Casino Royale Opening - Analysis

How does Casino Royale appeal to the target audience in the opening scenes?



In the opening scenes of Casino Royale, they use the cliche of a White Hero and a Black Villain which appeals to a western Audience who are predominantly white, so albeit considerably racist, those audiences want to see them as being the heroes.

It begins with a large crowd of people watching a Ferrit and Snake fighting, within this crowd is the person Bond and his co-worker are trying to catch. The animal fight could be used as a sign of things to come in the next couple of minutes in the film.

The film starts by flying straight into action with an immediate chase scene involving the white hero and the black villain. It includes high paced foot chases across high rise roof's, crashing through walls in a digger, gun fights, stunts such as Parkour along a large crane, and instant suspense as it ends in the hero hanging from the heights of the crane by one hand, this straight away grabs the audience and entices them into the film, all this happens before the opening credits have even begun rolling.  

The audience of this film are likely to be fans of Action genre films, so Casino Royale target the audience in the opening scene by running straight into fast paced editing scenes so the audience are instantly hooked on the film.

Opening two minutes - Changed and Final Synopsis

ORIGINAL SYNOPSIS 

At the beginning of our movie, we will have a fight to signal the intent of a fast paced action movie. There will be two villains as well as a victim where the villains don't quite understand his actual power. This fight scene will be set in an alleyway and the scene will actually start in the middle of the fight .

The victim doesn't seem scared to show that the villains won't get away with it and so one of his bits of dialogue will be " Do you even know who I am," Eventually the victim gets killed and the villains return back to base. This base is where their report to for their boss. 

We aren't going to show a full shot of the boss but extreme close ups because it will add up to the mysteriousness of the boss. Not only does this take the prevalence of him a bit, but it gives more prevalence to one of the villains who the audience will identify that he is trying to get away from this life.

Towards the end of the two minutes, the boss gives the villain a new target and then the villain receives a call from someone who wants revenge for the murder of the character at the beginning of the movie."

NEW AND IMPROVED SYNOPSIS 

The movie begins with the criminal on a motorway bridge taking a phone call from his boss instructing him of his job, and the criminal replying with dialogue "I'm ready".

The movie then jumps straight to the next day with the victim running away from someone but the audience don't know who, it's at this point that the criminal who the audience have seen previously taking the phone call on the motorway bridge appears, and attacks the worn out and injured victim. 

After a short struggle the victim looks to make a comeback at the criminal but has a knife pulled on him and this stops him in his tracks. 

After a blank screen the audience then see the criminal making another phone call to his boss with the dialogue "Job done" so the audience assume something has happened.

This is then confirmed with the next and final shot of the knife the victim had pulled on him being discarded and being covered in blood. 

Feedback

Research and planning: Level 3 15/20

Time management is good
Proficient work on storyboarding
Good level of care in presentation of the research and planning
Proficient organisation of locations and props

In order to progress to level 4, consider how your research has impacted the decisions you have made (for example in your audience profile posts, how did you intend to address your target audience in the opening 2 minutes?)
Make sure you include photos of your actors and explain why they are suitable for the role.

Research and Planning - Camera Movement

Camera Movement Research

Even though holding the camera still in the first place can be a difficult task, there are many ways in professional filming to move the camera to give an affect or portray a scene or setting in different ways, dependent on the camera movement.

Pan movement
Panning is one of the most commonly used camera movements in filming. This is done while the camera is still attached to the tripod, and the camera is pivoted from left to right or vice versa. This is a curvature motion and doesn't go directly from side to side, but the camera always remains stationary whilst the shot is being taken. This type of shot is often used for an establishing shot.

Tilt movement
This camera movement is the counterpoint to the panning movement. The camera again is attached to the tripod, but instead of moving the camera from side to side, it is moved up and down at an angle around the pivot. This could be used when looking up at something or someone to portray their/its significance and power.

