Drive: Opening Scene

The opening scene of "Drive" is one of the more masterfully directed scenes I have ever seen. The movie starts off with a quiet room, and a man talking on the phone. The lighting is dim, and the man's back is turned to the camera. The Los Angeles Clippers game is playing on the television, the man hangs up his phone, and the hotel room scene ends with an interior framed shot of the city of Los Angeles. After receiving a near-stock (with 300 extra horsepower) Chevy Impala from the body shop, the Driver is shown at a low angle shot in the car, driving through LA at night. Throughout the entire opening scene, the Clippers game is on the radio as a background noise, but it forces the viewer to ponder its significance until it's finally revealed at the end of the scene. The camera shots during the police chase are some of the most unique I've seen. As the car drove through the streets of LA, the camera showed a perspective like the grille of the car. While the camera's perspective was inside the car, interior framing was implemented using the blind spots of the car to show certain parts of what was going on outside (as shown below). In this scene, the shot is from the back seat of the car, and uses the frame of the car to block off irrelevant parts of the scene, to show the police car disappearing behind the large truck. Also, countless times during the scene, the camera switches from a view outside the front of the car to a view of the Driver's face (above) as he navigates his way through LA, evading the police. These shots are meant to show the Driver's cool and calm demeanor as he escapes the police, adding to his image as an emotionless mercenary who just gets his job done.