Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 10

There is now several cuts between the fight scene and the office scene where the protagonist is seen having the upper hand in both. The fast pace editing helps create excitement and build up to the final moments of the antagonist’s life before the protagonist kills him.  When the antagonist is shot there is a cut to a high angle shot of the antagonist flying back in their chair. This shot shows more mise-en-scene such as a picture of the villain’s family which alongside the high angle shot makes the audience feel sympathy for him in his final moments.

Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 9

There is then a quick cut to the present to show the antagonist pulling out his gun and aiming at the protagonist. The camera remains at a low angle to both the protagonist and antagonist which further implies that the both of them think they have the upper hand over the other. The whole time during this the director follows the 180°rule. The music has sowed down to a tense hum which helps create tension and along with the emphasised diegetic sounds increases the thrill of the villain pulling the trigger only to realise that he has lost the upper hand because the ammunition for the gun is missing.

Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 8

The conversation leads to a story of the protagonist killing one of the antagonist’s henchman. Which is the shown on screen in flashback form. This is a match on action shot. The whole scene of the protagonist in the bathroom fighting the henchman is cut incredibly fast to build the feeling of anger and tension. It is also filmed in high key lighting which could imply that the characters are blindly fighting which is why the fight is incredibly violent. The music in this scene is fast paced which increases the tense atmosphere and makes the audience feel more exited for what is to come.

Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 7

The next scene is of the conversation the characters have after the reveal of the protagonist. It starts with a low angle shot of the protagonist suggesting that he is trying to be intimidating but cuts to a worm’s eye view of the antagonists which; as well as implying that is sinister; also implies that he has a way to counteract the position that the protagonist has put him in. This is proven true when a quick cut to show that in his draw is a pistol. Another cut to a low angle shot which follows the antagonist as he sits down suggests that he feels he has the upper hand with the reveal of the pistol he has. The protagonist is covered by low key lighting which suggests that his secrets aren't known to the antagonists whereas the antagonist is in high key lighting suggesting that the protagonist knows what he is hiding and about the “upper hand” the antagonist has.

Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 6

The next shot is a slightly high neutral view of the antagonist when he realises something has been taken from his office. The angle is used to show the sudden panic this antagonist is feeling, making him seem vulnerable. The background music stops at this point as well making the scene completely silent for a second which mounts up the tension for the reveal of the protagonist shortly after. The reveal of the protagonist is a pan to the left of the other antagonist moving from a close up of the antagonist to an over the shoulder shot revealing the protagonist. This camera movement and change of scene without a cut suggests that these characters already have some form of a relationship. It also sets up that the 180® rule will start being followed from the antagonists left.

Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 5

  After this the antagonist leaves the elevator and enters a room, the first shot starts with him opening a door and then walk to the far end of the room. The camera pans from a low angle to keep him in shot. During the middle of this shot something blocks the view which implies to the audience that somebody is there, paired with the diegetic sounds of him entering the room increases the tension further. The mise en scene shows a clean office which paired with the antagonist outfit suggests that this person is organised, making him seem more threatening.  There is also a tray of cigarette butts, these have negative effects on a person’s health which gives the antagonist negative connotations because he smokes.

Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 4

After this it cuts to the antagonist in the moving elevator. The shot is from a high angle looking down at him whilst he counts the floors as they go by. This could suggest many things. Firstly it could imply that the antagonist is tense because he knows what waits for him at the top which helps show that there is something more intimidating than him to come because in a few seconds he goes from unknown what he is looking at until it cuts to show the floor counter being portrayed with a low angle shot to a high angle shot. This scene is edited well because it is from the antagonists view. The only sound that can be heard is the elevator moving which creates even more tension.

Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 3

A little later on in the opening, there is a low angle shot of an elevator shaft with the antagonist moving up In one of the lifts. The low angle of the shot helps to emphasise the height of the building. It also implies that the antagonist is an important figure in the business being run in the building which also makes the antagonist seem more powerful. The lifts are the brightest things in the shot that aren't a source of light. This suggests that the building is still active a night which leads to more mysterious connotations about the building.

Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 2

The next shot is a low angle shot of the person walking out the car. This person is an antagonist which is emphasised by the angle because it makes him look tall, giving the impression that he is intimidating and sinister.  The antagonists face is only lit on the sides. The side facing the building is lit more suggesting that the building is the main focus for the antagonist because the other side of his face is being dimly lit by the street lamp. This leaves the key features of his face a mystery which is done because the antagonist is hiding secrets that we will learn further on in the opening.

Opening sequence textual analysis: Casino Royale SHOT 1

The first scene of the opening is a grey-scale wide of an office building from a long low 45° angle with a car pulling up outside of it. This gives a sense of height to the building which suggests that this building has sinister connotations of mystery and darkness. There is no music playing during this shot which, with the colourless theme, creates a sense of tension. The mise en scene suggests that it is cold because there is snow on the floor and hot steam that is clearly visible. The street light in the middle of the shot and the centre of the building draws attention to the centre of the screen which makes the building look more menacing because the rest of the shot is low key lighting suggesting that there are secrets at play which further expands upon the sense of darkness and mystery.

