Layer cake opening sequence

The opening sequnce starts with a shot of a black van's doors being blown off, the camera slowly moves away from the van and it is revealed that the van is being robbed. This shot starts in black and white which could have been used by the filmmakers to show that this scene in the film is set at the end of the fifties. As the camera moves and pans from the robbers the saturation of the colour is enhanced moving from black and white to muted colour. There is a transistion between the fifties and the sixties and at this time the colour is enhanced even more which gives the spectator a more psychedelic feel. This colour saturation was obviously used by the filmmakers to show the spectator the perspective of the characters in that environment. As the opening sequence continues there is another transistion between the "summer of love" scene and the prison scene. The colours in the prison scene become noticably more desaturated which shows the difference in environment from the previous scene. The opening sequence then transistions between the prison scene and the present. The pharmacy seen shows the protagonist walking through a pharmacy and all of the products are drugs which are labeled using the same branding which shows that he believes that one day all drugs will be comercialised. As he walks through the pharmacy the products slowly change into what they actually are. Throughout the opening sequence there is a monlogue from the protagonist in which he exlains his reasons for becoming a drug dealer.