Casino Royal (2006) Directed by Martin Campbell
Within this opening sequence there are two states which are present day and a flashback so I'll be analyzing each state separately starting with present day as that is the first one to appear on screen. Both sequences are filtered with a black and white effect.-
Present Day
For the first 50 seconds of the sequence there was almost no ambient noise, although there were a lot of diegetic synchronous sounds such as the car pulling up to the complex, the elevator going up, foot steps, a door opening and light switching on. This is then harshly interrupted by a loud sharp sound, this being non-diegetic, that matches the man turning round startled to see Bond sat in, what appears to be, his office; to which they begin to exchange dialogue. The whole sequence regarding the high pitch noise and the reveal of Bond creates a large amount of suspense and anticipation and even more so when the man sits down, opens his drawer and rt
Watching a Thriller
To introduce us to the aspect of thrillers we began our first lesson by watching the movie Now You See Me (2013) directed by Louis Leterrier which is a crime-thriller, this allowed us to get used to the codes and conventions surrounding a thriller.
We also watched the beginning sequence of Memento (2000) directed by Christopher Nolan, Don't Look Now (1973) directed by Nicolas Roeg and The Usual Suspects (1995) directed by Bryan Singer. From watching these openings I've learned that main contributors to the movie, such as producers, directors and actors will be credited. Along with that I've picked up information on the mise en scene, music, camera angles and editing; the lighting throughout is usually gloomy, especially if something mysterious or questionable is happening, the music is often from string instruments as they're great at being able to build tension and suspense, the camera angles are usually low or high angles, the editing isn't too complex, it consists of quick cuts and action matches to create continuity. Foreshadowing is also a widely used aspect, like in Don't Look Now (1973) the colour red is very important and foreshadows important moments later on in the film. Emotions evoked through thrillers are usually:
- Suspense
- Excitement
- Anticipation
- Anxiety
- Uncertainty
One main feature in thrillers is the constant questioning of what's going on and in doing this it makes the viewer want to carry on watching so that they can figure it out.
