Analysis of Sound: "Goodfellas" Opening Scene

 

In the opening scene of "Goodfellas", diegetic and non-diegetic sound plays an important role in setting the scene and building tension. In the opening credits, we hear a non-diegetic sound that sounds like a car engine undergoing the Doppler effect as it drives past (the frequency of the sound changes) and this corresponds to the text moving on the screen. Although no image has appeared on the screen yet, the noise of the car makes the audience think that cars will be involved. As the actors names scroll past a strange, low frequency non-diegetic sound begins to build in timbre, around 0:19, then fade away until the text reads, "This film was based on a true story." Here, the sound fades for a brief moment, to enhance the effect of the text on the audience, then the car engine noise resumes as a car appears in the frame. We hear nothing but the noise of the car for several seconds, building tension, especially when the frame changes to show the men in the car, the silence over the noise of the engine creates a very tense atmosphere.

As the men start talking and conferring with one another, a muffled thumping sound can be heard over the speech - although the speech indicates that this sound is in the scene, we don't know where it is coming from ("Did I hit something?", "Is it a flat?.. No.."). We then very clearly hear the sound of the car doors closing as the men walk out, and the faint noise of crickets and other bugs are very typical of a scene at night, and help emphasise how quiet it is elsewhere. The muffled noise continued, but this time it is diegetic as the camera focuses on the car boot when we can hear it [1:18]. No words are spoken, and the lack of noise further builds the tension in this scene - the noise is eventually broken by the man brandishing a large knife and the sound of the keys to unlock the boot moving against each other. Every small noise is emphasised due to the complete silence to create tension and build suspense to what will happen when the boot is opened. When it is eventually opened, we see a very bloody man mumbling hard to distinguish phrases, it sounds like he says "no.." repeatedly. Then we hear the noise of the man as he thrusts the knife into the man in the boot, and then the silence is pierced by the sound of several gunshots, that we can clearly associate with the action in the scene. We then hear the sound of another car driving past, but we do not see it, and the characters do not seem to react to this so we assume that it is not important, but that there was a risk of the characters being seen.

Finally we hear the a monologue; the character does not talk in the scene but the camera focuses on him so we assume it is his voice, and as he reaches the end of his sentence ("..gangster"), as "Rags To Riches" by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross fades in for the title sequence. This Jazz-like song helps to set portray the culture of era in which the film was set, which was already mentioned to be 1970.