Analysing Opening Scenes and Setting - 'LA Confidential'

The second opening scene I am going to look at in terms of the ways setting is introduced is from 'LA Confidential'.

The opening scene of 'LA Confidential' introduces the setting of the entire film, summarising it through a montage and one of the character's narration/voiceover.

We see a picture postacard, followed by images of beautiful beaches, establishing Los Angeles as a holiday destination but the narrator's voiceover has a sarcastic and satirical tone to it, implying that all of the positive aspects of LA that he mentions may be hiding something more dangerous, sinister and sleazy.

Images of famous movie stars, such as Marilyn Monroe, paint LA as a land of opportunity and dreams, but the laughter of the narrator reveals that this is a false image, and that in reality Los Angeles is run by crooks and the positive image is simply one that has been created by the media. This creates the tone for the film, and indicates to the audience that the film will be full of criminality and violence; this is confirmed by shots of vast sums of money, murder scenes and newspaper headlines.