Slumdog Millionaire Film Opening Analysis

I annotated Slumdog Millionaire which is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan.

Firstly, there were idents.

• Pathe
• Celador Films
• Film 4

''A pathe celador films film 4 presentation' signifies that these businesses worked together to present Slumdog Millionaire.

The opening shot is a close up medium shot of an asian young man sweating, opposing a middle aged asian man smoking the shot is in a dim yellow light. The young man is trying to retain eye contact which connotes that there is an awkward and tense atmosphere in the room.

Sans serif text appears high left of the screen. ''Mumbai 2006'' this denotes the time period and the location, connoting that the film is set in Asia, and was set in 2006. Audio is introduced, a man of foreign accent says ''Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 2 million rupees, how did he do it?'' this connotes that the audio is engaging the audience and beginning to describe the plot of the film. It also informs the audience of the main characters name, 'Jamal'. The text then proceeds to ask a question in the style of the game show ''Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?'' The options to answer this question are placed underneath eachother in a sans serif font which connotes modern day.

A) Cheated

B)Luck

C)Genious

D) It Is Written

The question is letting the audience make up their own mind and forebode their own opinion of how they think the film is going to go based on these four answers. 

The background of the text turns into money being scattered around, which connotes that money could be the subject which runs through the film, and could also be at center of whatever tragedy occurs in the film.

A medium close up of two characters, (supposedly Jamal and the presenter) appears on the screen, they are turned away from the camera, looking into a dark room with strong lights moving around, signifying that the two characters are about to enter the game show.

There is then an extreme long shot showing the view of the room, an audience is placed around the room which anchors that Jamal and the presenter of the show are in the game show room of ''Who Wants To Be A Millionaire''

A new shot is then introduced, back to the dimly yellow lit grotty looking room, the audience then see that the opening is based on flashbacks of Jamals memory.

Jamal gets slapped by the opposing character from the dimly lit room, not the same character as the presenter. The shot then moves to a close up shot made to look like it is under water, where Jamal's head gets ducked in, this signifies that Jamal is being tortured.

The shot then switches back to the games room, the audience is being informed that the games room is present day, and the torturing shots are from the recent past. A medium shot of the presenter is shown, he starts to make fun of Jamal by bad mouthing Jamals job, this connotes superiority, Jamal is below the presenter in a social and superior sense. There is then a medium close up shot of Jamal, signifying that Jamal is infact equal to the presenter, as he creates a come back to the presenters witty comments.

There is then a flash and the shot moves to a medium high angle shot of a girl smiling, the flash denotes that this is a memory of Jamal's, the only memory shown in the opening of the film, connoting her importance to him especially, in the film. The shot is also the same colour as the dimly lit yellow colour which is the same as the torture scenes, which possibly connotes that the two are related.

The shot then moves back to the torture scene, a new character enters the room, he is taller than the torturer, and then starts to tell the torturer what to do, connoting that he is superior to the torturer, and possibly controlling the torture.

The audience are shown from the very beginning who is the victim and who are the villians in the film, by actions and dialogue of the characters.

The boss of the room where Jamal is being tortured then stands face to face to Jamal whilst he is tied up and begins a speech, ''My wife is giving me hell'' is a short extract from the speech but even so this shows that the boss is taking all of his personal anger out on Jamal, and is really set to hurt him.
The boss then says ''Tell me how you cheated'', it then immedietly comes apparent that the two scenes are related. The audience now sees that Jamal has been tortured in the recent past because the game show are unaware of how Jamal knew all the answers which has enabled him to play for 2 million rupees, they assume he cheated, and are trying to torture how he cheated out of him. Jamal does not answer the man, so the ultimatum is that the torturer electricutes Jamal.

Jamal is unconcious, the boss of the torturer starts to shout at the torturer as he was not supposed to make him unconcious, the fear in the torturers eyes connotes that the boss is full of superiority.

The close up of the two men with Jamal unconcious in the back denotes that Jamal is the center (or the topic) of their argument, physically and mentally.

Jamal then awakens and says  ''I knew the answers'' the audienced are swayed to believe him as he is being superly victimised.

The shot then moves to a young boy playing with his friends, denoting a flash back to Jamals childhood, connoting that the audience will go through the film being shown how Jamal knows all of these answers.

The full opening lasts 5 minutes and 53 seconds.