Textual Analysis: Mise-en-scene: Soylent Green (1973)

In this picture from a scene in the film Soylent Green, a huge crowd and a scoop truck is seen with a building as the backdrop. This suggests that the location is an overcrowded city from around the present day. In the film this city is New York and it has a huge overpopulation problem. The size of the crowd in the frame suggests a larger one hidden of frame making the audience feel surrounded.

The costumes of the people would suggest that this is poor city which is also given by the outfit of the police who look cheap and unsupplied.

The lighting is slightly low key and has a green tint which is used to create a feeling of illness and uncleanliness. Adding a tint over a scene is quite typical of the thriller genre to help create a mood, like discomfort.

This image from Soylent Green shows the protagonist in a Soylent Green factory. His costume suggests that he is part of the many poor people in this version of humanity which could suggest that he is inferior to the world he is in, making him an underdog which makes the audience want to relate to the protagonist.

There are many props in his scene that help to create the factory feel of the location such as the giant funnels and the substance containers in the right of the frame. On the conveyor belt many packets of Soylent Green are being transported which are being used to make the character look inferior in numbers and power to Soylent Green.

The lighting is a mixture of low key and high key which is used to suggest the characters rush of fear and confusion.

The key features of a thriller movie opening

Key features of a thriller opening:                                                                                                     Will Savill

•      Mystery: Every thriller movie opening has to have an element of mystery to it because it’s the main tool for building up suspense and a good story. It is incredibly vital to ensure that the audience is invested into the movie and it could also be a set up for a twist later on in the film.
•      Introduction to a key plot point: This could mean introducing a character or macguffin device or important location that would be a significant plot point for the movie. This is important because it sets up the story to come.
•      Excitement: This is crucial if you want to give the audience a thrill which would invest them into the movie to see if more is to come and help build tension. This could be a useful tool if foreshadowing something because you want to make the audience exited for what is being hinted at or a grande finale.   
•      Sound: Sound is important because it can help build the environment being shown on screen and the activities taking place in that environment. Sound is also an important tool that can be used to create a variety of feelings as well such as fear if a loud bang is heard but it isn't seen where it came from or what caused it.
•      Close up shots: This can be used to great effect to show a characters emotions and hide the background which is a very useful technique when building tension because alot can be unknown by the audience.
•      Editing: Editing can be used to play on any of the features listed above meaning it to can create a mood or setting. for example fast editing could be used to create excitement and tension or clever editing could be used to suggest something that isn't true.
•      Music: Music could be included to suggest a certain mood and could stop to increase tension plus many other techniques. along side camera placement/movement and editing this could be the icing on the cake in terms of creating a certain mood or emotion which in thrillers cases are usually fear, tension and suspense.

9 key screenshots

Textual Analysis: Camera Shots and Angles in Jaws (1975)

Jaws was made in 1975 by Steven Spielberg. It features many diffrent camera angles, shots and movements during the film to great effect to help raise the tension and increase the exitement of certain scenes.

During the first half of the film, the threat (Jaws) is never seen and apart from the tense music accompanied by his arrival, the camera is under the water going thrugh the legs of potential victems with a POV shot. This shot is succesful at mounting the scenes it is used in because it leaves the villian unseen and its look a mystery which make it more terrifying to the audience because people generly fear what they do not know.

A contra zoom is also used. It is constructed by zooming the camera out whilst moving it foward. This shot is very effective at showing queasiness and fear. in the context of the film it is just after Jaws attacks and the effect is used on a close up shot main character to show the shock and fear he is feeling and relay it back to the audience. This shot is very effecteve even though it is very hard to pull off.


The film also features many over the shoulder shots to help raise the exitment and tension of certain scenes. It is effective at this and also allows for many detailes to be shown to the audience and similtaniously see the reactions of the characters. Here are examples of some over the shoulder shots in Jaws:

Camera Movements

Pan



Crab



Zoom

Track in

Ped down


Tilt

Camera Angles

Camera Shots

Extreme long shot





















Long shot

















Medium long shot

















Medium shot

















Medium close up shot
















Close up shot














Extreme close up shot

Evaluation of Prelim

I believe that our Prelim was a success because we met all the requirements.

 Match on action

Match on Action

 Shot reverse shot + over the shoulder + 180 degrees rule

Shot reverse shot + over the shoulder + 180 degrees rule

 Fading out instead of cutting

Wide 180 degrees rule shot









From our Prelim task, I feel that we have develouped are ability to function as a group and have managed to film, edit and complete our task.

Preliminary task

During this task we used 3 different shots:

• match on action:  Walking up to the door, then cutting to a shot of the person's hand opening                                   the door.
• shot reverse shot: During the conversation we put the camera over the top of the characters                                       shoulders and every time the speaker switched, so did the camera.
• 180° rule: The camera always stayed on one side of the characters unless a shot was used to                        show the transition from one side to the other.

These shots have helped us to use the shots that make a scene flow more naturally and not confusing to the viewer. These shots are incredibly useful and needed to ensure that the audience has an understanding of what is happening on screen.