Auteur's Study (Martin Scorsese)Firstly, all three of the films have dark and gloomy visuals as in "Mean Streets" the protagonist wakes up in a dark small dingy room with little light coming through the window possibly symbolising loneliness and isolation from the rest of the world. This is evident in "Taxi Driver" also as the audience see what looks to be a POV shot see New York through a windscreen which also shows the protagonists disconnection from the real world. This is supported as in the opening the POV shot of New York is very blurred and distorted, which sort of represents how the protagonist is distant from reality and is very isolated from society, similarly to opening of "Mean Streets."

Following this further, in "Taxi Driver" the use of Close ups on the protagonists face emphasizes the loneliness of the character, likewise in "Raging Bull" there is a long shot of the character practicing in an empty boxing ring with very minimal lighting, in addition to this it is in black and white which really highlight the solitude of the character.

Another key style that I've picked up on after watching the openings are that all the openings are all relatively slow paced, the opening of "Raging Bull" is extremely slow as he punches and walks up the ring this creates a moment's respite of calmness and fluidity for the opening, which contrasts the character, as he is a boxer they are supposed to be fast and quick on their feet. In the same manner, in "Taxi Driver" as the POV shot appears on screen, you can quickly realise the slowness of the shot as everything in the background is moving rather slow, this again creates a state of drowsiness and almost ethereal view upon the world. Which again contrasts the setting the opening place, as it is New York city expectantly everyone should be rushing and in a hurry.

In the opening of "Mean Streets" there are many various shots as there are tracking shots when they follow him off the bed and when he looks into the mirror, there are also multiple close-ups of his face just like in "Taxi Driver." Whereas in "Raging Bull" there is only one continuous long shot, which also adds mystery to the opening as the audience can only see the boxer from one angle and somewhat emerges them as to make them feel as if they are in the ring watching him also.

Moving on, Martin Scorsese utilises music quite well as in "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" he uses quite soothing music which creates a juxtaposition between what is being seen and what is being heard by the audience. The pace of the titles however are quite regular and do not seem to appear too slowly or too fast, one thing I had noticed in the titles of "Taxi Driver" is that as they disappear they don't just suddenly leave the screen but instead they sort of fade away, which again emphasizes how distanced and apart he is from the real world.

Since the films are generally all considered dramas, it is easy to tell that it is a Martin Scorsese film as he uses very slow movement within film openings and likes using the theme of isolation in the openings, another quite recognisable trait of Martin Scorsese is that all of these films star Robert De Niro as a lead role within the film, which makes it even easier to tell if it is one of his films.

Taxi Driver Mean Streets Raging Bull

From the first two minutes of "Raging Bull" I can tell that the film is about a boxer, as the mise en scene make it obvious however what happens to the boxer is difficult to tell from within the first two minutes, likewise in "Taxi Driver" the film seems to be about a taxi driver in New York and this is easily distinguishable from the first two minutes, however "Mean streets" is rather hard to sum up the narrative as all you can see from the opening is the character getting out and back into bed. In conclusion, Martin Scorsese’s films all follow a similar signature style such as the theme of isolation and loneliness or the slow paced openings which make his films quite unique and different.

Martin Scorsese