scene is just silhouettes that represents the hordes of faceless children who’s life means nothing in The City Of God. The fact that the children have no identity contributes to the enigma code as the audience wants to find out more about the characters. The lowly lit Silhouetees are conventions of the genre because most business is conducted underground in these kind of films. The children are still shot from a low angle to connote their power over the chicken

An over the shoulder shot from a high angle connotes that the chicken is being chased by something much more powerful than itself.

The chaos stops as the scene cuts to Rocket; the music stops with the cut. This connotes that Rocket and his friend are pure characters.

City Of God (Dir. Fernando Meirelles, Bra 2002) - Opening scene

This close-up shot is used because it portrays the feeling of Rocket towards Lil Zé (disgust). Both characters are on opposing thirds of the framing of the shot. This connotes their uncertainty and lack of power.

Lil Zé brandishes a gun on an innocent man; representing the lack of respect he has for other character’s lives. He is shot from a low angle to connote he can do whatever he likes.

A low angle shot of character’s aiming guns at the chicken; the low angle is used to show the children’s power over the helpless animal and the shots are blurred and shot on a handicam to represent chaos. The shot is highly saturated to connote a dream like alternate reality in which children run the streets; although uniwuely for City Of God this is a verisimilitude and all too real in reality.

City Of God (Dir. Fernando Meirelles, Bra 2002) - Opening scene

This shot is in slow motion to represent Rocket’s fear for Lil Zé. It also represents Lil Zé’s power.

Here, the camera circles Rocket to represent his feeling of being trapped.

Rocket comes face to face with his metaphorical counterpart; the ccode being that they are both trapped in The City Of God.

A longshot from a slightly low angle represents the power of the gang. It also establishes all the gang members in their entirity

City Of God (Dir. Fernando Meirelles, Bra 2002) - Opening scene

As the camera circles; time rewinds. We see Rocket in the sixties with a yellow effect instead of a blue one. Yellow is a happy colour and could connote a calmer time. Meirelles uses filters to indicate the passing of time.