We decided to analyse the opening sequence of Skyfall, an action thriller, as it is important to identify key elements that make up an opening sequence of an action thriller. Skyfall is about when a character called James Bond is set up on his latest assignment, which goes terribly wrong this leads to actions and adventure; undercover agents expose all around he world and the M16 being compromised. The mise en scene starts with a high angle shot of an explosion, which is shown by a grey cloud above the surface of the ocean. The camera frame shows the character of James Bond smartly dressed falling into the ocean. The non-diagetic sound of instruments and the large grey cloud suggests there was an explosion his connotes action and danger and keep the audience on edge. As he is floating deeper into the ocean the non-diagetic dramatic sound the non- diagetic music becomes quieter. He camera moves to eye level of James Bonds falling into the ocean this makes the audience feel as if they are in there too and are watching him fade into the darkness. The camera frame then shows a hand, at the bottom of the frame pulling the character down deeper, which suggests that he would be facing danger and people could be dragging him down. A non-diagetic song sang by Adele is an interesting song choice as it suggests that he will be facing danger and the character would be put in compromising positions. The song continues playing until the end of the opening sequence. There is then a high angle shot in the eyes of James Bond the camera frame shows a shot of him falling being sucked into the seabed. There is then a wide shot of this. There is then a high angle shot of the hole closing up. The camera movements make the audience feel as if they are getting sucked into the sea as well to make them feel part of the action. This could imply that he gets sucked into situations and there is no way out. The camera frame shows shooting targets in the shape of James bond with blood coming out of the places where the shooting target has been shot. Blood can connote danger violence and love, which fits in with the whole theme and storyline of the film and builds up the tension, as no one knows what would happen next. The camera then zooms in on that particular place where the blood is coming from. To show that she has a special place for her the character called M is shown by a tilt the camera movements however, within the camera movements there are jump cuts and the mise en scene is dark this suggests that she is part of the action the camera not showing her full body suggests that she needs to hide her identity. The blood, the camera movements and how she is introduced suggests that there is romance and a relationship between them The opening sequence continues to flow and gives a forward shot camera shot zooming into the sea. As the camera passes through guns and knives fall to the ground leading to a graveyard. This connotes action, violence and aggression, which could result in death. The fact that the camera shows a whole graveyard and not just a grave could be a symbol of numerous deaths of many characters. The colour change of the sky from dark blue to red in the graveyard could represent blood and danger and completely changes the mood of the opening sequence. The non-diagetic music gets faster suggesting that as the movie goes on there would be more action, danger and drama. Within this scene there is also an extreme close up of the main characters eye which leads to another scene because the opening sequence seems to flow with only a few edit cuts. The slow close up on the eye widening and eyebrows rising keeps the audience on edge because it could suggests that something bad is going to happen. It could be in the point of view of the experiences James Bond has faced and the compromises he had to make. As the camera zooms into the eye more it leads to another scene, which is of him shooting shadows this is ironic because you can’t shoot shadows and could have a deeper meaning of not being able to trust anyone and shows us that he has to be alert at all times because he is in danger and its hard to find people. The shadows then surround him, which normally happens in action films. However, the camera focuses on one particular shadow that aims a gun at him this implies that there could be betrayal and danger as the shadow is behind him. The bullet hole from the shooting board, which is then zoomed into and leads to blood and cells bursting floating in lighter blue water the blood then turns into a skull which connotes death and danger. The mise en scene then turns very dark and the camera frame shows the female sidekick aiming a gun at the camera (the audience). This is very rare as not many women are in action thrillers because they are normally portrayed as being weak and always the one being saved by the male characters. This suggests that the character is an independent and well-respected female. The camera then zooms into the gun and then follows to the next scene in the opening sequence where the shooting targets of James Bond are on fire. As they pass the camera frame Chinese dragons appear which are legendary creatures within the Chinese culture. The dragons have many animals like features. This could suggest that James Bond or the other character M is very legendary in being undercover agents, which builds the tension and suspense because the audience does not know what is going to happen to those characters. One of the dragons then appears to breath smoke on to the camera lenses to show danger and build up on the suspense. This then lead to a shadow of a girl dancing in front of a white background and guns, skulls and knives fall which are common weapons or props used in action films and are typical codes and conventions of action thriller films. This then lead to the graveyard to show the audience that there will be death, danger and destruction of homes and families. The camera then focuses on a grave, which has been dug up and the camera then appears to be going into this to assure the audience that they have got themselves into watching a dangerous action film. As the camera goes into the grave the shadows of James Bond is shown by the camera movement who appears to be shooting mirrors. The then turns and aims the gun at the camera and the bullet hole appears again with red blood to connote danger and death as guns are commonly used in action thrillers. This then leads to red blood vessels, which take the audience back to the graveyard this time it is red and the shooting targets appear to be red and falling to the ground the camera zooms into his eye again this opening sequence gives an insight to the audience of all the things he has been through and all the dangers he has faced.
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February 2016
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