The opening to Collateral uses the technique of binary opposites, by showing us the lives of the two main characters; Vincent and Max. We can see that they are binary opposites as the first thing we see Vincent (Tom Cruise) do is 'accidentally' knock into someone who happens to have an identical briefcase to him. This gives the audience an idea that Tom Cruises character is the villain of the film and creates suspicion and mystery. Also he wears dark glasses, which gives him a concealed image; which makes him seem even more perplexing.
The audience then meets Jamie Foxx's character; Max, who at is the complete opposite to Vincent and is a taxi driver. An innocent persona is created for him through the use of sound and camera angles. When Max is first seen he is looking stressed, and the use of diegetic sound is used to create the busy and arrogant atmosphere.When Max enters the car and shuts the door; the sound suddenly cuts and nothing is heard, only silence. This shows that Max's character is trying to get away from the stress and noise of work. This creates a empathetic atmosphere among-st the audience, as they will know how he feels and will put him in the position of the 'good guy'.
Secondly, camera angles that are used include a tracking shot, which follows Vincent, this shows the audience everything that he is doing and they follow his every move. This puts audiences on the edge of their seats as they want to know what he is up to and why he seems to suspicious. The camera angle changes when it gets to Max, they quickly move from one character to the other using jump cuts; to show the personality differences between the two people. A close up shot of Tom Cruise's face is used, although he is wearing dark glasses, so the audience still cannot see him properly, it gives them the nearest they will get to finding out who he is, this contrasts the idea of the concealed image used. A lot of close up shots are used during the scene where the audience finds out Max's character, the shots are mainly used on objects and people that represent his work place; the taxi service. This shows the audiences his whole situation before he has even said anything; which creates more sympathy. Point of view shots are used when Max is looking at pictures in his taxi. This puts the audience in the characters shoes and tells them that he is a normal person doing a normal job, like everybody else. They see what he sees, which is a normal day.
Lighting used for Vincent is quite low key and dark, mainly grey and white; which can represent secretive or mysterious atmospheres. Whereas the lighting used for Max, is colorful and bright; which represents he is a good guy and is a normal person. However, when Vincent and Max eventually meet; it is set in the night time which shows that the whole of their time together is quite a dark and tedious.
Further into the opening scene, an unknown female gets involved; she is used as an enigma code as at the first meeting; she seems like someone who is just there to fill in the gaps, but it soon turns out that she is involved in the main story line and is part of Tom Cruise's job. Enigma codes allow the audience to put two and two together at the end of the film as they will not seem important at the first meeting. The woman is also the classic femme fatal character, she finally gets between Vincent and Max in the end and is the one responsible for what Vincent is doing all the way along.
Tom Cruises' character dresses in a very slick and professional way, which makes him seem very good at his job, efficient and experienced. This contradicts his overall persona that is set for him at first. Max dresses very casual and very laid back, which gives him more of an innocent personality.
All these elements work together to create a dark and mysterious atmosphere as they all create suspicion and don't add up; this is what creates suspense and tension in the audience and allows them to keep wondering.
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