Casino Royale Opening
The film
Casino Royale is an action thriller, featuring crime and mystery as head character
James Bond tries to stop a mysterious organization from eliminating a country's
most valuable resource. All the while, he still tries to seek revenge over the
death of his love. The opening sets our expectations of
the film to be fast paced and dramatic. The film opens with dark lighting,
typically used in thrillers to set suspense. The scene is filmed entirely in
black and white which creates a sensory reaction in the audience as they feel
as though this scene may be a flashback or a memory. The opening shot fades
into a low angle shot of a building that’s made to look very big. The building
looks modern so the audience assumes someone of high order must work there. A
gentleman dressed in a suit is shown getting out a car, the low angle
portraying him as a powerful figure.
The star I
first recognise in Casino Royale is Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond the
headline front man Armed with a licence to kill, Secret Agent James Bond sets
out on his first mission as 007 and must defeat a weapons dealer in a high
stakes game of poker at Casino Royale. Daniel has also starred in films such as
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lara Croft the Tomb Raider and Cowboys and
Aliens. In all of these films Daniel has played the front man who is very
physical, with lots of fighting scenes as all these films fall into the action
genre category. His qualities are that he is physically fit which defines his
character within the films, he is shown to be wearing a black suit showing his
importance within the film, but with his top button undone to show he is always
busy. Both of the men in the scene have guns on them and wear leather gloves.
Within the
first scene there has featured guns and killing, from this we get the effect
that there will be the continuation of this through the rest of the film. The
use of close ups and long shots add to the effect of the scene. Quick shots and
Jump cuts add to the fast pace of the scene and the music that goes with it.
Shadows and heavy breathing against silence within the opening creates the
suspense associated with thriller films.
The title
graphics of the opening are very clever and link with the thriller theme,
portraying the film throughout. They use cartoon graphics in shades red, green
and black, linking with colours of a rootlet weal, associated with gambling
money. There are links to playing cards being used as weapons and their symbols
are seen being fired from guns instead of bullets and targets shown to be
lining up to shoot the queen and king on playing cards.
The music links with the pace of the graphics
and the small names flashing on to the screen. The character James Bond is
shown loading a gun and then fades into a cartoon form. The cartoon of him is
still dressed in a black suit showing he is very important, he is seen fighting
other men showing he is very physical within the movie and that there will be
fighting throughout. The other men that are fighting him are all in red, which
could represent them as almost ‘evil’ like showing the audience that they are
the villains within the film and that James Bond is the hero fighting them. He
is shown to beat the villain’s within the graphics meaning he is physically fit
and must have had an extensive amount if training in order to get to where he
is today. The very end shot shows the words ‘James Bond – 007 status
confirmed’. The ‘007’ shows the audience that he has a nickname that is a
number linking with the spy theme that runs throughout the film.
There are
several opposing themes that are identified in the film opening, firstly law
and breaking the rules link because the use of guns is shown from the very
beginning. In the first scene there is a fight that ends up in death. Active
theme runs within the film and the graphics showing the fighting between
characters and there is criminal opportunism showing money being thrown around
and gambling cards linked with the title Casino Royale.
By Rhianna
By Rhianna
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