The scene opens on an establishing shot of a cloudy city-scape sky at night (streetlight is on, so it probably means it's in a night setting, or in a particularly dark day time setting). The night is a usual setting for a Noir film, but the nature of the setting could be suggesting something dark and sinister, mainly because night time, stereo typically, is supposed to represent those things.
The camera then pans down to a man in a long coat, who is rather formally dressed, which is pretty common for the time, but using knowledge of the certain style of film, he may be being represented in this way to show his social status through his job, which is most likely an inspector. The one thing which stands out in this scene is the fact that this character is hobbling along with a limp in his left leg, which suggests he's been involved in some conundrum which has left him with this injury before the scene started. The audience does see him walking from a destination in the background, so he could actually be retreating from a life threatening situation, but has just escaped with a limp in his left leg.
The man remains unidentified until later on in the sequence, it could be said that this is done intentionally to add a sense of mystery to this main protagonist that will be seen throughout the rest of the film. The fact that he remains in the shadows until reaching the apartment suggests something sly about his nature, like he's trying to pass unseen, hence why this sense of mystery is brought up about this character. Furthering this point, nobody else is on the street he's walking down, so why is he out there on his own, an audience member maybe asking themselves, and that may relate back to my previous point of him being involved in something, something perhaps he wasn't supposed to be involved in, and then escaping with a limp in his leg.
The scene then cuts to a low angle shot of this man, from behind (hiding his identity further) walking up a staircase. The audience still does not know his intentions, or where he is going, as no dialogue has been heard as of yet. A dim light awaits him at the near end of the staircase, and for a split second, it looks like he's intentionally walking towards it. This light may be symbolic of help, salvation or health, as this is what light commonly suggests within media, and that's why it appears he's walking towards it. The fact that the camera is at a low angle is also help show this unknown mans significance, perhaps to the story, enlarging his figure as he walks up the stairs, as to where the story may begin within this film. We can also see that the man also has a newspaper in the arm that he is swinging, which could be suggestive of where he had just returned from, perhaps he just bought that newspaper, or he had it at work. Either way, the newspaper in his hands implies that this is a knowledgeable man who likes to keep up with the current events in the urban city that surrounds him.
The camera cuts again to an over the shoulder shot of the man unlocking the door to his apartment, walking in to a room with a drawer in his direct line of sight. above this drawer is a light. This could be suggesting that whatever he needs to find, lies within this draw. The audience doesn't know what it is yet, but it's most likely going to be in there because of this implication. He opens up a draw, and starts shuffling around his contents until he finds what he needs. The fact that he needed to shuffle around the items within that draw suggested that this item is significant, and something that should remain hidden from the public eye, and perhaps in a situation that he's currently finding himself in, will also help him.
It is then revealed to the audience as to why this man came in to his apartment for this item, because it is a gun. The man turns around and becomes upright once more, facing the barrel of the gun that he is currently loading towards the camera, showing the weapons significance when it leads in to a close up shot of it when he turns around. The camera then tilts, finally revealing this mysterious characters face, inspecting the gun at hand. His facial expression suggests that of a person who is rather shook by the events unfolding before him, which maybe why his hands are trembling too, because he is afraid of what is about to happen.
After he has finished inspecting the gun, the film title "Act of violence" appears on the screen. This is significant that it shows here because it suggests that whatever "Act of Violence" is going to unfold, it's going to be with that gun, perhaps by the person wielding it too, hence we he comes across as so afraid to commit a crime.
He then stuffs the gun in to the bag to his right in quick succession, as he is trying to hide it, lifts the bag up on to the drawer, puts one other thing in to it, and then the scene fade transitions, back to the same street we saw this man walk down at the beginning. Wherever at the beginning he came from, he is now going to return to that same place, but now with a firearm, suggesting a malicious intent.
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Conclusion:
Analysing this film opening will really help when it comes to composing our final piece, as mise-en-scene will play as a massive factor in our scenes. Analysing scenes basically means to analyse what has been intentionally put their by the director for the audience to gain connotations from the story, or the backstory, or what might unfold at the end, and we will need to include this within our own film opening.
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