Alie

The opening sequence of Life on Mars opens with a shot of Sam Tyler leaning through the window of a car, as he stands up, he is hit by a very fast paced car. This shot is very fast and bearly last for a second, it is quite hard to see the car that hits Sam, it is clear that Sam is going to be badly injured due to the speed of the vehicle. During this shot the dialogue begins with 'My name is Sam Tyler' which shows the audience that this is the main character and establishes that his name is Sam Tyler.

The next shot is of Sam Tyler laying in the road. The camera in this shot is positioned in a mid shot, but in a way that it almost looks as through the audience is laying next to him on the road. This then quickly cuts to a close up of Sam laying in the same place, and he doesn't appear to be conscious. The camera is still in the position on the floor beside Sam.

The shot that comes next is of Sam's reflection in the back of a car's side mirror. The reason he may be looking into the mirror is to check that he okay, and see if her has and visible injuries. This shot then cuts to Sam walking down the street, he seems very confused by the fact that the people, cars and buildings look as though they are from the past. The fact that he is confused is reinforced when the dialogue says 'am i mad'.

There is then a shot of Sam entering an office. Followed by a shot of his point of view, of him panning the office as if he were looking for something. During these shots the other people in the shots are all staring at him as if doesn't belong there, it shows that he is an outside.

The next shot is of Sam outside walking towards buildings. The camera is looking up at Sam and spins around as he walks closer to the bulidings, he looks around and walks as though he is still very confused about what is happening. This is when the main part of the opening sequence begins.

This next part begins zooming out on blocks of Sam's eyes and close ups of Sam as he gets up off the ground, he seems very confused in this. Across these blocks are the words 'life on' and dates that keep changing until it stops on '1973' the start away turns into 'mars', finally saying 'life on mars'. This then changes to Sam standing off of a bed and then him showing his police bag. Whilst these are playing there are still blocks of Sam getting up and his eyes around the botton and left side of the video.

The next shot is of Philip Glenister, he is smoking, this appears to be very calm and relax but then it cuts to a shot. that is at more fast pace and action filled, of Philip blocking Sam from punching him. This shows that he is not as calm as the shot before had shown, but he is a very strong and tough character.

The next shot is of a a car skidding, the car reinforces the year they are in as it is obviously a car from the 1970s. It the cuts to the shot that introduces 'Liz White', as the car skids she turns and looks to see the car. After that shot, it cuts to a shot introducing 'Dean Andrews', he is holding someone's head back and then holding up a gun whilst wearing a ski mask, he appears to be the toughest character so far.

The next character introduced is 'Marshall Lancaster', he seems to be a quite relax and calm character, the shot of him are just him speaking with other people. This indicates that he does not get involved with as much action as the other characters.

The next shots are a tracking shot and a shot from behind of Sam and Philip walking a prisoner down a hallway, the fact that the prisoner has handcuff on and is being leaded by Sam and Philip shows that they have a lot of control over him.

After these there is a pan shot of most of the characters standing in a circle, loading guns, this shows that they get involved in a lot of action. This followed by a shot of Sam and Liz standing next to one another, they both look like they are concentrating on something.

Next is a close up of Sam sitting in the passenger sit of a car that is moving very fast, he look very worried about the speed of the car and is holding on to be safe. It then cuts to a close up shot of Philip driving the car, this shows Philip to be quite laid back as he is driving whilst holding a burger in his mouth. Next is a long shot of the outside of the car as it skids in a circle, this is another thing that reinforces the year, as it is a car that looks like its from the 70s.

The next shot is of four of the character walking in a line. Which then very quickly cuts to a shot of Sam and Philip, both, punching a guy in the face, the shot is from behind Sam and Philip. The man falls to the floor and it cuts to the final shot, which is, a mid shot of Sam and Philip as they stand with two other people and watch the man on floor. This shows that Sam and Philip work as a team because they worked together when punching the man.