ANALYSIS OF
THRILLER OPENING:
Skyfall: 00:00 - 02:22 Minutes
The scene starts with a long corridor and immediately
the classic James Bond sound motif, the two non-
diegetic brass stabs played in the James Bond movie
‘007’, lets the audience connote that the man, who is
out of focus and in a silhouette, is James Bond. As he
walks forward, the music remains calm and quiet,
showing there is no sense of rush.This also helps build
tension, as the audience have no idea about what’s
happening.
The light that illuminates the man’s eyes connotes mystery
within the character as he is a spy.As he moves back into the
shadow, the camera adopts a behind shoulder view to obscure his
face even more so, again, connoting mystery, while following him
down a hallway.The next cut lets the audience know what he
looks like.To those who have seen previous movies such as
Casino Royale, they will know that this is Bond, but to others, the
slight uplift in the soundtrack connotes that this is Bond instead.
This along with him being the first person visible in the movie are
both clues as to his importance.
As the door is opened, the camera cuts to a sweeping shot of
the floor, revealing two bodies, connoting danger, along with
how the music picks up. As the camera makes a focus pull
back to Bond, we can tell he has large importance, as he fills
up most of the screen according to the rule of thirds.
The camera, still in the same long tracking shot, settles on a frame with
a window letting in light, contrasting with the rest of the dark room.
There is a bleeding man under it in a chair, connoting that he’s on
Bond’s side. The way that Bond then looks for his mission objective
before helping the man shows his seriousness about completing it. He
starts to help, but gets interrupted by the woman on the earpiece.
During this scene, the camera is looking down on the bleeding man,
and up at Bond from a behind shoulder view, connoting the difference
in skill as a spy.This is then followed by him leaving him rather than
helping, under the person whom he’s talking to on his earpiece.
The way that Bond is then silhouetted against the
light as he walks into the darkness connotes to
the audience that he may be going down a dark
path, and is slightly ‘bad’.The camera, again
follows behind him, connoting that he’s making
the area safer by going first, showing his strength
as a character.
The music then non-dietetically becomes faster and
louder as he moves into the street, making the hustle
and bustle of the country come to life more.The light at
the end of the hall also shows that he maybe is hiding
what just happened and is now moving back to the
‘good’ side of things, or putting on the Bond that people
like to see.

Skyfall

  • 1.
  • 2.
    The scene startswith a long corridor and immediately the classic James Bond sound motif, the two non- diegetic brass stabs played in the James Bond movie ‘007’, lets the audience connote that the man, who is out of focus and in a silhouette, is James Bond. As he walks forward, the music remains calm and quiet, showing there is no sense of rush.This also helps build tension, as the audience have no idea about what’s happening. The light that illuminates the man’s eyes connotes mystery within the character as he is a spy.As he moves back into the shadow, the camera adopts a behind shoulder view to obscure his face even more so, again, connoting mystery, while following him down a hallway.The next cut lets the audience know what he looks like.To those who have seen previous movies such as Casino Royale, they will know that this is Bond, but to others, the slight uplift in the soundtrack connotes that this is Bond instead. This along with him being the first person visible in the movie are both clues as to his importance.
  • 3.
    As the dooris opened, the camera cuts to a sweeping shot of the floor, revealing two bodies, connoting danger, along with how the music picks up. As the camera makes a focus pull back to Bond, we can tell he has large importance, as he fills up most of the screen according to the rule of thirds. The camera, still in the same long tracking shot, settles on a frame with a window letting in light, contrasting with the rest of the dark room. There is a bleeding man under it in a chair, connoting that he’s on Bond’s side. The way that Bond then looks for his mission objective before helping the man shows his seriousness about completing it. He starts to help, but gets interrupted by the woman on the earpiece. During this scene, the camera is looking down on the bleeding man, and up at Bond from a behind shoulder view, connoting the difference in skill as a spy.This is then followed by him leaving him rather than helping, under the person whom he’s talking to on his earpiece.
  • 4.
    The way thatBond is then silhouetted against the light as he walks into the darkness connotes to the audience that he may be going down a dark path, and is slightly ‘bad’.The camera, again follows behind him, connoting that he’s making the area safer by going first, showing his strength as a character. The music then non-dietetically becomes faster and louder as he moves into the street, making the hustle and bustle of the country come to life more.The light at the end of the hall also shows that he maybe is hiding what just happened and is now moving back to the ‘good’ side of things, or putting on the Bond that people like to see.