Deconstruction of Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver (1976) is a crime thriller about a mentally unstable Vietnam war veteran working as a night time taxi driver.
   In the opening credits, the first shot is of complete darkness and silence with credits fading in and out. It then cuts to a cloud of smoke and music starts to play. This creates the atomosphere that would be similar to the one in the city the film is located in, as it is ment to be dark, dirty and 'sleezy'.
    As the credits continue to appear, the audience can clearly see the contrast between the credits and the smoke. The smoke slowly goes away, which exposes a close up of a taxi. The music volume increases as the taxi slowly drives by, which creates tension, leaving the audience wondering asking questions about what is going to happen next.
   The music then suddenly slows down and becomes calmer. The shot shows an extreame close up of a man's face, which will make the viewers presume he's the main character. As the music continues it flicks from the extreame close up to a point of view shot of a front car window in the rain, at night, down a busy city street. Because of the rain, the lights from the city buildings bounce off the water making the view from the window slightly blurred. This creates a sense of mystery, as the audience are not able to clearly see the setting.