Mise-en-scene: The opening of Sin City begins with a centralised women wearing a bright, vivid, red dress. As she has been placed in the centre of the screen it shows the audience her importance within in the film. As she walks towards the end of the balcony, she is over looking a dark and sinister city, with her beautiful red dress sweeping in the wind. Her backless dress is revealing a fair amount of skin, which suggests that she is a vulnerable target. Her red dress is a symbolic signifier as it connotates danger which reinforces the idea of vulnerability. The film is set in black and white throughout the whole time, but has a slight input of colour such as the red dress and red lipstick. This symbolises darkness, danger and night, as the women is wearing a brightly coloured dress it makes her stand out from the sinister atmosphere. Roughly 16 seconds into the opening sequence there is a change in lighting, at the beginning there is a low key of lighting which creates a very cold sense and builds up suspense. But about 16 seconds in the lighting changes to high key, with the black and white setting, the bright light suggests happiness and enjoyment. There is only a few props used such as cigarettes, a lighter and a silent pistol, the cigarette is used to make conversation with the lady in red, which suggest that the male is only making small talk so that he can kill her later. The gun is used to shoot her, but with the silencer on, it whispers in the darkness. The male silhouette is mainly hidden in the darkness, but from what I can see he is wearing a suit, which suggests he is a wealthy business man and fairly smart, but also has a dark side to him.

Titles: In the opening sequence, no titles appeared which is fairly unusual for a thriller opening. Perhaps this is because they want us to focus on the story and every little detail rather than who starred in the film. Or because the film is set in a different format to other thriller films for example; it is set in black and white, with a slight colour input, there are three miniature stories involved and some of them are filmed in cartoon. Frank miller has made a very different film compared to what has been on the market, maybe he wanted to keep it different by not adding titles in the opening sequence.

Editing: In the opening sequence there are mainly straight cuts and long takes used, this helps the audience to establish whats happening.Both the male and the female have equal screen time, this shows that no one is being single out and both have a equal time on screen. There is a long take which edits to a medium shot which then cuts to a close up and then to an extreme close up, this shows the audience the emotions of which the characters are portraying. There is an over the head shot of the male silohuette gribbing the female tightly as he shoots her, the cartoon effect creates a different aspect on the film as the background is black and white and the two characters are bright white.

Camera: There is a centralised long shot of the women in red standing on the balcony, looking out to a city view. A male silhouette walks behind her, but is situated stage right, which suggests that he is not as important as the lady in red, as she is positioned in the centre of the screen. As the male approaches, there is a slight two shot of them standing side by side, with the females arms crossed it suggests that she feels uneasy about the whole situation. Panning and zooming in on the characters has also been used to create slow paced effectsand to show the true emotions to which the characters are feeling, this also creates a mysterious atmosphere and builds up suspense. There is also an over the shoulder shot of the male asking the female if she wants a 'smoke', this emphasises the situation as the women takes a 'smoke' from a complete stranger, which also connotates back to vulnerability. A close up of her face and eyes is used when the male offers her a 'smoke', from this shot you can see the fear in her eyes as she lights up. Finally there is a slow two shot of both the male and the female kissing passionately before she falls to her death. This suggest that the male had feelings for her, but had to follow orders by killing her. At the end of the clip there is a long shot of the two characters and then the camera spirals out into the city, and the city becomes the logo 'Sin City'.

Sound: At the beginning there is a low whaling saxophone playing in the background which creates an urban and mysterious scene, and builds up suspense and tension. Diegetic sounds are also used such as footsteps, rain drops, gunshots and thunder which creates a sinister effect and adds feeling and emotion to the piece. Non diegetic sounds are commonly used in the opening sequence such as voice overs and narrative speech, this adds atmosphere and emphasises the emotions of which the characters are portraying. 'She shivers in the wind, like the last leaf on a dying tree' this deep and husky voice over adds more detail to the scene, as well as seeing the coldness and loneliness that the female is portraying, we can actually picture the last leaf on a dying tree. At the end of the opening sequence there is a dramatic piece of piano music, which then leads into a dramatic drum beat and piano part which builds up the suspense and creates a mysterious beginning.