Analysis of the Opening to Brighton Rock

Camerawork

• The opening shot tracks towards an old-style phone. We have immediately set the scene.
• We then cut between a close-up of the man's face and a wider shot showing the two shadowy figures approaching. the man runs down the walkway as the two figures give chase.
• When a man steps out from behind the pillar, we see Kite's reaction before we see the man. This helps to create suspense and jeopardy, as we are (momentarily) unsure as to what Kite is reacting to.
• When the first man pulls a knife, we see a closeup of this action, following Kite's gaze as he first sees the man, then sees him draw a knife.
• There are a number of POV shots here, forcing the viewer to takes Kite's side during this encounter. We see the man appear from behind a pillar, we see the man appear from the top of the stairs, and the breaking of the 180-degree rule makes us feel cornered, much like Kite.
• We track into the face of the man at the end, as if we should sympathise with him.

Lighting

• The colour of the initial phone shot is very warm, with a brown colour palette. This is in stark contrast with the following shot, in which the man in the phone box is in a much colder brown palette. 
• The man in the phone box is deeply shadowed, despite there being lots of light in the scene. This shows that he is up to no good or does not want to be seen. The two men following are silhouetted, showing them to be evil characters. Their costume helps to emphasise this.
• The man who picks up the phone is also deeply shadowed, showing that these two do their dodgy dealings together. 
• When knives are pulled, the scene is lit in such a way that we see them glint in the light really clearly, and while not being very light in the scene, we still have a clear idea of what is happening whilst maintaining that dark and atmospheric mood.
• The man who kills Kite is lit much better than everyone else, and we can see much of his face, however he runs away, so we do not sympathise with him.

Sound

• The music starts very soft and in the background, hardly noticeable over the diegetic sound of the phone ringing or the man shouting to the phone. When the two men appear through the fog, the music begins to build, until it reaches its climax at Kite's death. The music then becomes melancholy as we see the sadness on Pinkie's face.
• The diegetic sound becomes more enhanced during the fight scene, to show the struggle that Kite is having in this moment.

Mise-en-scene

• The style of the phone in the opening shot sets the scene; we are not in the current day. We then see a phone box (in use) which tells us that we are in England and also that this film is set about 50 years ago. This is confirmed by the text 'Brighton, England 1964,' confirming the audience's guess (The audience could probably have guessed the location from the title, but this helps).
• The costume shows a lot about character - Kite, while dressed in a smart three-piece suit, is still dressed in black, and the men chasing him are dressed in dark trench coats, a typically evil outfit.
• The editing builds in speed towards the climax of the sequence - his death - and then we suddenly slow down again as we have the emotional moment of Sam Riley's character arriving too late.