Zoom movement
The Zoom is commonly used for the image to appear closer or farther away while the camera remains in its standard position. In most circumstances it is better to use Zoom than readjust the position of the camera, but it may be harder to achieve perfect image focus and appropriate light when Zooming in on an object that is far away.

Dolly
This is when you move the camera backwards or forwards while filming but without using the zoom. It is reffered to as to Dolly in or Dolly out.

Truck
If you want to move the camera left or right it is called a Truck Right or Truck Left. The same principle applies as with the Dolly Left or Right, and it is best to use a platform with hydraulic wheels attached to keep everything smooth.

Arc
If you are going to Tilt up or down while you are Panning left or right this would be called an Arc Left or Arc Right. This is a motion that you would be using a lot when trying to keep a moving subject in frame.

Pedestal
If you want the camera to go directly up or down it is usually called a Pedestal Up or Pedestal Down. This term comes from older television studio cameras that have hydraulic pedestals for going up or down. Most tripods do not have an easy way to do this.

Opening two minutes - Filming (ongoing)

We planned to start filming our opening two minutes around 2 weeks ago, but were delayed by a large downpour of snow. A lot of other groups still managed to get filming done during that week, but the location we have settled for (the alley way at the top of Kingscroft Road) was agreed to be too dangerous to carry out any filming, as the fallen snow melted, but froze over night. As our opening two minutes consists of a chase, the ice made it much to hazardous to film scenes that included a lot of running because there was a large risk of injury.

13/2/13 -

We finally managed to get our filming underway today. Myself, Mo, and Aran took our 5th lesson (being Media studies) out of the classroom to get some filming done. We went to the location listed in a previous post which was the bridge over the M25. Here we filmed Aran receiving a phone call, using shot types such as middle shots to film Aran before he received the the phone call, Extreme close ups of the phone when the call was coming in, and of Aran's face when he was taking the call. We also used a wide shot as the scene ended which looked out from the bridge across both lanes of the motorway (like the photograph to the right shows). Aran wore a casual hoodie and Chinos because he hasn't been assigned the job yet in the scene, so he has no reason to be dressed in anything except for normal clothing. 

25/2/13 -

As you can see there is a large gap of time between when we started filming and when we next resumed filming, this was because we had the half term break and some members of the group had different commitments over that week (such as myself working in Horsham every day) meaning it was difficult to get the whole group together and get the filming done. We arranged for the evening of the February the 25th and met around 5:30 as this part of the opening two minutes had to be filmed in the dark. Unfortunately Nadib couldn't make the filming that evening as he had other commitments and at the time of the day it was difficult for him to reach the filming location, meaning I (who hates acting) had to step up to the plate and fill in for his role in order for the filming to go ahead.

The location we eventually chose to film the main part of our opening two minutes was the walkway underneath the block of apartments in Waterfields, Leatherhead, we chose this one over the other possible locations because it has the most light and as it was being filmed at night, it makes filming some more detailed parts easier.


When we first arrived at the location, Mo showed us the props he had prepared for this part of the filming, as the first part of the filming we shot over the M25 didn't actually require any props. We had to change the storyline ever so slightly as we were hoping to borrow a pretend Gun from another group to use as our weapon, but this became unavailable, so we changed out weapon from a gun to a knife, which at the end of the day worked in our favour. Mo as well as bringing a large kitchen knife with a yellow handle, had  brought a tube of red food colouring, and some plastic capsules. The original plan was for me to have a capsule filled with food colouring in my mouth and when Aran threw the punch at me, I was to bite the capsule releasing the colouring into my mouth to give the effect of blood, the only trouble then was I had to act with the remains of the capsule in my mouth. We eventually settled for just taking some food colouring from a syringe.

Mo had also brought his Laptop with him, as he has been editing the first part that we filmed over the M25 from home, so showed us what he had done so far, and played us the soundtrack we are going to put along with our opening two minutes.

