Mad Max:Fury Road Opening Analysis ☮ ☮ ☮

"Mad Max Fury Road"(2015) is set in a post apocalyptic Australia, where sources such as water and oil are running low, and with the water that is available is rationed to the people unfairly by "Immortan Joe", the majority of the survivors leader. When Max is captured by their "Tribe", he forms an alliance with "imperator Furiosa", a warrior of the tribe, when Max escapes, as Furiosa is also attempting to flee accompanied by immortan joe's five wives, who race Immortan joe and his henchman across the wasteland in an attempt to escape to a "green place".

At first we see a black screen, with audio of a man's husky voice opening with "My name is Max". This immediately focuses on one character, suggesting to the audience that this is the most important role in the film. Still only seeing black,with credits in a metal rusted effect with what appears to be  blood at some areas, suggests a dirty and violent theme. We then hear what sounds to be extracts from the news, saying "We are killing for gasoline", showing the audience that one, this must be set in either a different time or world, As in our generation we don't have a restriction on gasoline, whereas it seems there is in the film, And two, That this is a vital piece of information as they mention gasoline and oil frequently. After we hear "Where is the water?" and "It's the water wars", it further insinuates to the audience that there is a low source of oil and water, Using the news reporter audio is effective as it shows the audience the substance to the plot and the importance, focusing around survival and finding water and oil sources,setting a dramatic theme.

When we continue to see black, the audience realises we will be hearing the key information that we need to know, rather than seeing it. The husky voice of Max returns when he gives some background of who he once was, "a cop" or as he described himself "a road warrior". Suggesting to the audience that because we are focusing on Max, we will be focusing on the road as by calling himself this, it gives the impression he was proud of being "a road warrior". We finally see footage of a black and white video of a sandstorm, showing to the audience that the world is being effected environmentally.  We then hear from Max that "As the world fell, each of us in our own way was broken", showing the audience that the film is set it the future, and that, in what way we are unsure of, Max is broken either mentally,physically or emotionally.

Suddenly we see a low angled long shot of bright golden sanded desert horizon , with blue sky , but with a black cloud seen in the background , showing pollution as it is one large singular cloud on its own. We also see a man suggested to be Max, Wearing dirty and tatted clothes, giving a uncomfortable image towards the audience,as when the shot appears we hear "Me" at that exact moment, in Max's husky voice. We also see a rundown damaged car behind him, suggesting to the audience that Max isn't wealthy. The camera then pans down to focus on a small lizard on a rock, The camera tracks inwards as the lizard speedily crawls closer to Max, and abruptly halts when Max stamps and kills the lizard equally as quick, suggesting to the audience that Max is a violent man but also in touch with the environment he is in, also illustrating that it is a violent environment. After max swoops up the lizard from under his boot and the camera jumps to a close up of the back of his head, where he slightly turns his head around enough to show the lizards tail hanging out of his mouth as he chews it, This is effective as it makes the audience feel queasy and presume that food is also not easy to find.

Suddenly we hear an engine start as the camera quickly cuts to max's feet at the car ,where he picks up his presumed belongings and chucks them in the car and slams the door, with every action in a different cut, illustrating that he is rushing to get away, which makes the audience feel that maybe he is trying to escape something or someone. Then Max starts up his engine with black smoke fuming the air around him, showing the car is perhaps unsafe and dangerous setting an action speed theme. We see the car speed away down a sand hill, leaving the audience with a misted screen and the audio of his fading car engine, waiting for something to happen, once Max's engine completely mutes , immediately a sudden rev blasts and a dirt truck appears to jump over the camera, this is effective as it shows the abruptness of the film, and sets a rapid speed on the audiences emotions. The truck is followed by motor bikes and rundown small cars, with people who are yelling and screaming, causing the audience to believe that a gang/tribe is chasing Max.

After we see a wide shot of a long ,what appears to be never-ending, sand road, we see all of the cars in a heated chase with yelling in the background, Making the audience think of why the trucks and motorbikes are chasing Max, and if he's done something wrong to them. The camera then cuts to a medium shot of the car still chasing, where we see a person in the truck beside Max's car throw a large matchstick- like figure to his car, causing the back to explode, leading it to flip over multiple times. Though, the audience are reassured immediately when we see a low angled close up of Max desperately crawling out of the tipped vehicle, where we see his hand brush sand over the camera multiple times, giving the effect of the audience being witness to the crash.

Max's, what seem to be, thoughts or narrative continue,where he states "haunted by those I could not protect", where we see what appears to be a young girl being run down and presumably killed by trucks similar to the ones that caused Max to crash, This suggests to the audience that Max feels responsible for the death of this unknown girl and is "haunted" by her for not keeping her alive, Suggesting to the audience and linking to the title that Max is "Mad", due to the fact that he hallucinates about the child that died. 

As Max continues to crawl away sand mist blurs out his features due to the cars pulling up around him, also giving off the effect of his vision being blurred due to the crash. Max is then stopped from his weak attempt of escape, by a foot pressing down on his back firmly, by an unseen face, but only see a gun press against his head.

The camera then cuts again to a high angled wide shot of what seems to look like a city in the distance of the sand, and pans out to show the accelerated trucks and vehicles speed towards it, This is effective as it shows the audience that this is the possible home to this gang/tribe, and the destination of the next scene. We then hear Max say, "A man reduced to a single instinct...Survive"and suddenly see max attached by some rope to the back of the truck, tiredly running behind whilst hearing daunting sudden sharp notes, giving off a dark and anticipating mood whilst the screen fades to black. This shows the audience that life is no longer considered or seen as normal, but a battlefield with every man for himself.