For the costumes, I simply wore Jeans and a hoodie, as I was playing the victim at short notice there wasn't much time to get together a costume, but at the end of the day a victim of a crime doesn't exactly dress up for the occasion as they generally don't know it's going to happen, so we agreed that casual clothing was suitable. Aran on the other hand who was playing the criminal wore dark baggy canvas trousers, black Nike trainers, a Black winter coat, beanie hate, and Black scarf which he wore half across his face at some points in the opening two minutes.

We then began our filming and it started with me running/limping round into the alley way shown in the photograph above. We used a point of view shot, and tried to give the idea of me running away from someone. We then used a variety of shots to film the part where me and Aran tussle before he floors me with a punch. I then fall against the wall of the walkway when trying to get up after the punch.

The wall of the walkway as you can see from the photograph is white, it was here that we used the red food colouring came into use, when I'm struggling against the wall after being punched I spit the blood (food colouring) in my mouth from the punch down the wall. Aran then walks over to me at pace and throws me to the floor. We used some high/low angle shots to establish who is more powerful in the scene, being Aran as he is the criminal.

 It's at this point Aran pulls the knife, as I'm trying to get back up from being thrown on the floor, he uses the dialogue "stay on your knees" as he draws the weapon from his coat. We used some ECU shots to show the signification of the weapon,. Aran then takes a phone call and says "job done" and the final shot was an ECU of the knife again but this time with red food colouring on the blade, again to act as blood and hint to the audience that the crime has been committed.
    

Research & Planning - Shot Types

Camera shot types
For Media Studies it is important to know what the different types of Camera shots are, as it could be an important factor of filming our opening two minutes as there is going to be a wide variety of shots used.

Extreme wide shot

In the extreme wide shot, the view is so far from the subject that s/he isn't even visible. The point of this shot is to show the subject's surroundings. The EWS is often used as an "establishing shot" - the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place.

Very wide shot
 
The very wide shot is much closer to the subject than an EWS but still much further away than a wide shot. The subject is visible here but only just. The emphasis is very much on placing him in his environment. This often works as an establishing shot, in which the audience is shown the whole setting so they can orient themselves. The VWS also allows plenty of room for action to take place, or for multiple subjects to appear on screen.

Wide shot

In a wide shot, the subject takes up the full frame. In this case, the boy's feet are almost at the bottom of frame and his head is almost at the top. Thr subject doesnt take up the entire shot but all of them is visible as this is as close as we can get without losing part of the subject.

Mid Shot
 
The Mid Shot shows some part of the subject in more detail, whilst still showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking at the whole subject. In fact, this is an approximation of how you would see a person "in the flesh" if you were having a casual conversation. The Mid Shot is appropriate when the subject is speaking without too much emotion or intense concentration.

Close up

In the closeup shot, a certain feature or part of the subject takes up most of the frame. A close up of a person usually means a close up of their face.  Close-ups are obviously useful for showing detail and can also be used as a cut-in.

Extreme close up

The Extreme Close Up (also known as XCU) gets right in and shows extreme detail.
You would normally need a specific reason to get this close. It is too close to show general reactions or emotion except in very dramatic scenes.

Two shot

There are a few variations on this one, but the basic idea is to have a comfortable shot of two people. Often used in interviews, or when two presenters are hosting a show. Two-shots are good for establishing a relationship between subjects. If you see two sports presenters standing side by side facing the camera, you get the idea that these people are going to be the show's co-hosts.

Over shoulder shot

This shot is framed from behind a person who is looking at the subject. The person facing the subject should usually occupy about 1/3 of the frame. This shot helps to establish the position of each person, and get the feel of looking at one person from the other's point of view. It's common to cut between these shots during a conversation, alternating the view between the different speakers.

Point of view shot

This shot shows a view from the subject's perspective. It is usually edited in such a way that it is obvious whose POV it is.


 

Storyboard animation

               
Here's a short clip of the shots of our storyboard put together in the order that we plan our opening two minutes to be, combined into a video as opposed to scrolling down an entire page of photographs, they can all be seen in one video here.